On balance, I still am not a fan of e-bikes (previously known as ‘I just don’t get E bikes’)

I have one thing attached to the bottom of my legs.

Planet Earth.

I like it. I like it loamy and remote. I feel a need to look after it. When people say ‘…maybe we are alone in the universe…’ I always say, nope, we have millions of species sharing this space here, with us.

And if you want aliens….just look at a magnified photo of a spider’s eyes, or read about how wasps create zombie cockroaches….
 
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Posse Non-E

Wales. Mach. Climacx Trail. After a long haul.

Combined age = 147. Not as good as the Stones.

1665661264761.jpeg
 
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Here was me thinking you were my hero, riding 100 miles a week in the forests to get to work etc, then I see you sat on one of them modern Sofa Bikes, all comfy and wide, big moving things and cushions on the wheels...
Illusion shattered.


;-)
 
Yep that’s me - indeed on a long travel enduro bike in the photo - er yes a sofa but I can tell you that Climacx is an 18km pain fest … some nice flow, some heavy grind and some grim drop offs….

….although work is a mixed ride on a Cotic RoadRat - lovely steel thing - (a gravel bike!!!) the majority of my riding is Ragley or Cotic hard tails on single track - still like my 2.4 tyres though….
 
Last time this subject was discussed, I was chased off here for being accused of being an elitist snob cos I criticised the 30 odd year racing snake who dons his race face and powers up climbs on an e bike.
I stand by that and am prepared to be hounded off here again

What next? A powered robotic arm that holds your squash racket, with the user presses a button at the right time to smash it and rack up another victory?

2 poignant posts on here for me
1. People are lazy and want the thrills and rewards without the effort
2 in time we will be asked why we aren't using an ebike, we are missing a trick.

Just to say, I'm happy for the elderly, those with restrictions and utility riders to use them
 
Last time this subject was discussed, I was chased off here for being accused of being an elitist snob cos I criticised the 30 odd year racing snake who dons his race face and powers up climbs on an e bike.
I stand by that and am prepared to be hounded off here again

What next? A powered robotic arm that holds your squash racket, with the user presses a button at the right time to smash it and rack up another victory?

2 poignant posts on here for me
1. People are lazy and want the thrills and rewards without the effort
2 in time we will be asked why we aren't using an ebike, we are missing a trick.

Just to say, I'm happy for the elderly, those with restrictions and utility riders to use them
I don't think you should be hounded off just for voicing an opinion. Assuming its done in a respectful or humorous manner.
 
I agree👍 E-bikes are for people who are lazy, but hey, I have never tried one, so who am I to say?. The biggest thing I hate about ebikes is the fact they are marketed as environmentally friendly. An e bike is nowhere near as efficient as a motorbike (or a plain bike for that matter) but an e bike makes more emissions than a motorbike. How, the battery of course, the emissions caused by the production of the battery would make it make more emissions than a motorbike. It would take 10yrs or more for an e bike to catch up with a motorcycle on emissions, and once its been 10yrs the battery would not hold charge anymore, and you’ll have to buy a new one😂 (it’s the same with electric cars). E bikes do look a lot cooler in my opinion, especially the new s-works e bike.
 
Surely there are other threads where this has been discussed to death and revealed that the ebike argument is much more nuanced? It's like complaining about mouse shit when there's an elephant in the same room about to drop a load.

They use far less resources and energy than a car or motorbike (and I own neither of those). Mine carries all of my shopping and firewood. After major surgery and removal of a foot of small/large intestine a few years back, I no longer have the energy to cart those back on a push bike (and would actually struggle to eat/digest enough to "just eat more and pedal"). The alternative for me would be to learn to drive and buy a car.

I use a non-electric mountain bike for recreational cycling, but wouldn't hesitate to use an electric one if I was not longer fit enough or even if I was just having a bad day health wise.
Pretty much this.

It's an easy decision to make, ride one or don't ride one. Just get on and ride.
 
MCN take on electric motorbikes:

Battery recycling – a fast-improving technology – means a growing proportion of lithium, nickel and cobalt can be recovered, and future batteries are under development with an eye to using more sustainable materials, and as power generation becomes greener around the world (greenhouse emissions from power generation in Europe have halved since 1990 and are projected to halve again by 2030) so does the eco performance of electric vehicles.

But it’s also clear that other low carbon or carbon-neutral ideas – hydrogen power via fuel cells or hydrogen combustion engines, for instance, or synthetic fuels – shouldn’t be ignored.

ah - from the Light Electric Vehicle Association - note the vested interest before reading this:

Tomi Engel from Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Sonnenenergie e.V. published a study in 2008 that concluded that electric bikes as a form of transportation create less of a carbon cost than human powered bikes…..

Unless….the rider ate only potatoes.

Since energy sources are more and more often renewables, it is likely that even a potato only diet now has more carbon production than an ebike.

And yes…the study ignores the benefit to the rider of exercise resulting in better fitness. This was a study about energy use and carbon production.


ah right. Now what this really lacks is a set of STANDARDS to allow proper environmental auditing. And we really need that. A full set of categories: production emissions, transportation emissions, ‘fuel’ inputs (footprint of electricity provision and the network to supply that energy - food consumption and the footprint of the system which provides it), replacement impact (of components, of consumables etc). And impact of residuals - battery recycling, disposals of tyres etc). This kind of work is being done very sporadically, and with contrasting conclusions depending on the assumptions and omissions around the criteria and data.
 
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