freeridetom

@mikelevy: (Firstly,great article. Second, I'm speaking purely from the current UK perspective, having worked in bike retail, around the world, for the last 10 years). E-bikes are definitely not bicycles; Just as Snooker is not the same as 8-ball Pool...But they do both require the same skills and happen in the same place. In the UK the law is completely clear: since 1/1/2016 it is illegal to sell a power-assisted bicycle (mtb, road or commuter) with a motor more than 250watts. Speed is limited to 15.5mph (25km/h) and throttle-only only gets you to 3mph (5km/h). (Bear with me here...) The problem for commuting is the speed, which just isn't fast enough to keep up in most city traffic and furthermore the UK doesn't have road infrastructure seperating bikes from cars, mostly just painted (virtual) lines on the road. However, if I'm facing a 30mph headwind on the way home on a friday evening, after a long week, with 112miles already in my legs over 5 days, 15.5mph would be heaven. Problem: cars pull out in front of you (from side roads) because drivers don't anticipate a 'bicycle' to be going that fast! My point here is: great product, in wrong environment/facilities and sharing with other non-bike aware transport gets disappointing results. (Now lets talk about mtb) E-bikes make riding more accessible, so more people will be riding 'bikes'. Great! But, as others say in this thread, e-mtbs don't work everywhere; they're best on long, steep climbs; you can even ride super-steep, uber-tech climbs that would be impossible/boring grinds on any mtb, so fast its as fun as descending. Honestly. On technical singletrack the power surge when you do half a pedal stroke, before a berm or to avoid a rock, can spit you off-line. Descending wide-path or wheels-on-the-ground is better than an mtb, because you can hold more speed or quickly regain speed. But, in the air they're too heavy, for jumps designed for 'normal' bikes. Overall: to get the most out of E-mtbs and really continue growing participation off-road-riding we need e-bike specific,purpose built, graded, trails. Which you could also ride on a normal bike. For us in the UK; E-mtbs (under 250w) should remain classed (legally) as bicycles. As in comments below, legal bikes are not fast enough to make a clear difference/distinction between an e-mtb and a fit rider on a 'normal' bike. Overall: you could ride a non-e-bike on an e-bike path. But its not as much fun (as it could be) to ride an e-bike on a 'normal' bike path. So finally, my questions to you are: would changing the legal classification of ebikes actually solve the problems of trail access? Or create more? And, Would the US be better served by having clearer guidelines on the power/specs of e-bikes in different catergories (mtb, road, commute) ?

Was going to ask the same thing. Pretty sure it is Belmont. Could also be Leederville.