On Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 3:18:00 AM UTC-7, 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.

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.

**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.

The weight problem with a normal full suspension bike is why I returned to cyclocross bikes. Though the super-light weight and no suspension has its own set of problems.