(One thing I have learned that is) I find E-bikes to be particularly interesting in how they are really spurring a "super-bloom" of new innovations in bicycles and in bicycle culture overall.
The rate of increase in available power in an ever shrinking package makes it just a matter of time before e-bikes compare favorably against ICE bikes. It is inevitable and approaching rapidly.
How that impacts the quality of trail usage, the quantity of trail usage, and how those factors feedback in trail design has implications for all of us.
Will trails get longer/steeper/more remote to match the augmented range of neo-mtbrs?
Will e-bikes just take over the moto trails and abandon mtb trails to the h&h (hikers and horsies) set??
Or will more trail armoring, erosion mitigation and maintenance on current mtb/MUP be required if each user is suddenly capable of "2-3x more laps" and at "is faster"?
When will we get e-shovels?
E-bikse are driving evolution in other directions too. On the road, for instance, the the types of powered bikes is outpaced only by their raw numbers. But only just.
Are short-travel, fat tire 29er hardtails the mopeds of future? Or step-though dual sus rigs on 20"wheels? A trike? Uni? Something else?
As power/speed increases, how will they integrate with traffic/traffic laws given the current Great Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Divide? How will the 'city trails' and by extension the cities themselves, adapt?
Whatever it is, it's coming.
We are undergoing a personal transportation revolution, and one way or the other, you are part of it!
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