Posted by: knnn
Rightly or wrongly, the overall impression I get from this thread, is that eMTB riders are or should be considered douche bags until they prove themselves innocent? How this is to be done, seems unclear.
Presumably all or most eMTB riders are dirt bags because whoever stoops to riding an eMTB are entitled, weak willed individuals who can't or won't man up and earn their ride and want to rub everyone else's noses in the dirt while they destroy the very trails that only real riders care for and protect?
There also appears to be a missing acknowledgement (by some, but not all) that any group of people (whether they be mountain bikers or not) usually have a bell curve of sinners and saints, and it is always the assholes, who give any group a bad reputation. Also, that there are likely to be good and bad in both groups of powered and non-powered riders in equivalent proportion.
Don't have a motor on that bike; well go right ahead and keep roosting and skidding the fuck out of those berms and Strava the hell out of Bobsled and run my novice friend off the trail, at least you don't ride an eMTB.
That may sound a little harsh, however, as a recent returnee to "mountain stunt biking" and a very new eMTB rider, a lot of the comments appear to give that impression.
Also, I'm not sure why there should be a special onus on riders like myself to maintain access to trails, that would be any different from other riders, and what would that actually entail?
People’s anecdotes about how eMTB riders are assholes vs regular riders are about as useful as people anecdotes about how BMW drivers don’t use turn signals. I wouldn’t give it much thought.
IMO these things are (currently) basically mountain bikes but they’re a little different. The onus is on you as a rider to be aware of those differences and not cause shit if you want to be welcomed on official trails.
Over here, they’re not noticeable. Over there most of your trails are jammed up with big city traffic bullshit already so additional conflict from the differences between mountain bikes and mopeds is basically inevitable makin it’s all the more important to follow good etiquette.
Your argument about being shitty being okay as long as you ride a regular bike is a red herring - no responsible rider thinks those things are okay. Who is making that arguement?
