No off road sub heading and other ramblings

[EddieJ]

Something struck me today. The forum has a crazy amount of 116 topic headings, and yet no off road section.

English, French, German and Austrian e-bike forums that I visit, all have highly active off road sections, so is it a case that US bike owners aren't interested in off road riding? It seems strange to me that so many Haibike owners for example, don't even use the bikes for their intended purpose, preferring to just ride on the road.

From my perspective, it is making the forum pretty flat and disappointing.

Obviously there is no point having an off road heading/section if no one is going to use it, especially as just a handful of regular forum members ever post any form of topic, none of which are off road related.

It's also a shame that the topics that regular members are posting, don't receive more response. Currently there is 3,671 forum members, so what's holding people back from posting?
Taking a deeper look at this, just one off road topic alone on the UK pedelecfoum, has nearly 1,500 replies, and approaching 54,000 views. The German pedelecforum, has even greater numbers with combined posts totally tens of thousands.

Finally, in respect of having so many forum headings, to me it would make more sense to condense things down, or have them open into a separate page. Less is more.
As it stands, the front page is just going to get longer and longer as more are added. A quick Google of creating a successful forum, states that "the more topic headings, the less inviting that a forum is, and the more daunting that it becomes". Common sense really, and perhaps that is what is putting people off from posting.


Any thoughts?

edit.. 50 views and not one comment. Certainly an enthusiastic bunch on here.

 

[MLB]

LOL, it's a niche market still here.
I love my Haibike offroad, but most of my riding is onroad.

 

[Kaldeem]

A lot of the US trails and offroad territories don't allow eBikes yet. Infact many of our great trails are being turned into walking/hiking trails only with preservation laws that don't allow any MTB, eBike or off road vehicles on them at all. It's a shame and sad thing happening here.

 

[miraj]

Great point @EddieJ. I bought my Haibike as a dirt bike replacement due to all off-road riding areas closing in recent years. I haven't been turned away from any trails yet with my ebike. People see pedals and assume it's a bicycle - which it is.

Mike

 

[one4torque]

Stealth bomber bombing down offroad trails here in texas daily!

No time to post .... Weather is good ...... Gotta go.

 

[George S.]

@EddieJ
Mountain biking is pretty huge in Southern Utah. There are High School teams and Mountain Bike patrol officers with the city police. But e-MTB's? It's not showing up yet and the people who regulate the trails don't know what to do with them.

The gentleman who runs the main ebike store in ST. George, Utah, wants to sell the Bosch type mountain bikes in quantity. His name is David Rasmussen. But he's stuck between the power stuff that people build, the MTB riders who don't want any power, and the general apathy, partly caused by high prices.

It's great, what you guys have going in the EU/UK. It's totally half baked in the US, with bad regulations, Wild West bikes, and no one even knowing about off road ebiking.

 

[EddieJ]

The regular pedal mtb riders over here can be pretty negative towards emtb's, especially when I turn up at organised events.

Dongles and other illegal bikes, aren't doing us any favours either. Both are potentially going to spell the end for off road riding on land or tracks and trails that have any form of public access or right of way.
There is already talk of a blanket ban on the use of ebikes at certain places, and there is also talk about banning them at the events that I take part in. I find it sad that a minority of owners and one particular dealer over here, risk spoiling the fun for majority of responsible owners, and they risk potentially killing off an aspect of industry before it has even really got started.

 

[Tara D.]

It's also a shame that the topics that regular members are posting, don't receive more response. Currently there is 3,671 forum members, so what's holding people back from posting?

I've wondered about that myself. And I have only done a little bit of mountain biking one time and I thought that it's far more fun for me on a dirt bike!

 

[EddieJ]

This is an example of what the forum is missing out on, and needs more of.

A chilled 30.5 mile off road ride today.

 

[MLB]

The regular pedal mtb riders over here can be pretty negative towards emtb's, especially when I turn up at organised events.

Dongles and other illegal bikes, aren't doing us any favours either. Both are potentially going to spell the end for off road riding on land or tracks and trails that have any form of public access or right of way.
There is already talk of a blanket ban on the use of ebikes at certain places, and there is also talk about banning them at the events that I take part in. I find it sad that a minority of owners and one particular dealer over here, risk spoiling the fun for majority of responsible owners, and they risk potentially killing off an aspect of industry before it has even really got started.

Agreed. I've not dongled for that reason. And that I'm mostly on bike paths and the extra speed is just a bad idea.
Going to be a lot of Ebikers hurt in the coming years. People that haven't ridden bikes in years buying an Ebike and going 30 mph is just a bad, bad idea.
Even lots of good riders are going to get hurt just going too fast, over riding the brakes and BICYCLE tires(!!), running wide (too fast), etc etc

I had a Stromer ST1 Platinum that would cruise at 30mph with moderate peddling.
A lot of fun for short spells on smooth open roads. Wicked fast and dangerous on potholed streets or bike paths.
Things happen SOOOOOOO much faster at 20+mph and braking distances get crazy long with our tiny little tire contact patch.

For anything other than long commutes on fast roads there's just no real reason for us to be going 30mph on bikes. Get a motorcycle that is built for the speed and impacts that result.
I'm not a speed wienie, I have 2 motorcyles and go much faster on them.
They were designed and improved over many years to be suitable and good at that.