Wyn Masters Rides Leogang Up and Down - Video
We put our chief fun-ability test rider, Wyn Masters, on our new eVerb after the Leogang World Cup to see how he would do riding up and back down the race course.
 | I never really was a fan of e-bikes, until I actually rode the eVerb in Leogang, you can do a quick ride with more much descending and still enjoy the climb back up, it opens up so much more terrain to ride, without needing a shuttle or lift to get up, to me that just makes sense! |
You can still get a little loose if that's your thing.
The all-new GT eVerb features 130mm of travel front and rear, 27.5 plus wheels, and tires, a Shimano e8000 STEPS battery, and is engineered specifically for trail riders who judge their rides by stoke, not STRAVA.
With one of the shortest chainstays for a 27.5 plus e-bike on the market, combined with a slack head angle, and an upright seat tube angle, the eVerb climbs, descends and corners like a true trail e-bike should. We also optimized our kinematics specifically for e-motor torque curve.
The Shimano e8000 battery is packaged as close to BB as possible to keep the center of gravity low and handling of the bike effortless.
The Shimano e8000 battery is packaged as close to BB as possible to keep the center of gravity low and handling of the bike effortless.
The constant progressive suspension design is great for bump sensitivity and bottom out control, and there is reduced pedal feedback for improved control over rough terrain. A neutral braking position accommodates the eVerb's center of gravity - perfect for wheelies.
The eVerb Amp retails for 4199€.
While the eVerb Current retails for 3499€.
Whether you are climbing up the Leogang World Cup track, charging single track, or descending the GT eVerb, the emphasis is always on having fun.
To learn more about the full eVerb lineup visit gtbicycles.com.
Photos by Sven Martin.
MENTIONS: @GTBicycles / @wynmasters
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
'Good morning, Honey. I had the most amazing dream...wait! What? Oh you're kidding!'
cue Tazmanian Devil.
Can this be confirmed ?
No it's round, like a pancake.
I'm interested in why current professional riders who are clearly in their physical prime are brought in to promote e-bikes. It seems brands are creating a WANT, rather than a NEED. Those who actually NEED one of these things, such as the elderly and physically compromised, already know the score: they know electricity can help them enjoy a pursuit they would otherwise be precluded from. They don't need this guy they've never heard of to tell them it's good for them.
Wyn's fans are 99% young-ish and could clearly pedal unhindered if they wanted to. This is the target they're going for with this, unless I'm mistaken. So what's the agenda here? Get people to buy e-bikes, even though nothing's stopping them from buying normal ones, by giving them the wonderful idea that you can just short circuit pain and effort and skip right to the fun bit? Or is it about the ability to do 10,000 ft vertical in a day, without being some kind of Alpine beast? I'm open to some kind of clarity from someone here and would love to understand how e-mtb is a totally honourable pastime for the able bodied. Ok, because libertarianism, I can do WTF I want, bla bla bla.... I'm looking for more than that.
BTW if I had been Wyn, I'd have taken the cash too, 100%. There's no way you'd not want to prolong the number of years you can spend goofing around on bikes and not have to reduce yourself to a normal job. You go girl!
scontent.fbts2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/22137159_10154992592078061_3135998245593031122_o.jpg?oh=b7295334330d86c77b188057cd657b60&oe=5A3E3ED4
I'm 35 and consistently place in the top 10% of times on the road climbs around my house, so I think I tick the "able-bodied" box. Why do I ride mine? Because it's a nice change, unless you're elite athlete fit, you can't do 1000m+ climbing every day, it's too much. It's fun to go for an easy spin and get a good descent after as if I want to keep my HR down on the mountain bike I'm limited to 2 fairly uninteresting trails on the valley floor, everythign else is 700m+ climbing. I do the shopping on mine too, but I'll throw in a DH lap on the way there as it's fun and only adds 10-20 minutes to the trip. It's fun to go and climb gnarly shit you'd never get up on a regular MTB. It's fun to be able to go and climb with my wife and ride together as I climb a lot faster and on an 8km climb that means a lot of waiting and getting cold at the top if we go with the mountain bikes. Riding the ebike this year has meant I've spent a lot more time descending, so I feel faster and stronger when I get back on my MTBs (and they fell silly light and chuckable after the (24kg ebike). In short, I've had a lot more fun riding bikes because of my ebike this year.
Overall, you sell your argument well, I'll give you that.
However, I suspect that even if an e-bike owner also has the option of riding a non-assisted bike, they're more likely to sacrifice time on their traditional bike if they're pushed for time. If it were me, I'd be having a serious existential crisis about that choice (and I don't need any more of those in my life right now).
Look, I don't buy into dogma, maybe I'm a luddite, maybe non e-bikers will eventually be seen as self-flagelators, carrying their cross up the mountain to be nailed up on it at the summit. Why suffer, why compromise, when you can just spin up 1000 m without breaking a sweat. It's the 21st century, who needs to go through that shit ?
(This is by the by, but I was overtaken on a road by 2 e-pensioners on Sunday. They didn't even apologise :-) )
Why does it matter how someone has their fun? If you don't fancy an ebike, don't buy one. But why would you care how someone else wants to ride? If you really are a libertarian, how could you possibly object? I f*cking hate ladder bridges on trails, so I don't ride trails with them... But you do have a point, if you're pushed for time and just want to go and do a good descent, why not?
And also, a few weeks ago a friend of mine crashed into an e biker going uphill on a trail. Directly after a berm where you have no chance of seeing what is going on after the turn. He didn't even concede that he was the problem going uphill on a clearly specially built trail for going downhill. The berm in question also gets destroyed by those guys riding the trail uphill because they just ride over it in the middle, as you can not pedal up the drop that leads into the berm. In my experience e bikers here don't care about trail maintenance and the guys who build trails (us), they don't have the skills to ride any of that and don't know any trail etiquette.
If you don't have enough time to ride your bike regularly to get fit, you don't have the time to acquire the necessary skills for riding trail/enduro/all mountain whatever. they should stay on logging roads or build their own trails (which they can't because they don't have the time)...
In most areas in germany riding any bike in the woods on something else than logging roads is illegal. Do you think it becomes easier to change these stupid laws if bikes with motors become the norm? I doubt that.
And that's not the only problematic area. The bikepark Bischofsmais now has a designated e bike uphill trail which is free. Those tourists who rent an e bike ride that uphill and for going down they choose the easiest bikepark flowtrail which is now totally destroyed. The bikepark chose not to finally finish the restoration of their evil eye trail nor a proper maintenance of the flowtrail, instead they pour money into that stupid e bike trail...
Most people don't need an ebike. End of question. We got along with our hobby just fine for multiple decades.
You just want to justify your "new found joy" and maybe the revenue that is being generated which somehow makes your job possible. It's a solution for a problem we never really had, just like all that stuff from tech companies. Thanks, but I believe with that Lithium and Rare earth metals you can find better uses with more positive impact than electrifying bicycles which are the most efficient machine anyway.
As for your bike park example, that sounds to me like solid evidence that it's what people want, but you don't happen to agree.
None of us need our bikes. They're all expensive, mostly pointless, but wonderful toys.
You don't want an ebike, that's fine, I don't want a three-speed real feel vibrating cock, but I don't feel the need to tell the world about it.
That becomes clear when you are in the (northern/bavarian) alps. There was always a general hatred against bicycles on anything else than logging roads. If you talk to hikers they are very restricted but now, when they realise you don't have a motor on your bike, they suddenly become really friendly and encouraging. At least that's a positive impact I didn't anticipate...
And if you now have problems with foresters, they have a solid reason against your actions. And they don't care and even don't know that e bikes are by law not different. Because by everything they can see, they are.
All those people who have something against us cyclists, mostly foresters, hunters and old people who just rant about everything, even have a less positive view on e bikes. that won't change. And I can't blame them really.
The bikepark trail in Bischofsmais was not constructed because of demand, but because it was an advertisement by Bosch. The reactions on the bikepark's facebook site were generally negative.
You are right, there are a lot of things we don't need. But when I see that generation of a new market, just to get a bigger slice of the pie and the concept that growth is the only thing that matters behind it all, I am against it. Especially when the only positive impact I can see from that whole thing is that people who are in some way handicapped can ride (which is a really small market) and I personally see these negative impacts I talked about AND see negative impacts on a much larger scale (which is kind of my job).
I am missing a balanced opinion about that topic because it is just pushed everywhere. Only the comment section and maybe drunk cyclist does that (and often not very reflected) but right now, on many mid thirties guys that marketing is working like a charm and the marketing train rolls on and that non existing need is generated. It's time that people step back and realise that one time they maybe won't go with something because of its negative impacts and stop being so naive. And yes I realise that this will be an uphill battle.
A BIKEPARK letting up on trail maintenance because Bosch uses the park for their advertisment for e-bikes? Fine for you.
People crashing into e-bikers on their hometrails, built by their own hands? Totally fine for you, one should totally always be able to brake within eyesight on a jumptrail with berms.
Trail etiquette? Unheard of, if a jump is hindering you to ride the trail you are free to flatten it, never bother to step up your game. After all, you have paid a large sum for the bike, trails should all be to your avail, goddammit.
Considering your point regarding law: German forests are either private property or state-owned. Both parties (one could also mention hunters) are sceptical about bikers, some federal states have banned bikers to trails broader than 2 meters. The pro-singletrail-access-argument is based on the point of a "normal" biker having minimal impact on soil, wildlife and forest-economy. E-bikers with their "I own this f*cking place"-attitude and twice or thrice amplitude of usage in both directions kick this argument out of the window. Fifty-year-old e-jerry does not respect anything but himself.
@mattwragg: I'm going to boil this down cos we're going off piste.
1. You're one of the top professional photographers working for the bike industry and, therefore, e-bikes are a tool of your trade, as I'm sure you'll admit. You couldn't have avoided them if you'd wanted to and so it wasn't really worth you wrestling with your conscience as a lover of bicycles when the question first arose in your life.
2. Obviously everyone can do what they want (as I said in the OP), that's not the point, and libertarianism is a massive mess of a concept anyway. Through Wyn, GT are going for a young population who might not have even bought a proper mtb yet. Is it ok (you know, in a spiritual sense) that an 18/19 year-old might save up and buy an e-bike as their first 2k+ bike? Is it ok to not know how to multiply 6 by 8 just because calculators exist? Of course it is, but it's also pretty ridiculous.
Now to everyone: All this bullsht is taking all of us away from the real issue with e-bikes. Safety. Both mountain bikes and city bikes, with transport bikes being the most terrifying example. Companies put stronger and stronger motors on them while hacking the system is very easy, which enables people with little skill to ride at speeds posing a real, serious danger to other users. Already with 250W and 25km/h limit. A fit rider can easily climb these things up a mixed trail at speed, posing danger to hikers and bikers going down. Because the whole thing is presented as bicycles, it is harder for authorities to regulate access. That's it. everything else is an irrational, self righteous gibberish, often reaching the low hateful bullcrap comparable with racial slurs. If you described almost any other person with same words, you'd be called a mysogynist, racist or a nazi - rightfully.
Finally, the trend is only going to develop, there will be more and more e-bikes. Take it for granted. The issue has to be adressed precisely and rationally, this horrific dehumanizing chatter is just shooting ourselves in the foot. People who have money for e-bikes are fkng having money for e-bikes, if you can show basic signs of logic, wyou would know that it means, that e-bike owners are likely to be more influential individuals than you are. Nobody gives a flying fk about a dude living from a van, a hero riding a few year old bike. However a cashy bloke that is highly possibley between 40 and 60 years of age, that owns a business or hones a lucrative job, will have much more leverage when speaking to authorities. Companies have fantastic ways of lobbying for e-bikes, which they already do in a rather effective manner. That is what you stand against, and "together we'll beat them, let's throw shit at them" is awesome for a fkng barbaric horde or a bunch of mutually-loathing green leftist a*sholes who have nothing else to show up with than a bunch of meaningless morals that they don't live by anyways.
E-bikes should be further limited to max 15km/h and the actual power of the motot should not exceed 250W so that there is no incentive to hack the system. If someone wants more, then please register your bike as motorcycle and stay on roads and motorcycle specific trails. Police has to get educated how to check that, and get their hands dirty and check e-bikes both inside cities and on the trails. After all I pay fkng 33% of tax. E-bikes should be banned from mixed trails completely and on MTB specific trails should not be allowed to climb anything else but fireroads and climb specific singletracks. I have nothing against e-bikes descending alongside other riders. And transport bikes can get the fk out onto the road with cars. The last thing I want to see when cycling with my kids through town is a person riding this giant thing with crappy brakes and tyres at 25km/h on a bike path. I've been hit by a roadie once, I know how kinetic energy tastes. I've seen consequences of a girl on a regular granny bike riding into a stroller with a kid inside. Meanwhile authorities in nearby city subsidize E-bikes exclusively. They pay you 30% with state money, for the purchase of e-bike, but not for a regular bike.
That is fkd up and that is exactly what has to be dealt with. In the face of that, I could not give a tiniest damn whether an E-bike owner cares to appreciate what real mountain biking is about. I also share little sympathy for some countries, somewhere which have a rather messed up access rights to wilderness, especially because the scale of state control and ability of Police to execute laws is so high, compared to Europe, that E-bike problem can be actually solved in way I described above. In Europe you can ride a MX in a national reserve and chance of getting caught is virtually ZERO
As simple as that.
Also the fitness factor cannot be ignored, people WILL always see e-bikes as a mean of exercise, whereas motorcycles don't carry that function in human minds. Therefore "pedalling induced throttle" will always carry a fitness factor with it. Human psyche is extremely complex, for instance, instant food industry had problems in the beginning, they examined housewives and they felt guilt for using pre made food. So what they've done is they added a few steps to the process, food wasn't entirely ready, so that a housewife could FEEL like she is preparing a meal. Things like that.
Now the real can of worms starts to open as companeis like Yamaha enter the niche between bicycles and motorcycles. Bike industry starts from the bottom up, they add a motor to an actual bicycle. What we will be seeing in close future is super light motorbikes, top down approach (you can already see a 45-60kg trials motos) so that will create a worryingly similar blend - not only there is a blurry line between bicycles and e-bikes, where the latter parasites on what MTB has established in terms of trail access and public perception. There's another actor coming to the table which will try to get it's bit of the cake. And having experienced what a 3 -5 MX riders can do with their bikes to a climb on a trail in a matter of 2 months is an extremely worrying prospect
If you think about it, the Offroad Motorcycles have MUCH less land access in proximity of city centers than mountain bikes. The MC industry will try to enlarge that area to get more clients, and e-bikes, as well as light weight motorcycles is a great opportunity for them to cash out. As Richard Cunningham wrote, the moment these machines enter the realm of near city paths, the MTB industry is doomed. They will never be able to compete with production capacity of moto companies. The very fact that KTM E-SX costs the same as S-Works Enduro shows that to be true. It took MTB industry over 20 years to utilize an existing MX technology for damping.
We need to speak in realistic terms, and call things for what they really are, not toss slurs that taste dehumanization or hind behind some silly environmental morals. Authorities don't give a fk about environment, laying down a 4-6m wide gravel road through a natural reserve comes for them as easy like drinking chocolate milk for me. The only thing they care about is "area/ trail designation" and whether it is being followed. They won't care for environmental impact of a battery, they will only care for people calling and complaining about trail erosion and safety.
"Hello, is that the police?"
- "Yes, babylon speaking"
"Someone has eroded my trail."
-"We'll send a chopper right away."
We can do both. Cause everything you stated is in fact truth but it carry consequences (beyond the laws, industries and money) to the sport and environment, to the people who are in, and people who in the future will - if it doesn't go extinct lol.
I can say that because, well let me give you an soul crushing example: the last time I raced on XC "amateurish" kinda thing, there were a couple of people on ebikes that shouted "left!", "right" on difficult climbs, and you know what they did besides anger on some of the rides who tought "well lets make it easy for another fellow competitor much better than me"? They provoked comments like "wow, that's my next bike, I'me done" instead of what in other past times would, like "I should train more, I want to be like that guy". See the change? That's what worries me also, and its important if you care about the sport, I care, at least in what it used to be the basis. Maybe in the future will only envy the watts and no the effort and commitment of the individual.
On another note, yeap, you're absolutely right, MTB brands will be crushed on a game they decided to play. If the motorbike industrie comes to the game exploring that gap, they're finished. Road cycling is much more wiser, they close all the doors to some innovation that may kill some of their market - they also have more money.
Maybe they were just caught off guard by this new trend. Anyway!
To sum up my answer: yes, no, maybe, holy f*ck, hmmm, why not? and boy are we not gathering our info from the same websites...
I have taken notes though.
I am a big believer that kids should ride shitty bikes, it's something me and my wife strongly agree upon as we're at an age where having kids isn't a far-off thing any more. I started on a cheap hardtail, and certainly I don't plan on providing any more than that for our future offspring. That said, if at 19 my son/daughter turned to me and told me that they had gone out and earned the 5,000€ or whatever to buy one of these, it's their call. I would certainly prefer it to them spending that money on a gold-plated X-Box and getting fat, or drinking cheap booze on the park like I was at that age...
I rode 3 different e-bikes so far and they are awfully fun, they make stuff like XTR or custom shock tuning look like some silly masturbation.
But, the risks related to all sorts of them being ridden on mixed trails are real and should be adressed.
Most of this post was serious.
I'm 39, I'm not super fit, I have ridden mountain bikes for 26 years, I think ebikes are awesome fun. Simple. I also have limited riding time with a 3 year old and 4 month old so getting a short ride that covers more distance is cool with me. And it will probably do me up as a commute bike/child trailer puller. Also I have no shower at work so getting there without sweating as much is a bonus. I can also do some mtb on the way if I desire but time and fitness don't allow it, but I borrow a ebike and commuted to work once, took the off-road route, got to work earlier than expected so added another 10 mins of offroad near work. Smiles for miles and I got a ride in on a day I wouldnt. Also didn't beat any Strava segments which pisses off many people because 25kph is slower than general commute speed. I travelled 90% of the road route on human-onlt power.. and the added weight didn't matter much either.
Also if your going to try and insult me, at least learn to read first ffs. I didn't say I started riding at 26, I said I have ridden 26 years.. Which is longer than most of the circuit racers have even been alive... in reference to earlier comment about trail etiquette, and lack of experience for using ebikes. Seems like your the only prick here.
@clarky78: Having kids late 30s is a surefire way of working out if you're an e-bike person or not, because if you're significantly involved in their lives you need a degree of physiological/genetic good fortune and a servile Mrs. to survive their early years and come out the other end with retrievable fitness, rather than fat and f*cked. Women don't have that problem, they can give birth and go on to win the next two New York Marathons. Some of them.
"Cos it's fun" isn't enough for me to want to desecrate the spirit of mountain biking. If you have a proper excuse, that's fine, there is no sin.
Spirit of MTB... Christ help me
I've repeatedly said that it isn't about what people should or shouldn't do. I'm not an idiot. It's just the internet, where we share our romantic ideas about the things (and Scottish Enduro ladies) we love and piss on those who piss on those conceptions. Do what the f*ck you want as long as it isn't noisy enough to sterilize squirrels (I'm looking at you quad bikes).
The game of appearances simply seems too risky for me. I find some honesty in someone who just says: fk it! I can't take it anymore, I will ride an e-bike! In a way it makes me feel good about myself, that I haven't cracked. I think it basically boils down to being brave enough and socially skilled enough to find genuinely cool and valuable people and stick to them, instead of going for a bunch of dorks whose only strength is sticking together...
Pinkbike hates emtb / moped /electric motorbike (etc.)
Well this is awkward...
Disappointed in the "it all makes sense now" remark, but hey, a man's gotta put bread on the table for his chilluns....
www.facebook.com/hansrey/videos/10155171438773061