scstrail

The reality of the E-Bike movement will likely mirror the problems we all had when MTB's started gaining popularity. We all rode on every trail we could find and many of those were closed to bikes in short order. After many years of research and organizing, etc. MTB groups were building trails, re-opening closed areas and creating great spaces to ride. There were still the occasional "jerks" causing user conflicts ( bikers, hikers and runners) but because of the efforts of MTB groups, many hundreds of miles of trails were built and open to ride. Here in the western USA, the vast majority of trails are built and maintained by MTB based groups, without whom, we would far fewer places to ride. Land managers and other groups will not shoulder the liability and many areas could be closed to ALL bikes as a result. I doubt that the majority of E-Bikers have the history or motivation to organize and advocate the way we non-E-MTB riders did back in the day. I know that many of the E-riders are old school MTB people that now ride E for various reasons, but MOST new riders are E riders and they simply don't have the knowledge of where and how the access came to be, nor do they care what the signs say at the trailhead. I don't hate on E-bikes, and there may come a day when I need one to continue riding the trails I love. I have a super well trained trail dog, but if the signs say all dogs on a leash, I don't bring my dog on that ride. Simple as that. Have some respect for how all the trails came to be. Advocate for your riding areas, if they say NO E-Bikes, either respect that and move on to another trail OR become an advocate and create a group, attend local land use meetings and plead your case to open that trail to E-Bikes. I know that most won't do that, that requires time and effort, something seemingly in short supply these days.

With all of the industry "waiting" for the covid recovery, which is a whole other topic of its own, the panic is setting in for the next "latest, greatest" to save us all. The reality is simple, get more people into the sport. In order to do that, you need a lower cost to entry and currently those bikes are seemingly cheap to us, but not to the average consumer. Also, the bike shops for the most part have gotten lazy, they forgot how to "sell" a bike to the new customer. We all have our level of knowledge but the average consumer gets sold on something they don't actually enjoy riding OR worse are convinced that they need to spend more on a bike than a used car just to have fun. Will 32" change the sport, seriously doubt it but we will all get a good laugh at some of the early offerings and more companies will fall in the process. Eventually, we will end up with a few brands that make stuff we want.

Why no Dak?? He comes back from an epic injury and finished the season with a US Open win and podium at the MSA WC!!

The average PB commenter- " I won't even touch an e-bike without full power and a big battery." Same PB commenter-"Wow that downtube is big!", Ha Ha.........

We all are action sports junkies!! What a great cause to help out some like minded peeps get through a rough time, great job R2R!

@Three6ty: As a former race spanner for a wheel company that attended all the WC. Yes, wheels are consumables sometimes for each session of training, then Qualifying, then the Race. We did suspension for XC teams then, and rebuilds there were almost every race weekend. Were they needed? In most cases, NO! But that is XC, for DH the needs are much different.

I agree but the market does not! E-Bikes are the number one seller globally for all MTB>

Look at how long it took 29" wheels to really become the "standard".. I think we have some time for this 32" "thing" to flounder a while...... I hope!

This is not the case in the USA. Service is a large profit margin in the States as there several shops that operate as service only. With the large portion of second hand bikes, service only can be a huge success.