The woman who heads EMBA seems to be sympathetic to eMTB and recognizes they are here to stay. Her biggest worry is that there will be big time pushback from environmental groups and/or hiking groups so she is all for using caution to not trigger anything. I sympathize with her. I have listened in on some EMBA round tables on the subject. Oregon is a whole other story. There is a lot of anti-eMTB feeling there.
That sounds similar to the head of our local mountain bike organization (CBMBA). We have over 750 miles of local trails, many of which are in US designated Wilderness areas (no bikes of any kind) or have hard won easements that predated even the concept of an eMTB. Additionally he is concerned that some of the more popular trails which have been pretty much overrun with all the COVID visitors will suffer even more with additional traffic caused by eBikes. He concedes that eBikes don't do any more damage than regular bikes, but more traffic is more damage. While we have the fairly typical large amount of uninformed anti-eBike sentiment in our area, the organization is making an attempt to accommodate them within the various constraints. Unfortunately there are places and individuals take a hard no-eBike stance regardless. Rather than doing that here and basically still have people "poach" them anyway, there is an attempt to guid eBikes to places that do allow them.
I read most your previous attachment , especially the comments at the end, and realized the politics that will soon become involved for our areas. If we can foresee the uses of our trails we could position this sport in a favourable and useful light.
Ebike not welcome in Arizona or Alabama. Not many shops service them.
I ride all over Phoenix valley and Scottsdale. Ebike only allowed on certain trail systems. Not the 5 or 6 I like to ride. Also, snarky comments from others. Arizona is huge on Mtb. Just not eMTB.
Sunny San Diego California is beginning to ride on the emtb bandwagon. Doing my part by riding both my emtbs 2-3 times/week. Been riding in Southern California for 30+ years and have definitely seen an uptick over last 12 months in the number of people riding emtbs. I would say its the 80/20 rule in regard to positive comments vs. asshats that feel compelled to offer their negative "insight." During weekdays seems like I see a greater percentage on emtbs vs acoustic bikes then I do on weekends. A lot of hikers I converse with are actually surprised my bike is electric assist due to the way batteries are being integrated into frames. I've even let a few riders met on the trails test drive my emtb and the smile on their face says it all! When I do get called a cheater or other choice comments, I just say "have a great day because I am!"
I think you said it better. Makes sense though.
I don’t think the sampling was very large. Maybe 30 riders. It gives a view of random riders of various degrees of fitness, age, use etc. The author of this thesis may not have had significant resources or finances to complete a thorough study or research. I do think that the statistics gives a general conclusion once all the caveats are taken into consideration. I also think there will be more studies since governments will be pressured into some kind of action and they will create studies specific to their area. The study we’re talking about may be outdated by now.
Awesome article! Thanks for sharing.
Fair points, though i'm not sure what there is to 'study'. You can calculate the exact effort to ride any given bike, at least to a benchmark level. Adaptive modes make it a little more difficult as they are, errr, adaptive and don't provide a constant level of assistance. These level calculations are usually taught at high school.
