"Why I STILL do not own an E-MTB (Despite having everything else)": an interesting video

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm fond of videos from Bearm Peak channel. In one of the recent videos, the man discusses the e-MTB, which he rented to understand e-bikes in the world of the technical singletrack cycling.

'but if I end up with an e-bike...
I might end up with an e-bike'

That's what's he really afraid of

 

[MinnBobber]

I'm fond of videos from Bearm Peak channel. In one of the recent videos, the man discusses the e-MTB, which he rented to understand e-bikes in the world of the technical singletrack cycling.

'but if I end up with an e-bike...
I might end up with an e-bike'

That's what's he really afraid of

As an E mtn bike owner for less than a week,
I love it.
A sub type, a E fattie mtn bike , made for winter and SNOW….
It is crazy fun!
Minnesota was blessed with a blizzard that enabled me to ride from home , in a huge variety of snow conditions, which ranged from epic to impossible.
Picture is from 4th ride if that day, headed out at midnight cuz so fun and snow would be short lived.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Minnesota was blessed with a blizzard that enabled me to ride from home

Oh, yes, your e-bike is made for that kind of weather...
Although I can still remember a blizzard ride on 2" tyres (I was more reckless 4 years ago)

In 3 minutes after taking that reel, the road was covered with deep snow. Scary!

 

[PDoz]

'but if I end up with an e-bike...
I might end up with an e-bike'

That's what's he really afraid of

Stefan, you might have missed his point with that statement - he's essentially saying it doesn't MATTER if he gets an ebike - not that he's afraid of anything.

To be honest, the video is a fair representation of why a reasonably fit and capable rider isn't excited / bothered about moving to an emtb YET.

Not as good downhill ( it's a trek exe on a one day hire , no argument from me on that one - I handed one back an hour early when I rented for a day! )

He felt he wasn't exercising as much up hill - but towards the end of the day was starting to build up a sweat. Someone has to say this - I exercise MORE uphill on mine - same amount of leg effert, as in all I can put out, but I'm going faster so the rest of me gets a work out. So when the limitting factor for exercise is time riding rather than distance travelled , I get MORE exercise.

He seemed to be chilled out cruising uphill, and conflicted by that . I possibly understand why - at the start of a descent, he'd normally be pumping adrenaline after struggling to the top - perhaps he was missing that buz?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, you might have missed his point with that statement - he's essentially saying it doesn't MATTER if he gets an ebike - not that he's afraid of anything.

I thought he meant if he bought an e-bike, his other MTBs would start gathering the dust
Yet you are right: as a non-English speaker I am poor at understanding the subtleties of the language.

 

[jabberwocky]

Seth is a pretty strong rider. I do think theres a point where a fit rider doesn't get as much speed/endurance boost from an ebike as normal people. Then it becomes "I'm riding a heavier bike to go slightly faster".

He also lives in western NC. I've ridden there and (like a lot of MTB destinations) they aren't really fans of ebikes. Not allowed on most of the trails (the vast majority of the trails around Asheville/Pisgah/Brevard are national forest, which still maintains a blanket ban on ebikes on non-motorized trails AFIAK).

Even if some people poach (I'm sure they do) he obviously can't post videos where hes riding an emtb on national forest trails. Since he pays the bills through his youtube content, thats an additional factor in them not being attractive to him.

All that said, I've followed him for years and hes done a few ebike videos and has always seemed pretty cool about them. Won't be surprised when he ends up with one eventually.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Big long time Seth fan. I did notice his remarks about ebike acceptance in the Bentonville area, apparently the flip side to Asheville. His buddy Brian (BKXC on YouTube), while clearly lacking the storytelling gene that Seth has, posts some of the best visual semi-extreme to extreme mountain biking stuff - his series from Peru last year was amazing. He has also stuck his feet into the ebike world from time to time.

 

[jabberwocky]

Big long time Seth fan. I did notice his remarks about ebike acceptance in the Bentonville area, apparently the flip side to Asheville. His buddy Brian (BKXC on YouTube), while clearly lacking the storytelling gene that Seth has, posts some of the best visual semi-extreme to extreme mountain biking stuff - his series from Peru last year was amazing. He has also stuck his feet into the ebike world from time to time.

Bentonville is a bit of an odd one in the mtb-destination world, because it became an outdoor destination very quickly and very recently (like, first trails cut in 2007). For those who don't know, Bentonville AR is the home of Walmart. Some of the Walmart family kids are into mountainbiking, and the Walton Family Foundation (basically the Walmart family charity/community development org) has injected tons of money and time into the community to build out an absolutely first rate trail network and help transform the town into a mountainbiking mecca. Its been a huge success story for cycling (not just mountainbiking, but cycling in general in the area from what I see).

I think the fact that its a very recent buildout and doesn't have the legacy mtb groups (who are often the ones opposing ebikes) makes it much easier for them to be accepted. They also aren't surrounded by hundreds of square miles of federally owned land (BLM, National Forest, etc) the way a lot of other mtb destinations are.