E-Mountain bike World Cup details are out!

AdamDuckworth · Jul 26, 2019

The power struggle about e-MTBs continues with both cycling and motorcycling bodies both clashing over who should govern! The details of the first E-Mountain bike world cup at a motocross GP are out.
E-Mountain bike world cup details - MotoHead

MuddyFunster · Jul 26, 2019

hmmmm...

I can hear all the E-MTB haters now: "see.. this proves it... they're motorcycles!"

Not sure I like the idea of seeing them at an MXGP, for them to be embraced by the mountain bike crowd it would need to be a UCI event?

Gary · Jul 26, 2019

The whole idea is farcicle and seeing a bunch of mountainbikers pedal round a MX track at 15mph is just going to look embarassing.

MattyB · Jul 26, 2019

Gary said:
The whole idea is farcicle and seeing a bunch of mountainbikers pedal round a MX track at 15mph is just going to look embarassing.

Agree, though there is a faster class with assistance up to 45kph as well as the stock one. Can’t see either impressing an MX audience though...

Brendog78 · Jul 27, 2019

So will they be wearing clown outfits? I really can't see this promoting emtb in a serious way.

Dirtnvert · Jul 27, 2019

It has the potential to be action packed the whole way around the loop. Asking a lot of coyrse designers though. Eg: dual slalom, 4x didnt fair so well in designers hands but then xc has been really good as of late

MarkH · Jul 27, 2019

Gary said:
The whole idea is farcicle and seeing a bunch of mountainbikers pedal round a MX track at 15mph is just going to look embarassing.

If I recall we tried this on normal mtbs at an AMCA event in the 90s and it looked pants.
Can't imagine it looking any more exciting on emtb, especially with pro mx as comparison. ?

Gary · Jul 27, 2019

Ignoring how lame it will look compared to moto for a minute. I honestly can't even see how anyone could consider Emtb racing a valid sport. Alright so they stipulate the bikes must be 250w and restricted to 15.5mph but that doesnt even begin to make the motors equal. Max torque and torque/assist curves are different between all the major manufacturers.
The only even vaguely fair racing I can see working is a mini DH/Enduro format where climbs are simply un timed transitions and the timed stages are genuine gravity descents (ie. no real pedalling required) but even then it's still notgoing to be an entirely fair playing field.

I know some folk want "events" and "challenges" to do and that's fine but if you want to *race* mtb IMO buy one without a motor.
If you hate pedalling uphill race DH/4X.

AdamDuckworth · Jul 28, 2019

The MXGP promo video hardly looks inspiring!
e-Xbike video teaser

Zimmerframe · Jul 28, 2019

AdamDuckworth said:
The MXGP promo video hardly looks inspiring!

Thanks for the video.

I dunno, the way he launched out of the start gate .. like a snail sliding down a leaf .. it gave a nice calm chilled relaxed feeling .. Maybe it's just designed to calm the crowd down between MX events. So basically, they shot three hours of video and then in editing, they found the most exciting part, was putting his goggles on ..

The other week I rode a few laps round a rally cross course thinking it would be fun.. I was wrong it was dull. The only thing I can think of which might have been duller would have been watching me ride around it. The only thing possibly duller than that would be writing on a forum about it......

They should make it fair and everyone just gets a 4 pack of 9v pp3 batteries to last the race and all the cameras should be attached to spokes to make things feel fast (and make viewers sick).

MarkH · Jul 28, 2019

AdamDuckworth said:
The MXGP promo video hardly looks inspiring!
e-Xbike video teaser

Oh dear..

The only way that would look exciting is with a heavy dose of gravity, jumps and gladiatorial combat. Oh wait a minute we've already got that and it's called 4x.

Gary · Jul 28, 2019

Yeah ...and 4X bikes are faster out the gate and jump better than Ebikes

The rider in the promo video looks like Kye Forte.
If you don't know he is. you should!

If he's involved in the emtb track design (and budget is enough) it should be awesome.
This doesn't mean I don't think emtb racing is still stupid though

Mabman · Jul 29, 2019

Probably cheaper to buy a real mx bike and race that. But hey if it helps get the word out so be it.

Rusty · Jul 29, 2019

Youthstream totally screwed up MX GP racing so i have absolutely no wish for them to be involved with MTB. Will be boring as watching paint dry and after a year or two will only be affordable by million dollar teams.

UCI needs to sort their shit and get a series running. Should be based on a blend of X-country and DH - create a XC course around the DH run and use it both up and down to make a challenging event.

Mabman · Jul 29, 2019

Rusty said:
UCI needs to sort their shit and get a series running. Should be based on a blend of X-country and DH - create a XC course around the DH run and use it both up and down to make a challenging event.

The UCI has it's own world championships slated and are at odds with the FIM over the whole deal. It's pretty comical actually as eBike racing on restricted bikes is not that much different than mtb racing because it will still be the strongest rider and bike handler that will win the day. Now if they had a derestricted class then you might get to see some action, sort of like watching latex paint dry instead of enamel.