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Posted by: bux-bux
A friend of mine did some business with an unnamed Ebike company out of Whistler, the one with the batteries in the backpack. He did a full day on it and said he was shocked how fast and the amount of power on this thing has, Electric dirtbike was the description. They are all technically pedal assist, but they are full on motorized.
They are NOT 'all technically pedal assist' so let's just straighten that out. The Kranked bikes require you to wear a large battery on your back, which connects you to your bike (not nice) and the motor is operated by throttle. Pedelecs (aka pedal assist) which are the format of e-bike being introduced by most brands do not have a throttle, and the motor engages only when you pedal. There is a big difference in rider experience, and, most importantly, in the amount of torque delivered to the rear wheel. As much as you can argue that an e-bike is different than a mountain bike, a throttled bike is also different than a pedelec.
This differentiation can be part of the Ebike 101 Training session offered to land managers so they can ensure their staff at trail heads can ensure only pedal assist bikes are allowed on non-motorized trails. Ebike 102 Training will cover methods for identifying pedal assist ebikes which have aftermarket mods to increase their power or enable throttle.
I see Kona is releasing an ebike but from the adventure bike/fishing/backcountry angle. Graham Aggasiz was complaining on his instagram that Pinkbike wouldn't run the piece on their homepage. Awesome.