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Are ebike attitudes influenced by politics?

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Do your politics influence your opinion of ebikes?

  • I'm conservative and love ebikes

    Votes: 18 14%

  • I'm conservative and hate ebikes

    Votes: 7 5.5%

  • I'm liberal and love ebikes

    Votes: 13 10%

  • I'm liberal and hate ebikes

    Votes: 10 7.9%

  • I'm A-political and have no opinion on ebikes

    Votes: 6 4.7%

  • I'm A-political and have an opinion on ebikes

    Votes: 2 1.6%

  • Politics have nothing to do with ebikes

    Votes: 71 56%
  • Total voters
    127
181 - 200 of 226 Posts
#181 ·
Sharpdoug said:
To the haters of ebikes My story is not long. I had Covid in 2020, it literally ruined my lungs. At 69 my pulmonologist told me to engage in an aerobic sport. I choose cycling and within months transitioned to mtb. I own both a ebike and an acoustic bike. The ebike give me the opportunity to ride many hours with friends. With the acoustic bike I would be by myself. At 73 I’m living the dream thanks to my Trek Rail. Oh yeah I can breath again thanks to riding!!
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Love to hear those storires. My uncle Jerry, who was a life-long cyclist of every cycling discipline you can imagine, bought an ebike when he was 80 to "keep up with the young guys" who happened to be in their mid 60s. This was early on when options were limited, so he ended up with the nicest 1st gen Haibike money could buy. Luckily there were still not a lot of rules surrounding ebikes. It sure would have sucked if the 80 year old man who just wanted to keep up with his 60 year old buddies was kicked off the trail just because someone decided his ebike was "no different than a motorcycle".
 
Discussion starter · #183 ·
BmanInTheD said:
My experience is the opposite. Most of the REALLY good riders I know or have come across on the trail don't give a crap either way. It seems to me that most of the gatekeepers I run across are pretty good riders that either think they're better than they are or wanna be better than they are.
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Most of the really good riders where I live HAVE an ebike, including the pros.


.
 
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#185 ·
Wow! These things are fast. I just watched a guy hauling A through town on one. Well a over the speed limit. Then he failed to yield and T boned a car backing out of the hardware store. There's no way the driver could have seen him. He came up that fast and out of nowhere. Maybe a headlight would've helped, like on a motorcycle.
 
#186 ·
Bikedog22 said:
Wow! These things are fast. I just watched a guy hauling A through town on one. Well a over the speed limit. Then he failed to yield and T boned a car backing out of the hardware store. There's no way the driver could have seen him. He came up that fast and out of nowhere. Maybe a headlight would've helped, like on a motorcycle.
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Like, a surron? most emtbs won't get above 18mph unless you got a mean tuck off a looong downhill.
 
#187 ·
The replies from the super vocal pro e mtber's are always the most illogical dumb crap and usually full of anecdotal lies. It's actually kind of entertaining to read the replies.

I think once you hit 60 you should be allowed to use an e bike on most trails.

The real problem I see though is that every single time I ride trails where e motos are banned, there's a shitload of e motos on the trail. Not just class 1 either. They have tires and the tread of a gas powered motor cycle and even though they had pedals they weren't using them to fly up hills while spinning out. Nowadays I also see smaller gas powered motorcycles on the trails as well. This used to be something you would never ever see.

We've already fallen off the cliff in the US and now it will be common to see these full on electric motorcycles on every trail absolutely destroying them. No one in the US wants to follow a rule anymore if it impacts their personal desires. Everyone is so selfish and entitled. I can't stand these losers that take any e bike on trails where they are not allowed, but there's not much you can do.

I personally have no issue telling the class 2 and 3 bikes to gtfo. They 100% of the time will lie and claim ignorance about the ban despite passing signs placed at every single trail access point. I just hope enough other people do this to discourage the mega assholes.
 
#188 ·
bdamschen said:
Like, a surron? most emtbs won't get above 18mph unless you got a mean tuck off a looong downhill.
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I don't know what it was but he was on level ground through town. I was coming out of the post office and saw it. Remember that scene from 40 Year Old Virgin? It was like that. He was OK but I'm sure he's sore. Or Surron.
 
#190 ·
Steezus said:
he replies from the super vocal pro e mtber's are always the most illogical dumb crap and usually full of anecdotal lies. It's actually kind of entertaining to read the replies.
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Don't know how to prove it other than I really do have an Uncle Jerry, who is responsible for getting my dad into mountain biking back in 1985, who then decided to also buy me a bike and drag me along when I was young. I wouldn't be posting here if it wasn't for him. That dude rode everything. Road, CX, mtb, even tried his hand in the velodrome they used to have down in Balboa Park (not sure if it's still there). He had back issues from a motorcycle accident and at one point could no longer get into position to ride road with drop bars, so when his buddies all convinced him to do a summer bike packing ride from Washington state across the country to New York state, he rode his GT LTS-1 with some 26" slicks and super tandem 26" rear wheel because that was all his back could take, but he was still able to hang with the roadies. He rode nearly every day and obsessed over keeping his bike squeaky clean. He was the one responsible for teaching me how to properly clean a cassette. I never saw him in a bad mood when we rode and he treated everyone like they were his best friend. After we got caught out in a particularly freezing(some snow, lots of wind) ride up in the mountains, he remarked as we all tried to thaw/dry out in the back of my dad's suburban with the heater on full blast: "There are no bad rides. Just some better than others."


Steezus said:
I personally have no issue telling the class 2 and 3 bikes to gtfo. They 100% of the time will lie and claim ignorance about the ban despite passing signs placed at every single trail access point. I just hope enough other people do this to discourage the mega assholes.
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That's the thing some people don't seem to realize. They're ALWAYS going to pretend they knew it wasn't legal. "Oh I thought this counted an ebike, no I didn't see any signs, I didn't know it wasn't allowed, etc." Doesn't matter if ebikes or allowed or not, that type will always poach, and if they're caught they're always going to play dumb.
 
#191 ·
_CJ said:
Most of the really good riders where I live HAVE an ebike, including the pros.


.
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I live in a destination area. I've never seen an e bike on the trails, despite every shop on the mountain rents them. I guess they don't go that deep.

There was a post on FB a couple years ago. Dude was bragging about riding into designated wilderness. I told him that wasn't cool and that he could be undoing decades of trail advocacy.

He didn't care.

It would be like me saying eff it and riding my XT 600 into an eagle nesting ground.
 
#193 · (Edited)
I voted "liberal and hate ebikes" but this isn't entirely true. I'm a liberal leaning moderate and I can't say I really hate ebikes, I just don't like them personally.

I think with this post, the "politics" are more about the politics involving ebikes, ie; the city, county, state and federal politics regarding if a ebike should be able to use trails or what speed they are limited to or what really defines an "ebike,", rather than who you voted for to run this country, right?

I don't like ebikes because I don't get the point. I ride a mountain bike ( non motorized or MeBike as I may call them) and there are a couple of reasons beyond the fitness and mental benefits, 1) I love getting out there where not everyone can get to without effort. 2) I like the sustainability of a mtb. Sure, as with an ebike as well, there are some materials that cannot be recycled, but a mountain bike (MeBike) or gravel bike, etc, are pretty light on the environment in most cases. Regardless of what ebikers say, an ebike causes a little more trail damage than a non motorized bike, but in reality, every trail user, even the weather beats down trails. 3) It's sometimes an achievement when you do an epic hard ride that not everyone can do. 4) I've been doing the mtb thing since 1982, seen lots of change. I've even developed products that are widely used today in mountain biking. I've owned 2 businesses brought on directly from my involvement in mtb/ road/ gravel/ bmx

I think an ebike for commuting to work, school or shopping are awesome! and this is where I've looked into them. I figure that if I feel the need to get out and ride dirt not under my own power, I'd ride a dual sport motorcycle.
 
#195 ·
Hurricane Jeff said:
I voted "liberal and hate ebikes" but this isn't entirely true. I'm a liberal leaning moderate and I can't say I really hate ebikes, I just don't like them personally.

I think with this post, the "politics" are more about the politics involving ebikes, ie; the city, county, state and federal politics regarding if a ebike should be able to use trails or what speed they are limited to or what really defines an "ebike,", rather than who you voted for to run this country, right?

I don't like ebikes because I don't get the point. I ride a mountain bike ( non motorized or MeBike as I may call them) and there are a couple of reason beyond the fitness and mental benefits, 1) I love getting out there where not everyone can get to without effort. 2) I like the sustainability of a mtb. Sure, as with an ebike as well, there are some materials that cannot be recycled, but a mountain bike (MeBike) or gravel bike, etc, are pretty light on the environment in most cases. Regardless of what ebikers say, an ebike causes a little more trail damage than a non motorized bike, but in reality, every trail user, even the weather beats down trails. 3) It's sometimes an achievement when you do an epic hard ride that not everyone can do. 4) I'vebeen doing the mtb thing since 1982, seen lots of change. I've even developed products that are widely used today in mountain biking. I've owned 2 businesses brought on directly from my involvement in mtb/ road/ gravel/ bmx

I think an ebike for commuting to work, school or shopping are awesome! and this is where I've looked into them. I figure that if I feel the need to get out and ride dirt not under my own power, I'd ride a dual sport motorcycle.
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I've said it before, but I love the section of of you know what that you designed and built.

You can immediately tell it was built by a mountain biker.

I understand there were design parameters with Geology in some sections.

When I drop into your section, I'm like, " Yes, curvy pump track, i love you" and I rip it.

The dog loves it too
 
#196 ·
Steezus said:
The replies from the super vocal pro e mtber's are always the most illogical dumb crap and usually full of anecdotal lies. It's actually kind of entertaining to read the replies.

I think once you hit 60 you should be allowed to use an e bike on most trails.

The real problem I see though is that every single time I ride trails where e motos are banned, there's a shitload of e motos on the trail. Not just class 1 either. They have tires and the tread of a gas powered motor cycle and even though they had pedals they weren't using them to fly up hills while spinning out. Nowadays I also see smaller gas powered motorcycles on the trails as well. This used to be something you would never ever see.

We've already fallen off the cliff in the US and now it will be common to see these full on electric motorcycles on every trail absolutely destroying them. No one in the US wants to follow a rule anymore if it impacts their personal desires. Everyone is so selfish and entitled. I can't stand these losers that take any e bike on trails where they are not allowed, but there's not much you can do.

I personally have no issue telling the class 2 and 3 bikes to gtfo. They 100% of the time will lie and claim ignorance about the ban despite passing signs placed at every single trail access point. I just hope enough other people do this to discourage the mega assholes.
Click to expand...
Your nonsense is pretty entertaining to read as well.:)
 
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