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      08-05-2018, 12:15 PM   #10
The Wind Breezes
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Drives: 135i N55 DCT
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: USA

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Quote:
Originally Posted by CO_Steve View Post
Yea, I've ridden a bike for a while, longer than I care to admit. Sure you keep going faster until it gets hard. Where I live we're lucky to have a fantastic bike trail system. The last thing I want to see is a bunch of e-bikes going 35-40 mph on the trails. Will e-bikes fill the trails with the unfit, unskilled? Is that a good thing? For whom?
First of all, if any kind of bike can do 35+ mph on your trails then they're either wide open with good visibility or downhill. In the first case I don't see much of a problem with bikes hauling ass, and in the second, those trails are already filled with people going that fast and faster. Downhill is dangerous, and an ebike would probably be SLOWER on the downhill portion since you aren't using the power and it weighs more. In the video I posted, I'm going way faster than the average rider thru blind two way trails but only averaging a speed that's around the all time record for a human-power strava user (he is a pro mtb racer with a $10K pushbike with active suspension lol). So the ebike isn't doing anything that couldn't be done with human power, thanks to the extremely technical nature of the trails and my own limited skill and fitness. And I'm way faster than anyone else on ebikes I've met out there.

Will ebikes bring the unfit and unskilled to the trails? If they do, I can only see that as a good thing because those people will be getting exercise and exposure to the outdoors. Your concern for unfit and unskilled people hauling ass on ebikes is completely unwarranted. They couldn't do it if they tried. Bikes are very self correcting because you will crash very quickly and teach yourself a lesson if you ride over your head. And if you're unfit, you won't be able to ride hard for long without getting winded and needing to slow down.
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