Interview: Michael Kelley Advocates For E-Bikes On The Trails
- Thread starter Brambor
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Interesting and disappointing...when he said east and west are different I think I would agree. 1st thing comes to my mind is the trails the westerners want are the single track dirt style . I am hoping to use my bike on the smoothest longest trails paved I can find,the least technical. I didn't ride those as a kid, I love the scenery, outdoors, exploring, etc that the west has but not even the smallest interest in falling and more pain 
irenewg13
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Last night, my husband I went to a bike shop to see if I could get some changes made to my ebike. While in the shop, I noticed some bikers checking out my bike. One of them waited until we were out in the parking lot, came up to me and said, "isn't this cheating?"
Interesting word choice, "cheating". Cheating who? The spandex gods, who think a ride around the lake, (13 mi., winding, stop sign type city streets), trying to beat their own personal best? Speeding past walkers, bikers, and yes, we dangerous, upright handlebar gripping, e bike, speedsters, who are enjoying the experience, not the speed?
Next time one of these poor, disadvantaged, titanium, bikers whizzes through "my" neighborhood, gripping their time trial/aerobars, I will see if I can catch up and clock their speed.
Interesting word choice, "cheating". Cheating who? The spandex gods, who think a ride around the lake, (13 mi., winding, stop sign type city streets), trying to beat their own personal best? Speeding past walkers, bikers, and yes, we dangerous, upright handlebar gripping, e bike, speedsters, who are enjoying the experience, not the speed?
Next time one of these poor, disadvantaged, titanium, bikers whizzes through "my" neighborhood, gripping their time trial/aerobars, I will see if I can catch up and clock their speed.
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flymeaway
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irenewg13
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1st time in 10 years that I have been able to enjoy a ride around the lake with my husband. (Spine issues)
I best stay home and finish knitting my grandsons sweater. After all, I must have scared that poor guy!
Bike_On
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Thanks Brambor. What a heated debate. The Purists are afraid of the slippery slope if they open up single tracks to ebikes.
After reading this, I have to give more creedance to the classification effort of Larry P, Court, etc, . A colored lable on a bike like Green (class 1) , yellow (class 2), red (class 3) woul dbe an easy way to alleviate fears and allow trail managers to set the boundaries.
I still advocate for class 4, or combining throttle bikes of 750W under class 3 . For road rules and commuting, we need to protect these as "bicycles", or have modest moped rules.
Bike_On
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Posted on the MTB forum:
Ebikes will likely be regulated by classification, and have identifying labels, like a Green/yellow/red sticker. Then trail managers can specify the ebike class allowed on that particular trail, with respect to the class, and all riders will know what “color” to look out for, as a means of policing the trail and being fair.
It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing folks. Your IMBA founder is not insane or have dementia. He knows what he is talking about. YOU are in ignorance if you think ebikes equal gas powered motorcycles. Ebikes have 3 mixed modes. No assist – normal pedaling, PAS – pedal assist added, human effort is amplified, throttle – assist is added to human effort anytime. There are multiple levels of power that can be set. Trail conservation and safe riding is fully possible. Yes, the extra power has potential for a rider to be more reckless than a normal bike, simply due to the propulsion being used, (ie. go too fast) People have to know the trail rules and how to operate their machine.
The bionic man has now been replaced with the Bionic Bike. Embrace the opportunity.
Ebikes will likely be regulated by classification, and have identifying labels, like a Green/yellow/red sticker. Then trail managers can specify the ebike class allowed on that particular trail, with respect to the class, and all riders will know what “color” to look out for, as a means of policing the trail and being fair.
It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing folks. Your IMBA founder is not insane or have dementia. He knows what he is talking about. YOU are in ignorance if you think ebikes equal gas powered motorcycles. Ebikes have 3 mixed modes. No assist – normal pedaling, PAS – pedal assist added, human effort is amplified, throttle – assist is added to human effort anytime. There are multiple levels of power that can be set. Trail conservation and safe riding is fully possible. Yes, the extra power has potential for a rider to be more reckless than a normal bike, simply due to the propulsion being used, (ie. go too fast) People have to know the trail rules and how to operate their machine.
The bionic man has now been replaced with the Bionic Bike. Embrace the opportunity.
irenewg13
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I submit that some bike riders can easily ride faster than 20 m/hr.. And, are equally susceptible to distraction and reckless riding.
Irene
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George S.
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I'm not sure how this will work, since many bikes are sold as 'off road' and there is no limit to the power. It might be possible to use the regulated road categories, and the limit of 750w, but it doesn't seem like what they are trying to do, right now. They are sorting out bike paths and on-road ebikes.
It seems like everyone who has built a kit, recently, on this forum, has a 1000 to 2000 watt ebike. The 'standard' motors, from every source (Ebay, established vendors) are high wattage.
The California rules haven't passed yet, though there is no reason to think they won't. On the other hand, that is 2017, when it goes into effect. It seems like there will be a lot of kits out there by then that will never really comply. And no other state is really on board with California, at this point.
I asked the BLM in Utah where I could ride an ebike, on what trails. I didn't get any response. You have too many categories of BLM land and trails, like BLM National Parks (Parashant), pure BLM land, BLM wilderness areas, and BLM National Conservation Areas. So BLM doesn't even know what the policy is.
Allan47.7339
Well-Known Member
A week after calling a coworker "cheater" while waiting for light to change on the evening ride home. A week later on a whim I stopped at an ebike store. Three weeks later I owned one. I would assume most of the vitrolic commenters on bikerumor have never ridden one or have just looked a the fringe ebike sites that are mostly concerned with power and speed.
George S.
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it's not really a fringe issue. Get some 0's on the odometer.
KenM.
Active Member
Jay Vee, you sure do have some nice roads to ride and views to look at. Sure is nice! Boy I SURE would like to ride there! SURE would be fun! SURE would be nice if I knew some one that would bring me over there!Whilst all these people argue about where you can and can't go with this or that type of e-bike, I can only continue to be amazed at the lack of traffic (or human activity) on Swiss service roads. I just road 35 kms in the countryside, and I crossed a grand total of 2 mopeds, 2 e-bikes, and 1 very unhappy cat who growled at me (because it's "his road"). It's as if these little access roads are "invisible" to people, perhaps because they are poorly paved or unmarked. It's also possible that people just don't know how to interpret the subtle nuances of the traffic signs. The other day I met a couple that asked me for directions and I pointed them towards a nice little countryside road. The wife remarked that there was a traffic sign forbidding entry to all types of vehicles. But she failed to realize that the restriction only applied in case of snow or ice (it was written under the sign, although in quite small characters).
So I guess I'll keep my secret little stash of roads that nobody seems to want to myself and keep my mouth shut.
Some examples:
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This one is even marked as an official bike itinerary. Perhaps the bursty little 12% grade hill is discouraging people.
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Keep looking up! Ken.
