Tour de “e” France

[Nxkharra]

Still looking for a single positive idea (as opposed to all the “doesn’t work” responses) on this thought provoking idea...
Doesn’t have to be exact current ebikes, doesn’t have to be called Tour de France,....
Just future of ebike racing...
Like eMTB that @Sierratim introduced to us.
Beginning to think.....

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Sky is the limit

Anything is possible in your imagination. I guess I don't really see the point in racing e-bikes. There's hardly any limit to how fast they can be made to go, but long before they reach that limit they won't resemble the kind of e-bikes most us here ride and enjoy. They'll be something else. So why not talk about racing rocket powered Barcaloungers?

TT

 

[byunbee]

They already have world cups for emtb's.

World E-Bike Series • What electric is all about

WES is the first world series reserved to E-bikes only, the sole UCI E-Mountain Bike Cross-Country World Cup and it includes the E-Bike Fest.

www.worldebikeseries.com

 

[Nxkharra]

Anything is possible in your imagination. I guess I don't really see the point in racing e-bikes. There's hardly any limit to how fast they can be made to go, but long before they reach that limit they won't resemble the kind of e-bikes most us here ride and enjoy. They'll be something else. So why not talk about racing rocket powered Barcaloungers?

TT

Haha. I just give up on hoping for a positive idea.
NASCAR cars are not the types of cars we drive but many enjoy watching, so as Formula 1, and .....
I guess when it comes to ebikes everyone agrees that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a race (speed doesn’t have to be the main driving factor as opposed to range, battery exchange and charging, heat, cold,....)
Interesting thought anyway.
Seems like MTB folks have solved this idea.
Not for us regular ebikers!

 

[BigNerd]

I think somewhere down the road there could be one.

There would probably be classes like motor power/torque (kind of like weight classes) and then there has to be some governance to make sure no one is "juicing" their bikes.

But it's possible. Might start casual at first but it would be an interesting race of man/machine/motor.

 

[Nxkharra]

I think somewhere down the road there could be one.

There would probably be classes like motor power/torque (kind of like weight classes) and then there has to be some governance to make sure no one is "juicing" their bikes.

But it's possible. Might start casual at first but it would be an interesting race of man/machine/motor.

@BigNerd you win the prize of first positive respond to this idea without pointing to something that is difficult but possible.

 

[Nxkharra]

Anything is possible in your imagination. I guess I don't really see the point in racing e-bikes. There's hardly any limit to how fast they can be made to go, but long before they reach that limit they won't resemble the kind of e-bikes most us here ride and enjoy. They'll be something else. So why not talk about racing rocket powered Barcaloungers?

TT

Haha. If Bacalloungers your thing why not?
I was thinking us ebikers like to see ebike race.

 

[arod2051]

I think people find a way to race anything. I would love to see an e-bike race.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Ebikes have been used in Olympics.

Perhaps you or someone else can help my weak memory. There was an attempt to replace the gas-powered Derny with electric ones at some motor-paced six-day racing several years ago and it ended up with a fiasco. Dernys are back. What was it?

 

[Nxkharra]

For all of you who said this is not possible back when I posted this….
It’s happening. Nothing is impossible!!

 

[Art Deco]

Haha. I just give up on hoping for a positive idea.
NASCAR cars are not the types of cars we drive but many enjoy watching, so as Formula 1, and .....
I guess when it comes to ebikes everyone agrees that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have a race (speed doesn’t have to be the main driving factor as opposed to range, battery exchange and charging, heat, cold,....)
Interesting thought anyway.
Seems like MTB folks have solved this idea.
Not for us regular ebikers!

You can race anything. I was at some tourist event where they had bathtubs and couches on wheels for a downhill race.

 

[BioWheel]

We'll need an E-bike race in the future as bikes are left behind. Pretty soon, kids bikes will be ebikes as the technology becomes cheaper. Eventually, for instance, Wal-Mart kids bikes will be mostly and then only E-bikes. And then those kids will only buy E-bikes as adults. There will come a day when folks will find it hard to believe bikes in the past didn't have any assistance. Yeah, you'll have some old folks still racing bikes. But mostly - that will all fade away and let the Tour de Efrance begin.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'd prefer the battery charge were limited for given race category. Let us see who rides the same distance on the same battery size faster, despite of the motor power Because I see no sense if one racer comes with a 250 W e-bike, and another will produce 8 kW

 

[Nxkharra]

We'll need an E-bike race in the future as bikes are left behind. Pretty soon, kids bikes will be ebikes as the technology becomes cheaper. Eventually, for instance, Wal-Mart kids bikes will be mostly and then only E-bikes. And then those kids will only buy E-bikes as adults. There will come a day when folks will find it hard to believe bikes in the past didn't have any assistance. Yeah, you'll have some old folks still racing bikes. But mostly - that will all fade away and let the Tour de Efrance begin.

This is the kind of response I was hoping for when I originally posted this….all I received was negative and impossible.
I fully agree.
future if ebikes..

 

[Nxkharra]

I'd prefer the battery charge were limited for given race category. Let us see who rides the same distance on the same battery size faster, despite of the motor power Because I see no sense if one racer comes with a 250 W e-bike, and another will produce 8 kW

Fully agree. This could be because the race is not man vs machine but man+machine vs other man+machine.

 

[Jim in Central CA]

This is something I had never considered, but it is an interesting concept. And, it seems to me that to flatly state that it will never happen is the same as saying the world is flat or that man will never fly. The reality is that we don't know what we don't know and new technology can (and will! ) change our world very, very quickly. If our experience over the last 30 years has taught us anything it is that technology advances much faster than most of us are able to keep up with, and I don't see any reason why e-bikes will somehow be different than any other new technology that has come on-line in the recent past.

 

[Nxkharra]

This is something I had never considered, but it is an interesting concept. And, it seems to me that to flatly state that it will never happen is the same as saying the world is flat or that man will never fly. The reality is that we don't know what we don't know and new technology can (and will! ) change our world very, very quickly. If our experience over the last 30 years has taught us anything it is that technology advances much faster than most of us are able to keep up with, and I don't see any reason why e-bikes will somehow be different than any other new technology that has come on-line in the recent past.

 

[Art Deco]

This is something I had never considered, but it is an interesting concept. And, it seems to me that to flatly state that it will never happen is the same as saying the world is flat or that man will never fly. The reality is that we don't know what we don't know and new technology can (and will! ) change our world very, very quickly. If our experience over the last 30 years has taught us anything it is that technology advances much faster than most of us are able to keep up with, and I don't see any reason why e-bikes will somehow be different than any other new technology that has come on-line in the recent past.

Hopefully eBikes won't become functionally obsolete as fast as early PCs or smart phones, but I wouldn't count on it. Most don't seem to be well tested or built for long term use, just built for a price point like most other consumer electronics.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hopefully eBikes won't become functionally obsolete as fast as early PCs or smart phones, but I wouldn't count on it. Most don't seem to be well tested or built for long term use, just built for a price point like most other consumer electronics.

"Spit these words out!" as we Poles say

Hopefully, my Vado's batteries should be good by 2025

 

[ActionJackson]

Realize ebikes are not as matured as mechanical ones. I see a day that we have ebike international race.
It will be combination of Tour de France and Grand Prix.
what do you think?

I think it would have to be a combination of both athletic prowess and race engineering along the lines of FIA Formula-E where there’s a standard motor and gearing specification, or simply a standard torque multiplier. They would also have to add some additional element of excitement and danger over regular bike racing such as extreme speeds ~120km/h and hard curved flat courses to attract fans. To put things really over the top they should make it a tandem bicycle wherein you have a real brute dude in the back for driving force, and a cute chick up front as the pilot controlling steering and braking. And betting. I would pay to see that!