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Are We Witnessing the Death of Self-Powered Cycling?

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
@kidwoo
So it’s about the access and not the exercise?
We tolerate crossfit dorks without killing people, we can put up with a fucking ebike.


And yes, access is a constantly losing battle once you know how wilderness laws were written vs. how they're interpreted now.

Fortunately mtbs have reached a critical mass where they can't be ignored and it's not as bad as it used to be about when you moved. But mountainbikers are almost as arrogant and self-important as the real pricks.

This is the shit we deal with here with ebikes

I think the blame gets misplaced. It's not entirely deserved of people just wanting a way to go ride bikes, it's these assholes. I'd much rather resist them as a unified wheeled recreation group that bitch about what's a "REAL" bike or not. These are the kooks causing the real problems.

What happened here with the BLM is also now happening with the USFS


That second link: the TNF just backed off and said "oh, so sorry, we'll go back to being good little managers, sorry, didn't mean to upset you"

Who cares if it's a motorized bike or not. Fuck those people.
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
I hear you and I guess I like to poke.

Who cares if it's a motorized bike or not. Fuck those people.
Agreed!

To be more clear. I comment on the us vs them thing here and there because I think it’s bs. I don’t actually ride ebikes as much as I ride DH bikes, enduro bikes or moto but it’s good for pantie bunching.

We also have access issues. For example, the WC DH Track is the only 100% legal Mtb trail in Champery? That’s part of the reason that I work so closely with Châtel.... We can do more and I got tired of spending energy on such a slow process in Switzerland.
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Weirdo

I just can't relate to that.


Sucks about switzerland. Exclusive mindsets don't make an activity go away, they just make it go underground. Which it must be there because there's obviously a swiss MTB scene.
It’s all good. The French border and Chatel is only a 15minute drive on sweet mountain roads. I would like to improve Champery but I’ll focus on Châtel for now.
 
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iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,686
3,143
Not sure if true, but I have the feeling that in the US the divide is between fitness bicyclists (road+XC) and fun-oriented cyclists/-riders (gravity + moto bikes) while in Europe it is between cyclists and motorcyclists.

In Europe the big issue with E-bikes is that they bring more people out in the forest and on trails, increasing the conflicts with hikers, which leads to trails being closed down. Unlike in the US, in e.g. Germany mountain bikers are using shared trails that were originally build for and/or by hikers or fire roads. Legal trails designated for bikes are few and far in between (besides bike parks), which gave rise to tons of pirate trails that often were tolerated by the forest owners. Any type of moto bike is usually not allowed. These guys lost access a long time ago. Now with the increased traffic the complaints from other forest users increase, so they have to act or otherwise it will be a liability issue for them.

The development of having more users out in then forest and many of the so-far tolerated trails getting closed down, results in less places to ride. But in general neither the ebikers nor the ebike industry help with efforts to get more trails build and other maintained. If they get involved all that gets build are flow trails it seems, which can be fun but should not be the whole that is on offer.

I think it is hypocritical to allow ebikes (often tuned, being faster than legal) on trails but exclude electric motorcycles like the Sur Ron. The argument of noise, pollution, disturbance of other users and environmental impact cannot be applied here IMO, so either go all the way or make everything non-motorized.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,376
UK
Not sure if true, but I have the feeling that in the US the divide is between fitness bicyclists (road+XC) and fun-oriented cyclists/-riders (gravity + moto bikes) while in Europe it is between cyclists and motorcyclists.
No. That's bollocks.
You've made up some sort of "divide" all by yourself.
almost every motorcyclist I've ever known also owns bicycles. Basically they love two wheels.
We all rip the piss out of each other at any opertunity though which could give the impression ALL motorcyclists hate cyclists and vice versa but in reality it's only thick people who didn't realise it's just humour who sometimes genuinely hate the other hobby.
And almost ALL gravity riders also ride enduro here. (ie. fitness matters). And many of the proper competitive/serious gravity racers also have roadbikes and a trainer.
In Europe the big issue with E-bikes is that they bring more people out in the forest and on trails, increasing the conflicts with hikers, which leads to trails being closed down.
This isn't even a thing in most of Europe.
e.g. Germany
is the exception. It's fucked what the Germans do and don't let you do and allow you to go or not.
The development of having more users out in then forest and many of the so-far tolerated trails getting closed down, results in less places to ride. But in general neither the ebikers nor the ebike industry help with efforts to get more trails build and other maintained. If they get involved all that gets build are flow trails it seems, which can be fun but should not be the whole that is on offer.
Wow! Gaonae just STOP you're typing so much shit my screen has gone BROWN
I think it is hypocritical to allow ebikes (often tuned, being faster than legal) on trails but exclude electric motorcycles like the Sur Ron. The argument of noise, pollution, disturbance of other users and environmental impact cannot be applied here IMO, so either go all the way or make everything non-motorized.
Wow! incredible!
Have you ever actually ridden a derestricted class 1 Emtb? Clearly not.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,062
10,626
AK
Not sure if true, but I have the feeling that in the US the divide is between fitness bicyclists (road+XC) and fun-oriented cyclists/-riders (gravity + moto bikes) while in Europe it is between cyclists and motorcyclists.
The hell does that mean? I know lots of people that have fun on bikes that is not gravity or moto.