Posted by: fartymarty
Andrew - I think Mike's piece today may have killed the e-bike coverage... there were a lot who don't share the e-love. I'm not sure about gravel - I still don't quite get it.
I enjoy Mike's writing such that I usually read his pieces twice back to back. Today, the second time there was a song playing in my mind in the background. Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Morning Coming Down.
"... and it echoed through the canyons / like the disappearing dreams of yesterday."
We live in a time where loud minorities can sometimes make themselves seem much larger than they are and that's true of politics and bicycles. And if you ignore legacy rides and look at the high-end rigs that shops are selling we're in the minority now, or maybe almost. Why the high-end rigs? Because where goes the premium edge of mountain biking (longer travel, shorter travel, weight matters, now it doesn't, now it does, now it doesn't) goes the majority of the activity. I have a fair few friends who work in bike shops, even bike shops that are not super aggressively pushing motor-assist, and an ever-increasing percentage of their customers with means know they want a plug-in.
The stigma of riding an e-bike is all but gone along with any false humility that once accompanied them. I very regularly hear riders talking about their accomplishments in the same way that Pharaoh "built" the pyramids. "I cleaned X climb" or "I rode to the top in thirty minutes and it used to take me well over an hour" or "I did twice as many laps as I used to." And on some level, for the majority of folks who don't 'need' pedal assist it's like cheating at Solitaire. I mean, you do you 100%, but I assume I'm not the only one who is not interested in hearing about how you're undefeated? I had a buddy tell me a couple of weeks ago tell me that he'd cleaned an SOB of a local climb that I've never made. F-ME I was stoked for him. STOKED. Guess what... yeah.
And for some of my friends who still vehemently oppose them being on the trails, I think, if we were all being honest, a big part of it is fear. Not the fear of access issues or battery fires, but the fear that the activity they love and many of the friendships they've built through blood, sweat, and adventure are going to leave them behind because the motorized version of mountain biking is significantly less financially accessible and significantly more exclusive than the current one. Anyone who's been injured for any length of time knows how folks disappear from our lives.
I know of people who've made the plunge to buy an e-bike, at what's a huge financial commitment for them, because that's what their whole riding group has done. When that bike's out of warranty and cooked, or under-powered and obsolete in a few years and all their friends are upgrading will they, or will they be able to, buy in again? Yes, this is not a new phenomenon brought on by blender-bikes, it's been happening since mountain bikes came into existence. But like the argument that motors are just another upgrade like disc brakes or better suspension or good tires, it's actually such a stratospheric change that it's like comparing my new more-ergonomic shovel to my buddy's mini-excavator.
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I guess that brings me to two things.
1) E-Bikes aren't going anywhere on NSMB. The majority of regular contributors enjoy riding them, as do the dudes at the top. I'd bet you the first round that the silent majority of readers are interested in BroPed content. Even if they don't own one or it's not a near-term purchase. Assume any new component development you see is taking e-bike accountability into account. Yes, even drivetrains that are being raced in WC XC. In that way, a lot of battery-free content isn't really battery-free.
2) There's a silver lining that actually hadn't occurred to me before I met up with Vik for a ride in Cumberland. Five of us all on hardtails, two single-speeds, big smiles, sweating, tired legs, out for a fun adventure. One of the things that first drew me to mountain biking was that it was always easy to find your people. You know you're out riding on a rainy afternoon in November and someone is coming towards you on the trail on a mountain bike? They're your people. Etc., etc., etc. Then the sport exploded. Which has been great in many ways (bikes are so good, trails are so good - the variety of people doing it!) and less good in other ways. And certainly, there are a lot of folks now who ride bikes, especially in the summer months, that aren't my people. In this way, I've gotten over my sadness.
In the same way that I'm always very excited to meet another single-speeder or rigid fork rider, or many days just any other person on a hardtail, I'm a bit pumped for the day that I have something in common with anyone choosing to pedal themselves up the trails on a mountain bike.
