Small group of riders and ebike divide is growing :-(

[Tgianco]

I hear the "You are cheating" all of the time

They are just jealous becasue they don't have one themselves

Luckliy I mainly ride with other ebikers

Not gonna lie, if anyone says that I am cheating, I tell them to F off and get in their faces, too. ALL of them that say "you're cheating" back down. Those dudes are ALL pussies!

 

[Tgianco]

I was the first in my group to change to EMTB. Mainly because there were so many areas of the Forests we were not riding, because the climb out was painful on a MTB.

The guys initially called me all the usual names, but when they saw how my ability to climb was now so superior, they all began to understand why I seem to be enjoying the rides so much more. Of the 6 core group. One other actually has now since bought the exact same EMTB as mine, and this was his comment in our MTB WhatsApp group after his first ride.

View attachment 142628
Water off a ducks back now.

Honestly, wish I could be like that. I will say that I hardly ever see or hear anything negative anymore. Now, there are more e-bikes than non-e-bikes, so they're pretty accepted.

 

[Heated]

The club rides we do, the XC riders talk a bit of rubbish but we both banter as we both smash past the 170mm enduro bike riders who are the worst............... Ie the guys who ride chairlifts etc (basically a Pinkbike commenter) and they just climb at snails pace in the dinner plate gear... most of them are no faster down the hill than the XC dudes.

Alot of the XC riders now have Ebikes for a longer travel bike and they love them...
the Enduro Bro's still grinding away

 

[Heated]

Not gonna lie, if anyone says that I am cheating, I tell them to F off and get in their faces, too. ALL of them that say "you're cheating" back down. Those dudes are ALL pussies!

I just Smoke them on the downhill's, usually shuts them up pretty quick.

 

[Hotrod]

There are E-bike riders and those who want to be E-bike riders. Who cares what people say. Getting tired of people telling others how they should live their life. However, I fully understand people being upset with rude riders whether on E-bike or not. I still ride my Santa Cruz analog regularly, but chuckle to myself when an E-biker goes by me on the climb as I know he's having more fun.

 

[YZDude]

Why would you be riding in a group that also consisted of a guy on a vintage hard tail? Doesn’t sound fun for either party. Frankly, the whole group looks like a mismatch.
The only non-E rider I’ll ride with is my son, who’s half my age.
Otherwise, I ride with other old ex-moto dudes on e-bikes and we have a blast. Or I ride alone - it’s not always a social sport for me.

 

[Streddaz]

I regularly ride both my non-Eeeb Stumpjumper and my Levo SL. It often depends on who I'm riding with to which bike I take but mostly if it's all Ebikes I take the SL if it's full flintstone, it's the Stumpy. Most of the time that's how the groups are solely mixed, but on occasion, there is a variety. I've ridden my SL with a large non-Eeeb group by myself or with just one other Eeeb, and we just chilled and ran out bikes in a low setting or off altogether. I have once or twice ridden my non-Eeeb with a few Ebikes and as long as they are happy to wait at the top of the climbs it's no real issue. It's no difference when riding with riders of difference fitness or skills where one could be waiting at either the top or the bottom of a hill for the other to catch up. I've done full Ebike group rides where I've had to wait for other less skilled riders to catch up, especially on descents.
Like with any group ride, unless you are all evenly matched regardless of what you ride, some respect needs to be shown for the slower riders, with regular catch up stops and not just blast off as soon as they show up.

 

[Streddaz]

I WISH I could love the ebike transition my group has undergone. We are all in our mid 70’s and I am the only female, and a small one at that. We do have some much younger folks ride with us but they are on regular bikes. My ebike scares me on technical terrain. It is too big, too heavy and I crash more and harder on it. I dislike 29er in general too. I have struggled for two years to feel the love, but got ANOTHER concussion and cracked humerus on Mother’s Day and see the writing on the wall. It is a small Orbea Rise, top of the line, so it’s not the bike’s fault.
Really sad for me to admit but ebikes have excluded me from my ride group of nearly 20 years. I don’t blame the guys for the transition..much more fun for them. It just doesn’t translate to someone my size, age and weight. It’s brilliant on non technical doubletrack/ fireroad/gravel but tech single track not for me.

The Orbea is relatively light for an Ebike but there are a few lighter options now. Would it be worth doing some skills coaching to help with the technical stuff? It would be a shame not to ride at all because of the bike you have.

 

[Binhill1]

I only know a few other Ebikers some are 20 years younger and riding unresricted bikes now so it's a nono for them. The others are pensioners like me and we can dawdle about all day and usually have a picnic . I am not keen to ride with non Ebikers as that's the day I will probably break down. Exception is the wife on our road bikes . 8 out of my ten rides would be solo anyway .

 

[arTNC]

I regularly ride both my non-Eeeb Stumpjumper and my Levo SL. It often depends on who I'm riding with to which bike I take but mostly if it's all Ebikes I take the SL if it's full flintstone, it's the Stumpy. Most of the time that's how the groups are solely mixed, but on occasion, there is a variety. I've ridden my SL with a large non-Eeeb group by myself or with just one other Eeeb, and we just chilled and ran out bikes in a low setting or off altogether. I have once or twice ridden my non-Eeeb with a few Ebikes and as long as they are happy to wait at the top of the climbs it's no real issue. It's no difference when riding with riders of difference fitness or skills where one could be waiting at either the top or the bottom of a hill for the other to catch up. I've done full Ebike group rides where I've had to wait for other less skilled riders to catch up, especially on descents.
Like with any group ride, unless you are all evenly matched regardless of what you ride, some respect needs to be shown for the slower riders, with regular catch up stops and not just blast off as soon as they show up.

Lots of good observations here. I'm 72 and a long time pedal-only MTB'er. Our group would do Moab for two weeks at a time for some hardcore fun and do a local off road ranch with gnarly terrain. I'm still a pretty darned good off road motorcycle rider for some reason, but the pedal-only MTB scene got harder to do and still shred the gnar, as they say. I can still ride with younger, tougher, riders on my Rail 7 without being "that guy" they have to wait on. Life has been good on the emtb, and it allows me to still ride like I was 25. And I get no bitches and whine from the people I ride with. And when I ride alone, I still feel like 25.

 

[Streddaz]

Lots of good observations here. I'm 72 and a long time pedal-only MTB'er. Our group would do Moab for two weeks at a time for some hardcore fun and do a local off road ranch with gnarly terrain. I'm still a pretty darned good off road motorcycle rider for some reason, but the pedal-only MTB scene got harder to do and still shred the gnar, as they say. I can still ride with younger, tougher, riders on my Rail 7 without being "that guy" they have to wait on. Life has been good on the emtb, and it allows me to still ride like I was 25. And I get no bitches and whine from the people I ride with. And when I ride alone, I still feel like 25.

I'm only 50 so there's a few that I ride with occasionally that are older than me but the majority of the time most are at least 10 years younger if not 20 or more. It certainly keeps you fit trying to keep up with the young guys, but I can still hold my own on the meat powered bike for now.

 

[ari]

Unfortunately" bike discrimination" runs rife in the MTB/EMTB planet , just turn up on cheap China emtb and hear the comments from the Spezilisedgianttreketc brigade , if there was no ebikes ,other brands etc , we would poke fun at the colors of the bike .

 

[timo2824]

Ignore and move on, they'll all be on ebikes at some point. Like when the first cars, automatic transmissions, power tools, ect. There's always people stuck in the past. I waited 10 years before getting a 29er, never gave people shit for riding them though.

 

[Astro66]

8 out of my ten rides would be solo anyway .

Most of my rides are social. I'm doing a 400km trip round central Australia on gravel roads with about 8 mates. Only 2 are E-Bikes.

Only 50-80km each day. Stay at a pub each night. Get on the pints. Take the piss out of each other. Then ride again the next day.

Some people ride to toil and suffer. Some people ride to have a laugh. It really doesn't matter.

We all ride for different reasons. But some people seem to think, their reason for riding, is the only possible reason to ride.