Upgrade current bike, or go new ebike

[chaka]

im in the WA state and while ebikes are technically illegal at most places, they are ubiquitous and no one cares.

people do care. https://www.evergreenmtb.org/ebikeaccess

While I'm sure ebikes are really fun, if you can only have one decent bike, I suggest getting a sweet analog bike now and adding an ebike later. I'm also making a mental note to look out for "slightly used" '17 RM Slayer ads

[SKIP IN7RO]

[Dromond]

I have a 2 and 6 year old but likely a less demanding job...

My recommendation would be to get a new trail/enduro bike without a motor and get out there.

I'm not knocking Eeebin. I had both, but when time was limited I wanted the most workout I could get in a short amount of time. The E-bike in theory made it so I could go farther, but it never meant I would go harder.

If you are trying to ride socially at all, what do your riding friends have?

I was coming here to say this. If you needed to cover x amount of miles in less time, that would be a reason to get an e bike. But as a time-limited dad (as am I) I don’t think making your bike more complicated, harder to fix, requiring a charge (!) and physically easier to ride makes a lot of sense. I find time to be the limiting factor more than fitness, and the Seattle area trails are awesome for pedal bikes with many great climbing trails and high value descents. The new, low maintenance, fun to ride regular bike make more sense as a replacement IMO

Also personally, my riding buddies are not on e bikes, so if I switched to one we would be riding at such at different paces.

If in future years I find myself with much more time and wanting to ride long consecutive days with rough/difficult climbing in far flung places, and fitness/recovery is the limiting factor, I’m sure I’ll consider an e bike.

[Bunion 2020]

^^^ thanks for saving me the trouble and stating that so well.

[toast2266]

All other things aside, there's no way I'd want my *only* bike to be an ebike. If the slayer is basically done, get another pedal bike.

[kootenayskier]

Know yourself. It’s certainly possible (with enough time and/or motivation) to maintain peak fitness as an e-biker (or perhaps you train hard otherwise) but for many it just means riding exactly the same as they ever did, but with a whole lot less effort, and physical decline becomes an inevitability. I have both, but for me the e-bike is almost only used for utility purposes (for which it is invaluable) whereas I pedal unassisted for pleasure.


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[SchralphMacchio]

I was in a similar situation to the OP (my kids are now 4.5 and 2, both ride on Mac Ride seats, my p bike is an “ancient” gen1 Bronson).

I’ve made the time argument to myself, in favor of getting an ebike, mostly because in Oakridge it’s like 3500 foot (+/- 500 depending on the trail) climb or nothing at all, since barely any trails there have a way to get on mid-mountain, at least not one that is also a sensible FS road approach. And electric motoring up the shuttle road would presumably still be a better workout than riding in a shuttle van …

But then the drive to Oakridge and back (or Alsea Falls, or Carpenter Bypass, the three places around here where motorized access is legal) is the other very large non-compressible time suck, as is the extra garage fiddle fuckery of owning more fancy and complicated things. So I see the pro running argument very clearly! (But my knees won’t allow it)

Anyways I gave up on the EEB and do a lot more riding of a local trail system 15 mins away that has only 3 miles of descending trails, often I’m only getting 2 miles of descent then heading to preschool to pick up the kids.

The postscript to this is that my wife recently demoed a Transition Relay, absolutely loved it, and also said it would be really dumb to buy only one since we wouldn’t be able to ride together, and most certainly we don’t have the extra cash to buy two, so yeah, that whole idea is dead in the water. Also I need that money for a used electric car so that I’m no longer doing preschool drops and grocery runs in a 3/4 ton crew cab truck, which is super dumb.

[GiBo]

LOL. Are you guys seriously using exercise/fitness in a discussion about electric motorcycles?

Ya, I used to have a yz250, but I was getting a little flabby. So I went down to Honda trail 90 and have lost 15 ponds! I do have to ride it for like 500 miles to get a sweat going, but what a workout!

[nickwm21]

Call me crazy, but buying something for $6000 that you can only use illegally seems like a weird choice.

This is understandable. But…. I live in the same area (Seattle / W WA) as the OP… and the current status quo quite differs from the written laws.

Most EBikers are avoiding the climbing trails and riding up the logging roads (quasi legal) and down the single track (illegal) at the popular riding zones (Tiger and Raging River). This is a good compromise for the MTB community; as a normal biker you aren’t getting ran up on while climbing single track, and there really is no perceived affect on downhill traffic. That said; multiple times I have seen local “trail stewards” from the local MBO, Evergreen, riding full power e-bikes up non-motorized climbing trails. And these are the guys that are helping create the rules and manage the trails… and no, they weren’t carrying trail building equipment or responding to some incident, they were out for a ride. The people setting the example are riding motorized bikes on nonmotorized trails…


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[54-46]

LOL. Are you guys seriously using exercise/fitness in a discussion about electric motorcycles?

Ya, I used to have a yz250, but I was getting a little flabby. So I went down to Honda trail 90 and have lost 15 ponds! I do have to ride it for like 500 miles to get a sweat going, but what a workout!

Seriously - here’s my buddy’s info from a nearly 2 hour e-bike ride. Burned only 500 calories in 2 hours? 3747 elevation gain and almost 18 miles. Could be fun! Way less “work” or, er, exertion…




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[XXX-er]

so ski bud told the wife the washing M/C shrank his jeans and she said the appliance that shrunk your jeans is not the washer its the refrigerator

[californiagrown]

multiple times I have seen local “trail stewards” from the local MBO, Evergreen, riding full power e-bikes up non-motorized climbing trails. And these are the guys that are helping create the rules and manage the trails… and no, they weren’t carrying trail building equipment or responding to some incident, they were out for a ride. The people setting the example are riding motorized bikes on nonmotorized trails…

Yep. Because the legal (and unsanctioned for that matter) trails are on DNR land, they must legally say ebikes are not allowed in official documents...because they are currently not allowed by law. But like you said, they are nearly ubiquitously condoned amongst the trail users and land managers on an individual level. The one exception to this is at Tokul where access is a lot more finicky and its private land that does get patrolled. basically, in our local areas, ebikes are widely accepted by users, land managers, MTB orgs, etc even if they have to put CYA on their list of rules.


In anycase, i think im scared off of ebikes for now. Id have to get my wife one too (so double the cost), and due to time constraints id still be doing most of my riding at the local state park which certainly does not benefit from an ebike. Looks like ill be dropping some coin on my current bike this winter.

[XXX-er]

Id have to get my wife one too (so double the cost), and due to time constraints id still be doing most of my riding at the local state park which certainly does not benefit from an ebike. Looks like ill be dropping some coin on my current bike this winter.

this is 100% correct ^^

my buddy was gona get his wife an e-bike " so she could keep up " then he said he was getting himself a new 9000$ acoustic bike.

I told him " she better like you alot cuz you won't be able to keep up so you better also get an E-bike just in case "

so they got a pair of Norcos E-bikes and he told me " you were 100% right "