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Pedal assist bike-new trend?

Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,865
16,405
where the trails are
I've ridden the Spesh commuter bike with this same technology. the power delivery is really impressive.
That said if it has a motor, it's a motorcycle.
 
Lelandjt

Lelandjt

adorbs
Apr 4, 2008
2,636
998
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
All my bikes are pedal assist and I love them! Once you guys try it I'm sure you'll agree and this is gonna be a HUGE trend! Sure Gwin doesn't need to pedal but once you try it it'll change your world. Instead of only being able to coast downhill or push with your feet you can pedal and it makes the bike go.

I skimmed the press release and saw "unusually light rebound tune" and "strava enabled". I passed out laughing.
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,644
8,686
Trail access is the biggest issue. I'll keep my electric assist on the street, where such conflicts are not inevitable (and I have my latent motorcycle endorsement on my driver's license if it comes down to that).
 
tomasis7

tomasis7

stroganoff
Nov 5, 2014
623
65
Electronic bong-shed LEGAL
i imagine a conversation on a trail centre:

-You pedal up like superman, did you drink something?
-No, I trained hard, rode enduro and my legs are bigger than Graves. That spacious box placed on the frame is a storage for bong.
 
tomasis7

tomasis7

stroganoff
Nov 5, 2014
623
65
Electronic bong-shed LEGAL
On another note, 650B Plus size, 29Er faterr, whatever.. one has no excuse for not buying because climbing power suxx on heavier wheels. Add electric assistance and you are new god on the two monster wheels..
 
Flo33

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,135
1,364
Styria
The whole trend will die as soon as the first insurance comp pulls the trigger after an accident with a "motorized vehicle" called e-bike, pedelec or what the heck you want to.
 
dump

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,456
5,082
MTB marketing always uses the "allows you to have more fun" language. Product-x isn't what makes mountain biking fun! And certainly not a battery-powered bike!
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,644
8,686
dump said:
MTB marketing always uses the "allows you to have more fun" language. Product-x isn't what makes mountain biking fun! And certainly not a battery-powered bike!
Click to expand...
Self-shuttling isn't fun?
 
Bikael Molton

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
I'm gonna wear the lifelong-mtb-nerd-hat and say Trail access in high-pop areas is gonna get so fycked.

MTB has wanted to look "moto" for decades. Nothing looks more "moto" than loading your Taco to drive a state away to ride, spending 2-3x as much time on the highway getting to the spot vs riding.

The moto dude in me wants to try one of these, but at that sort of money my $ would be going to a KTM EXC. Also we only just got away from 44 lb dh bikes...
 
RayB

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
I, for one, think the technology is pretty rad and I'm all for that.

Personally-speaking, however, I'm probably not going to ride one of these for the following reasons, which I'm sure a lot of us share in common:

1) Price. Seriously, go buy a dirt bike. Or anything else.
2) I pedal my bike up mountains because I don't wanna be a lazy, fat fuck. In terms of sports, there aren't very many better alternatives to cycling when it comes to fat-burning efficiency. Maybe we're a dying breed of cyclists, but I do sincerely appreciate the sense of accomplishment from grinding for an hour & 3,000 ft of vertical. And then of course, you get to blast down, which brings me to my last point...
3) I don't see how a 45+ lb bike with plus-sized tires (where most of the weight is centered @ the bottom bracket) is going to handle well at all.

Honestly, I think the trail access thing isn't that big a deal. I bet if you showed 100 random parks & rec crew members (e.g. rangers) a picture of an e-assist bike, 95 or more of 'em would have no idea such a thing even exists, and 4 of 'em would probably simply mistake it for a regular bike. I know, we all hate the the 1-ride-a-week Asian/dentist/gaper weekend warrior crew that gets in your way @ your local trails, but relax, they're still gonna suck (maybe more) with electronic-assist bikes, and you're still gonna have fun on your bike.
 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,660
1,237
Nilbog
RayB said:
I, for one, think the technology is pretty rad and I'm all for that.
.
Click to expand...
I for one, think you are out of your god damn mind. There is literally zero argument for owning one of these piles of trash over the new generation of electric dirt bikes and riding legal moto trails. You are doing nothing for mtb except setting us back 15 years on trail access.
 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,660
1,237
Nilbog
Yes, they might not realize they exist for the first year or 2, but if this nonsense becomes a trend you bet your ass they will realize.
 
RayB

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
manhattanprjkt83 said:
I for one, think you are out of your god damn mind. There is literally zero argument for owning one of these piles of trash over the new generation of electric dirt bikes and riding legal moto trails. You are doing nothing for mtb except setting us back 15 years on trail access.
Click to expand...
You clearly didn't read a fucking thing I wrote lol
 
Bikael Molton

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
It's when the electric motoTBs are blazing UP the techy trails and and blowing past casual XCers at 3-4x their speed on the flats that the rangers'll notice. Have you ever blazed uphill berms or hillclimbs at an OHV park on a dirt bike? It's fun as shit, and would be the first thing most of us would want to do when poaching mtb trails with a motor.

Also, a ton of rangers are outdoorsy dudes and some of 'em ride and are reading this message as I type this. :tinfoil:
:tinfoil:
:tinfoil:

But if your bicycle trails are in a national forest or on BLM land or you live in Idaho or whatever it'll probably be fine.
 
RayB

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
rpet said:
Have you ever blazed uphill berms or hillclimbs at an OHV park on a dirt bike? It's fun as shit, and would be the first thing most of us would want to do when poaching mtb trails with a motor.
Click to expand...
What? Really??

The only thing I'd want to do with an E-assist bike is ride it up steep, long fireroads, just so I could rip some sweet trails down. But again, if you read my post above, that defeats the whole idea of "mountain biking" to me & the bike probably handles like shit, hence why I'm against it.

Are you implying that you would ride an E-assist bike UPHILL on a flow/jump trail that's designed to go down??? (e.g. Unemployment Line @ Galbraith in Bellingham, WA)

If so, LOL. I have nothing left to contribute to this thread.
 
W

wood booger

Monkey
Jul 16, 2008
668
72
the land of cheap beer
This is a pedal assist bike you chuckle heads! It does not go unless you turn the cranks, no throttle to pin wide open. No uphill berms or moto hill climbs with this one.

And some DH bikes weighed this much (44 lbs) not very long ago.....

This is by far the best iteration of 'lectricity in mtb bikes yet.
Figure out how to plug in your "medicinal" vaporizer and the Bay Area will be swarming with these things.
Silicon Valley stoner dorks rejoice!
 
supercow

supercow

Monkey
Feb 18, 2009
969
130
Think the only situation where I wouldn't judge someone riding one of these things, is if if you're disabled in some way, preventing you from being able to pedal.

A dude at my local Dh spot has a very gammy leg / hip (for the lack of actually knowing what's wrong with him), but given that on the DH bike he mostly just needs to stand on the pedals or rotate the cranks minimally, he manages well. A bike like this would open up other riding potential for someone like that.
 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,660
1,237
Nilbog
supercow said:
Think the only situation where I wouldn't judge someone riding one of these things, is if if you're disabled in some way, preventing you from being able to pedal.

A dude at my local Dh spot has a very gammy leg / hip (for the lack of actually knowing what's wrong with him), but given that on the DH bike he mostly just needs to stand on the pedals or rotate the cranks minimally, he manages well. A bike like this would open up other riding potential for someone like that.
Click to expand...
I can get behind this 100%, if something happened to me physically and this could get me out with my friends absolutely.
 
Bikael Molton

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
Yes, if I was a normal dude out for some kicks on a 2-wheeler, rather than a lifelong MTB nerd cognizant of trail access issues with a fair bit of trail-building under my built... I would let 'er rip!

Personally, I'm not going to be poaching any MTB trails with either electric or gas motos.

I think a lot of people are not MTB trail-advocacy nerds though... and therein lies the problem.

RayB said:
What? Really??

The only thing I'd want to do with an E-assist bike is ride it up steep, long fireroads, just so I could rip some sweet trails down. But again, if you read my post above, that defeats the whole idea of "mountain biking" to me & the bike probably handles like shit, hence why I'm against it.

Are you implying that you would ride an E-assist bike UPHILL on a flow/jump trail that's designed to go down??? (e.g. Unemployment Line @ Galbraith in Bellingham, WA)

If so, LOL. I have nothing left to contribute to this thread.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Bikael Molton

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
wood booger said:
This is a pedal assist bike you chuckle heads! It does not go unless you turn the cranks, no throttle to pin wide open. No uphill berms or moto hill climbs with this one.

And some DH bikes weighed this much (44 lbs) not very long ago.....

This is by far the best iteration of 'lectricity in mtb bikes yet.
Figure out how to plug in your "medicinal" vaporizer and the Bay Area will be swarming with these things.
Silicon Valley stoner dorks rejoice!
Click to expand...
Do you think jailbreaking the pedal assist won't happen? It could be as simple as jury-rigging the gear ratio to get the motor to contribute a higher %.
 
RayB

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
rpet said:
Yes, if I was a normal dude out for some kicks on a 2-wheeler, rather than a lifelong MTB nerd cognizant of trail access issues with a fair bit of trail-building under my built... I would let 'er rip!

Personally, I'm not going to be poaching any MTB trails with either electric or gas motos.

I think a lot of people are not MTB trail-advocacy nerds though... and therein lies the problem.
Click to expand...
Fair points.
 
Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,865
16,405
where the trails are
hey, we're still talking about the cycle, with the motor!

wood booger said:
This is a pedal assist bike you chuckle heads! It does not go unless you turn the cranks, no throttle to pin wide open....
Click to expand...
Like I said above I've actually ridden their commuter version; turning the cranks pretty much IS twisting the throttle. The acceleration is many many times the natural acceleration if you were pedaling, and it can hit about 30mph.
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,644
8,686
Nick said:
hey, we're still talking about the cycle, with the motor!

Like I said above I've actually ridden their commuter version; turning the cranks pretty much IS twisting the throttle. The acceleration is many many times the natural acceleration if you were pedaling, and it can hit about 30mph.
Click to expand...
There are many different modes. You could set it up for 0% assist... or 300%. Also, more sophisticated drivetrains use a torque sensor instead of simple cadence sensor (or, worse yet, throttle).
 
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