Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Well as another comparison, the S-Works Stumpjumper and the S-Works LevoSL are the same price.
E-bikes are a thing
- Thread starter jdog
- Start date
Well as another comparison, the S-Works Stumpjumper and the S-Works LevoSL are the same price.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Yes, but in a third comparison $4K is 6.66 Long Island Timberjacks...
Captain Brainstorm
Well-Known Member
Not at Bolton Valley up in VT, you need a pass of some sort to ride there. Then again, I doubt the e-bike crew will be frequenting the place since there are no greens, maybe one blue, with the rest being black or double-black. And the double-blacks are real double-blacks.
There were a group of seniors that where up in Stowe all summer between 75-85, all kitted up (a couple of knee braces here and there) on Ripmos, High Towers, and Bronsons riding impressively fast. Getting old doesn’t mean having to resort to an ebike, so I’m being cautiously optimistic.
We can hope. But reality is a hard MFer sometimes. We'll see how it plays out. Maybe video games will be good enough by then and I'll just get my fix that way. Probably hurt less when I crash anyway.
GSTim
Formerly M3Tim
A pivotal ride for me that changed the way I thought of ebikes still resonates with me as on of the hardest bike rides I’ve ever been on.
Didn’t take many photos but on that ride was Josh Brycland (plus 4 guys from his crew) Mark Weir, Tim Johnson and jerome clemntz.
This ride showed me what was possible on an ebike and just how hard they can be ridden.
Mark weir seems to be nearly all ebike these days based on social media. Jerome is al least part time.
These guys fullly shred. Both up and down my heart rate was pinned. I kept thinking to myself.. “where is all the cheating I keep hearing about”??
Riders who go hard will go so on ebikes. They handle differently for sure. No question, but they can change the trails you already know.
On my ride yesterday, we had 4 ebikes and multiple times we were all over 20 mph and at those speeds the drive unit cuts out. In these cases I felt like the bike might actually be a hair slower than my analog bike.
I added in the mix two shots of my failing knee. I’ll use this as my excuse for the time being, but I have to say that I can now do big rides w/ zero knee pain. Not bad as my bones are touching.
The photo of the ebike with the bob trailer is what I’ve used for the last decade or longer at 6mr to build trails.
These things are evolving as we watch, but there is no question they are here to stay.
one piece crank
1pc Cranky
JPark
Well-Known Member
If you're on an e-bike with a group of average acoustic riders, you'll barely break a sweat.
If you're with a group of e-bikes or solo and pushing it, you'll be exhausted by the end of the day. The difference is you went farther and faster on the e-bike.
You'll keep pushing yourself because there will be trail features you wouldn't normally be a able to do.
Even a flatter place like 6MR, coming out of Canal lot you could clear every jump in the field in either direction.
I don't own an e-bike but will eventually. I have ridden them however.
If you're with a group of e-bikes or solo and pushing it, you'll be exhausted by the end of the day. The difference is you went farther and faster on the e-bike.
You'll keep pushing yourself because there will be trail features you wouldn't normally be a able to do.
Even a flatter place like 6MR, coming out of Canal lot you could clear every jump in the field in either direction.
I don't own an e-bike but will eventually. I have ridden them however.
Put it in Eco mode and you can work as hard as everyone else is if you so choose.
I followed someone on a regular bike around CR yesterday in Eco. We both were sweating plenty. Getting my bike thru the streambed on Red did require both of us.
one piece crank
1pc Cranky
So if you hit such a stream bed, guesed you walked the bike through, could you just increase the boost and throttle bump your way through?
Or You can use walk mode. Oh this mode will allow you to move the bike or walking speed without pedaling.
No throttles.
one piece crank
1pc Cranky
Nice feature.
I figured it was bad.
Yeah, what was I thinking?!
Parallel to this thought, I could see enjoying a FS ebike, with 26x3 DH tires, and spliced throttle button to bump the heavy bike through low-speed deep $hite.
FitmanNJ
Well-Known Member
IMHO, the heavily eroded streambeds on Red and Blue can now accurately be called “valleys.”😁
Captain Brainstorm
Well-Known Member
Not really a fair assessment because a fit and fast group is going to work you no matter what you ride.
We all ride for different reasons, and for me its not just about going farther. All an e-bike did for me is made the climbs easier, and I don't need one to help tackle technical features since I think that less weight would benefit me more than power with some of the terrain that I ride and features I like to hit. It didn't make me feel like I accomplished anything, and I like to try something physically demanding and beyond my capabilities on every ride. My perception of one at this point in my life is that it would be a crutch for me, and as I get older I hope I get lucky and never need one. I also know exactly what I want to ride before I ride it and the quality of the ride for me isn't based on how far I go, but how I go about it and the other intangibles (weather, scenery, terrain, technical features, how I feel, company or lack of, etc.). For the times I want to go father and really, really faster, I have bike with a 140hp motor bolted to it.
I know what you mean
thegock
Well-Known Member
In JC tonight, there were about 100 food delivery guys out in the teeming rain. Most without helmets (?!), but most had lights and were hitting at least 28mph on Grove St. Seemed fatalistic.
I talked to two of the guys with 20” fat tires on the PATH ride home. One guy had a heavily used ebike that had a lot of duct tape on it with a big basket over the back wheel. He paid $1,700 for the big battery food truck with discs and a fork. The second guy’s bike was newish, fenders and lights included with discs and a fork--- $1,600 delivered. Looked like he was using it to commute. Both guys were very happy to tell me about their old and new whips.
I talked to two of the guys with 20” fat tires on the PATH ride home. One guy had a heavily used ebike that had a lot of duct tape on it with a big basket over the back wheel. He paid $1,700 for the big battery food truck with discs and a fork. The second guy’s bike was newish, fenders and lights included with discs and a fork--- $1,600 delivered. Looked like he was using it to commute. Both guys were very happy to tell me about their old and new whips.
I wonder if there are shops in the city that actually work on these when they have electrical problems. I know I alway pass on those requests. I'll work on the bicycle portion but I'm not hunting down electrical issues after the bikes have been ridden in the rain and stop working.
Not sure how the other big bike companies are dealing, but at least I know Specialized has made it really easy to deal with any problems we've encountered.