Once upon a time, mountain bikers were the drunk uncle at the outdoor buffet: socially awkward, irreverent, “too noisy, too fast” outcasts on the dusty lam. Hikers called them out for harshing the backcountry mellow. Conservationists pegged bikes as trail wreckers.
Decades later, the two-wheeling punks have grown up — wiser, savvier and more organized. The International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) has emptied countless tubs of elbow grease advocating for social and physical space on the trails to ensure we have places to ride.
But here we are again — same story, new bikes — this time weighing the validity of electric mountain bikes on these very same trail systems. Perhaps the most hesitant to accept this new wrinkle? Traditional, analog mountain bikers.
What Is an E-Mountain Bike?
For the uninitiated, eMTBs are pretty much what you’d think. Mountain bikes pimped with a (cleverly concealed) battery pack and motor, adding weight while still making daunting climbs a relative breeze. In America, there are three classifications of e-bikes.
Class 1: Pedal-assist motor that boosts your pedal speed, but caps at 20 mph.
Class 2: Throttle-assist that can accelerate the bike up to 20 mph without pedaling.
Class 3: Pedal-assist bike that caps your throttle speed at 28 mph.
Note: A fourth class exists, but any e-bike capable of speeds above 28 mph pushing out over 750 watts of power is technically considered a moped/motorcycle.
The parsing of power aside, e-MTBs sit squarely in the motorized space — a space mountain bikers lobbied hard to distance themselves from when they successfully splintered mechanized from motorized transportation on managed land.