Phil above,
"Question Wade, I think it is fair to say that I cannot keep up with you on a bike. If we were to go out for a ride now, it would not be fun for either of us. You would have to wait repeatedly for me and I would be struggling, stopping less than I would feel comfortable doing and getting fatigued along with feeling bad that I am making you wait for me. If I was on an e-bike...we would be going at your pace, and chances are both of us would be enjoying the experience. I am not sure what would be wrong with that."
I don't see anything wrong with that image, sounds fun!
Your point is great one, and I also think it's a big part of where I believe my disconnect ist.
Friends have asked me the same thing, if I rode and ebike, would it be more fun for us to ride together so you aren't standing around or riding at half speed all the time?
I think this social side, mixed with the humans natural aversion to the pain fo climbing hard is where ebikes have great potential.
So where is the disconnect? Based on my rides on ebikes and what I've seen with todays products, in a normal non techy climb, you'd drop me like a dead weight. These bikes have double the wattage of my body, and as Mike said in his lead up, are much faster then pro level riders without motors on the way up. Then, if we were on real mtb trails with rocks twist turns etc, I may drop you on the way down, as lighter, more agile bikes can be quicker (I do pass quite a few ebikes going down). So, with products as they are, my riding buddy would wait on the ups and I'd probably wait on the downs.
That is part of why my argument is that this tech could be even better if they created products for what I call, a more human pace.
Is that adding 50-150 watts for 3-4 hrs and only adding a few more lbs to a bike, so the bikes are actually more agile and playful when riding techy terrain?
Seems with something like that, uphill can be less painful, more fun for all and when pointed down, the handling is more similar, so you can bunny hop, work through "trailsy" moves and not "jump like a penguin" as Mike says in his review.
Your quote I mentioned earlier about less weight and lower power from Epics thread on "ebikes and drones" was along these lines as well.
I do believe a product like this would calm trail issues like speed differential that can cause collisions and trail conflict, and also creates less trail damage as braking forces are lower with less weight and speed.
Re the meeting: I look forward to seeing what you hear, I do think that Reno may be a place where ebikes can make more sense for many, big desert terrain, lots of straights, not to twisty/turny techy, so it will be interesting to see how they go. That said, the main trail building group up there is not on point on how to build great mtb trails and according to a couple of friends, don't listen to experienced riders and trail builders. That is a different group though, podunks?
Let's ride and test the theory, up keystone and down the N downhill trail next week?
Cheers!
