On 2017-10-19 03:17, Ned Mantei wrote:
On 19-10-17 01:31, Joerg wrote:
Folks,

There was a story in the Wall Street Journal where a Californian rider
said that people 70 and older are now allowed to use E-bikes on MTB
trails. I could not find anything about it elsewhere and a LBS owner
also couldn't. Does anyone know?

It's not for me, I will stay pedal-only. However, some older folks
around here might be helped by it.

This was the story but it likely can only be read by people with a Wall
Street Journals subscription:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/instead...ike-1507374019



Quote "When teenagers tease Bruce Austin for powering up a mountain
trail on his electric mountain bike, his comeback is: "Didn't you hear
California passed a law that people 70 or older can ride an e-bike?""



Not relevant to California, but I have been seeing a lot of E-MTBs here
in Switzerland--on one day 5 of 6 other mountain bikes were E-bikes.


Some dudes road along singletrack on KTMs. Highly illegal but they do
keep the weeds at bay.


Even though I'm over 70, I would avoid a E-MTB because of the weight.
The motor only helps when you are pedaling, so when lifting it over a
rock, stairway, or fence**, or even just pushing up a steep trail, you
have more weight than I could deal with.


My purely pedal-powered MTB is by now well above 40lbs with tool kit and
all. Plus usually several large stainless thermos bottles with water.
Plus occasionally one with homebrew IPA in there. The battery for the
lights weighs a bit as well and needed an "impact-proof" ABS enclosure.

It's full suspension so I had to modify the back in a way that it looks
more like the rear end of a dirt bike, in order to be able to pack stuff
for longer rides. The regular single-boom racks don't work because the
boom will buckle during hard rides and be too hard on the seat tube welds.


**Lifting over a fence doesn't mean that I'm trespassing. Sometimes on a
mountain road or trail there will be a fence around a pasture, and a
narrow turnstile or V-shaped gate for hikers that isn't wide enough to
let a bike roll through.


Oh, I have done that many times myself. Sometimes I can squeeze through
by "deflating" (unpacking) one of the panniers.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/