Today's Ride

raisingarizona wrote

I don’t believe that they are really damaging trail tread the way some claim. Bad alignments and rain will do a lot more damage than an e-bike. For the most part I think the complaints are from the elitist cycling crowd and they’re scared to get their fragile egos crushed by a weekend warrior rocking a dad body.

Actually I agree with you 100% there.  

Moto trails here are almost exclusively on private land, and if you've ridden one, you don't want to ride it on a bike.  The ruts would be impossible in a lot of areas.  They don't have the speed of motos either.

I don't think they will damage trails, but again, it's about damaging the bike image.  There's a lot of fuss about why bikes were ever grouped with motorized recreation anyway, and there's finally been headway against that, and now the bike industry shows up with a bike with a motor, which is absolutely impossible to dispute as being a motor vehicle from a legal standpoint.  It's a good excuse for non-bike groups aka hikers to group them together and shut bikes out altogether.  And yes, it's also about elitist cyclists with fragile egos.  But technically, they are right when it comes to wanting to not get grouped with motorized vehicles.

I don't know what the answer is.  It seems like a clever play by the bike industry to get more people to buy bikes, but in some sense, defeats a lot of what is good for you about biking, and what a lot of those people don't like - the climbing.  Yeah it fucking hurts.  And yeah I have a dad bod.  But I ride every day I get a chance to.  And no way I can keep up with real racers on climbs and flats.  I have no interest though.  If I ride 5 miles or 20, it doesn't much matter to me.

By me Roadies get tickets for going thru red lights etc all the time..
Zero patrolling on the trails..

I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago, probably after seeing another stupid eBike debate thread on another forum, but the thing I like most about my bike (my personal bikes) is that they are completely mechanical.  I don't have a computer or anything on them electric or electronic.  I don't want electronic shifting - I hope I'm never forced to buy it because cables become obsolete.  I don't think I'd ever buy an eBike for that reason.  I hate dealing with batteries and wires and crap.

A few weeks ago a few riders came up on one these  on one our local pa trails:
https://lunacycle.com/sur-ron-mx-electric/

that system of trails is  subject to alot of illegal activity as far as poaching, dumping and quads/dirt bikes and the local police patrols and responds to calls (you even need a permit to night ride and they ticket you if its not displayed :O)

I'd have called the cops!

Beautiful weekend to ride in PA!

JasonWx wrote

By me Roadies get tickets for going thru red lights etc all the time..
Zero patrolling on the trails..

We have a bike patrol.  It's not about ticketing big, bad eBikes though.

They are there for education and first aid.  They are exactly like ski patrollers.  In fact our group just switched their cert so you have to get the certs that the National Ski Patrol uses.  I was going to join this year but I need to go take a special class now.

I'm sure they are instructed to ask eBikers to stay off the trails and if they don't comply, contact the authorities.  Mostly they are there just to keep regular pedal bikes from doing anything stupid and jeopardizing our land use access.  Technically a couple areas just passed their pilot programs for bike trails and the county could have shut down access for any stupid reason they could find, if they wanted.

I agree!!

I do think the drive trains as we know them will disappear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eIuDiNczwo

gorgonzola wrote

A few weeks ago a few riders came up on one these  on one our local pa trails:
https://lunacycle.com/sur-ron-mx-electric/

Whoa!  It's cheaper than an eBike!

JasonWx wrote

I agree!!

I do think the drive trains as we know them will disappear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eIuDiNczwo

Man, I hope so.  I'd love to have a nice pinion gearbox and get rid of the cassette and derailleur.

That's looks cool..and cheap..to late in life to get into moto's

On saturday I rode the new Yeti SB130 ..This rig was tricked out..MSRP was close to 9k... It was a sweet ride, but no F'n way would I spend that kind of coin on this bike...

God, I love riding motos, but there's like almost nowhere to ride unless you have your own land or join a club.  A friend I ride bikes with is in a club that has a big chunk of land they rent or lease, and have a lot of trails on.  Looks like a ton of fun but I don't feel like investing in a hauler and keeping up with maintaining a moto.  They are wicked fun, and very physical.  I'm as tired riding a moto as I am riding my mtn bike, but it's a different kind of workout.  More strength, less cardio.

gorgonzola wrote

Beautiful weekend to ride in PA!

Where in PA are you?

Are you near State College or Raystown?  I've heard both those areas are pretty good riding.  Lots of people up here take trips down there, so it must be pretty good.

Eastern Pa (Lehigh Valley) here. Raystown/Allegrippis is a hoot and worth checking out for sure  - basically a 20 something mile pump track of machine built trails done by IMBA and the Army corp of Engineers. I usually head out once a year around now but my buddy I go with is jammed up with kids college visits etc.this year... I thought I did a trail report one year but can't find it.

Rothrock-State College is the polar opposite from what I hear, never rode there but supposed to be non stop techy rock crawling.

Wow - sounds like fun.  I like like pump track trails.

I'm pretty sure someone told me to check out State College if I go down there.  It's right on the way either there or home.  About 4.5 hrs for me to drive.  Definitely I'd do a two or three day trip.  Not this year though.

JasonWx wrote

On saturday I rode the new Yeti SB130 ..This rig was tricked out..MSRP was close to 9k... It was a sweet ride, but no F'n way would I spend that kind of coin on this bike...

Have you seen this vid? Might be of some interest if you are really interested in buying a new bike.



All of these bikes are much more capable than the Yeti and less expensive.

Yesterday:

I'm not buying a new bike...But I will be up grading to a Eagle GX...

nice pic...and the pooch  is all grown up...must be nice to have a trail dog..

JasonWx wrote

I'm not buying a new bike...But I will be up grading to a Eagle GX...

Don't kid yourself bro, we're all buying new bikes, it's a matter of when, not if...

Nah..One more season...
That said my buddy just pulled the trigger on a new Santa Cruz Hightower..

raisingarizona wrote

JasonWx wrote

everyone i passed on climbs , just laughed and said, they want one.. It's all about having fun and not causing anyone or anything harm..

Yeah, overall I don’t see a problem with them unless they become crazy fast and hikers make waves.

I don’t believe that they are really damaging trail tread the way some claim. Bad alignments and rain will do a lot more damage than an e-bike. For the most part I think the complaints are from the elitist cycling crowd and they’re scared to get their fragile egos crushed by a weekend warrior rocking a dad body.

Bark Eater Trails Alliance opposes ebikes on single track on state lands that allow mtn bikes.

Took us a decade to gain access and through volunteer effort build a trail network that is approaching destignation status.  We designed the system to accommodate up and down traffic. In many areas there is not enough line of sight for a fast downhiller and a ebike traveling up hill at nearly the safe rate of speed to safely pass.

Nothing destroys Adirondack singletrack faster than ATVs and ebikes open the door for the motorized crowd.

This is a very interesting article and I love the quotes!

https://www.bikemag.com/features/originals/a-cause-for-question/#sf199034037

For the record I vote a hard No on ebikes and a softer but still hell No on wilderness

I particularly found this quote amusing

If I can be clear," one member wrote in an e-mail, "and in the strongest of terms, I sincerely hope that you sit down for lunch today and think about eating a pile of old dildos. While the potential of choking on a pile of old dildos may be scary, it does not even compare the to threat that ebikes pose to the crowded multi use trails of southern California."