Mountain Bikes!

total BS though.. have you rode one? they are barely faster than your standard mountain bike with an average rider, SLOWER than a strong guy on a light bike. No way do they burn out, or roost as many on mtn bike forums claim. Banning them is insane. The people that cut, aren't the e-bikers, it's the hardcore guys that feel cheating strava, to get a KOM , is somehow an achievement. I ride with a guy that builds trail at Alafia and Balm. He's the guy with vids of his visla, Maggie, running real fast in front of him on the trails. He's got all bikes. Downhill (he and 4 guys just had a downhill trip to CO), non assist, and an Ebike.. I ride with some really strong non-assist riders too, I'm telling you, THOSE guys throw more dirt on climbs, with their 20lb bike, clipped in, pushing and pulling on the pedals with strong pushes, than i do with my flats, on a mid setting with my ebike.

 

Hey Turbo. I ride Graham it's awesome. Just rode it last Tues with Mickey, Moto, and some other locals. Do you ever get down to Spruce Creek? Riverbend?

 

Graham is my favorite trail in the state, love it!

 

I rode a demo commuter e-bike at my local shop a bit ago. It was a ton of fun and was pretty quick. I imagine an assisted trail bike would be a blast. I’d at least consider one for the 1x every three or four years I get to ride out in Denver.

More people on bikes is a good thing. Assisted or not. I’d only be butthurt about it if some guy was using one in a race setting against unassisted bikes. Other than that, who cares.

 

I prefaced my post with the fact I don't hate them. I just gave an example of squid like behavior & what a local trail did. I agree... some guys like to race strava but won't enter an actual MTB race.
I ran head on into some asshole going counter direction ~15mph and his excuse was "He didnt know the trail had directions" Yet every trail entrance has a sign you can't miss... and I know this because I volunteered a saturday to help install the direction schedule signs.
And yes Ive ridden a couple models. (giant & felt)
But now lets discuss why are you using flats??...lol

 

I would like too. I have ridden Chuck though.

 

i just can't get my head around being clipped in.. and why the fu** is it actually called "clipless" LOL! Balm and Alafia have some 1 way trail (and 2 way) but a couple of the 1 way don't have a sign at the exit saying "don't enter". maybe the signs are on the way, but my buddy Alex Maglione (guy with the vizla dog Maggie that flys in front of him sometimes) videos every ride for this reason. He doesn't want somebody to "some guy on an e-bike ran me off the trail" and not have evidence to prove otherwise. kinda scary when ya think that kind of thing goes on with some people getting that worked up, but he's posted on FB mtn bike pages like Tampa area mountainbike peddlers association and swamp, vids of him nearly colliding with a rider.. the other guy was new and going wrong way.

 

i suspect there are some that don't strava on Ebike, I do and the guys i ride with do also.. cutting trail is something i never even thought of, till it was pointed out that some people do it. At Balm boyette here in FL, there are sections of trail, that have dirt roads that run parallel to the trail. it's rumored (i don't know if they did it) that some will just fly along that. but i would think someone strava savvy, could look at the map and see the cheating..

 

I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of cutting a trail to move up the Strava leaderboard. You cheated in an imaginary race to win nothing? Good job. I'll bet that feels good.

 

Also I've ridden with some really high level MTB racers, and an ebike wouldn't close the gap much. I'd need a KTM.

 

Just convert on the pedals. You'll be glad you did. On ice in the winter, I'll flip to flats so I can put a foot down quickly if needed.

 

They're called clipless because that is exactly what they are, pedals without toe clips. The question is why do people keep calling them clip pedals? They are cleated pedals. Your shoe has a cleat on it that you put into the binding on the pedal just like a ski boot into the binding on the ski. Those aren't called clips, not called clipping in.

That aside, I run flat pedals on my enduro rig and cleats on my XC and trail bikes. I'm just more comfortable that way on the enduro.

 

I had a very black-and-white opinion of e-bikes until recently. I've ridden a few e-commuters and it gave me a sense of what they could do. The machismo side said, "if you aren't strong enough, get stronger.". On the other hand, I've seen it get countless other people out on the trails that otherwise wouldn't have. For better or worse.

The trails I ride are near a very major metro area and let's just say that trail usage is pretty contentious. Trail cutting is a big issue as is crowding. It's been especially bad during the pandemic. At certain times of day, it becomes a log jam and the e-bikes have made it worse in that regard.

All this ignores the (easily) hacked e-bikes that can go over 25mph. That's another thing all together of which I've seen.

It makes me feel pretty f-in good to pass those things, though. Great for the ego.

 

lol bro you're Trail Karen'ing so hard and you can't even self reflect... talking about writing down people's tags haha. if you don't want others messing with your idea of fun, build a secret trail and don't tell anyone, otherwise give it up.

also i ride flat pedals on everything. go solve some crime Spandex Avenger!

 

lol... how did you the impression that was me?? Read the post again.
:fu:

 

Haha I was thinking the same thing. I'm old school and have ridden clipless since they came out in like 92 or whatever but I cant imagine riding flats. Having clipless pedals give me so much more control of the bike and its almost like having a handlebar for the back wheel. Pedaling in circles rather than mashing is so much better too. Yeah I know its a little tough at first but just do some easy rides to get used to them and you'll be fine. I did go to a egg beater pedal with a flat around it on the tazer for sketchy sections where maybe I took one foot out but want to pedal through it before clipping back in. Plus my bike will be a demo bike for a lot of people so I didn't want to keep swapping pedals.

 

that was kinda why i didn't feel comfortable going clipless, i like being able to put my foot down in the technical stuff but that's not very often, and i did slip and fukin smash my shin with one of those lil' spikes on the flat pedals. man that hurt. 3 weeks later there's still a bump, it went deep. But in a lot of rides, that was a first. i see some guys i ride with nearly eat shit when they don't unclip fast enough in some of the tougher sections.. and with the Ebike assist, i'm having even less desire to go clipless, as i don't need that added efficiency, but... maybe soon i will give it a try.

 

You'll find guys who like different styles of clipless pedals. I switched over to egg-beaters a few years ago, solely because I can clip out of them easier and faster than anything else. But like you said, it's not very often once you get comfortable on the bike.

 

part of clipping in is finding your balance. If you did gravity only...then sure some 5/10s are great.

 

the 5/10's are what i got, recommended by some other biking buddies. nice and firm base, sticky sole.