Why This eBiker Hates Mountain Bikes! Can We Change His Mind?

Right, Don's totally cheating and not getting in the spirit of the video. Don, come on, get on the bike. Get on the bike. Some mountain bikers hate e-bikes. Maybe they want to earn their descents or they think all that tech is unneeded and it's overpriced, but some people swing really far the other way and get bitten by the e-bike bug. Today, I'm with one such man. He can't understand why anyone wouldn't want an e-bike. Can I just stop you there one more time? Whose fault is that? It's yours. Oh, Jones, yes. Can you come and set up an e-bike channel? Yes, it'd be a great idea. In one fell swoop, killed an entire generation of downhill magazine journalism. It is your fault. It's all my fault. I'm with Steve Jones. Some of the regular viewers may know Steve from our sister channel, EMBN. Steve, some people may not know your history. It wasn't so long ago, you could actually ride one of these things, Steve. Do you know what? Look at it. What an amazing piece of machinery. Yes, I guess we mustn't forget that I was riding off-road before mountain biking was invented. I've been riding mountain bikes since they were invented. I think I rode mountain bikes for, I think, 40 years of my life. Of course, you were the chief at Dirt Magazine, which is a super hardcore downhill mountain bike magazine. You traveled the world and covered proper mountain bikes, Steve. Yes, I wouldn't say I was chief. Mike Groves was actually the editor. He did a fantastic job with that. Obviously, some of this is tongue-in-cheek for me because I do love e-bikes as well. Steve, I know that we have our banter in the office, but you don't ride mountain bikes now. I've rustled up Rich's brand new Canyon Spectral. It's cutting edge for your regular mountain bike, so obviously non-assisted. I want to get you out on the trails just to remind you how good mountain bikes can be. Don, before we get into the nitty-gritty of this video, I just want to be very clear to everybody, I do not hate mountain biking. It's been a major part of my life. I just want to put that out there. However- We'll just ignore all that stuff you say in the office, shall we? Okay. However, to answer your question about- I think I do have a few hates which I'd like to talk about. They definitely are hates, but I think there's a few dislikes which I'd like to cover first. Is that all right? Go for it. First of all is exhibit A. This is what I love, and this is what it looks like on a mountain bike. You could do that. I can do that. I can actually do that. Maybe I can't do that. No, you can't do that, can you? This is actually why I love e-mountain biking because it actually allows me to do what I consider to be mountain biking. I'd say what I do love is carrying a 14-kilo bike to the top of the hill. Wow, so light. Whoa. That stick, man. It definitely feels like you pick up speed a bit quicker, doesn't it? You reckon? I mean, I haven't been on one for quite a while, but there's definitely a nice sensation to it, but then again, I think it's just a different sensation. Sorry, guys. Just need a bit of maintenance. Exhibit B. Now, before we get into this, I just want to say massive thanks to the Dean Trail volunteers and actually everybody in the Forest of Dean area who allow us to ride some pretty amazing tracks. Getting on to this subject of advanced skills area and downhill trails and push-up path. You can ride up the push-up path. Yes, great fun. This is an advanced skills area, but my argument is that this is a certain type of skills area. My concern is that there's a slow migration. Are we not bringing our children up to thinking that mountain biking is a sport that actually BMXers did 40 years ago on 20-inch wheels on rigid bikes because that's ultimately what it is. It's getting too man-made. I think there needs to be a balance. It needs to be mountain biking. I just see all these surface trails everywhere. Yes, I know there are some black, rooty, rocky trails, but what I'm saying is, is the mindset not migrating slowly to, oh, it's surface trails and berms and tabletops and jumps and then a posh Chipsenberger later? Your argument is that e-bikes let you get into the wilderness a bit more? I think so. I think it gives you a reality check. It allows you to get away from the manufactured stuff. It's just an angle of mountain bike which I really enjoy, which is why I tend to lean more towards that way. I get that. I do see the divergence of the two things, but there's no reason why you can't do that on a regular mountain bike. Lots of people still love it on shorter travel, cross-country bikes going epic, and there's still a lot of that. I guess you do, right? Yes, occasionally, yes. I'll tell you what, Don, I do love a good bit of sweating. Good God, this is so dull. It just takes so long. I did a downhill race here six years ago. Just using my e-bike to do the laps. I just ain't got the time to do that stuff. I just want to say, while Don's not around, I'm actually having a good time. What an amazing bike. If e-mountain bikes weren't around, I would be riding one of these hands down. 140 mil travel. We're going to the launch of this bike, actually. There you go, Steve. First time you've ridden a mountain bike in a while. What do you think? I had good fun. I think as a trail bike, hours of fun to be had on it. It's not my first time, actually. I did ride Finale about months ago. What I found there was a lot of people say that a mountain bike is about, they're more lively. You could at the same time say that you get more deflection. That's certainly something I felt because I've now trained my body to be, some people call it muscle memory. I tend to try to squat a bit lower on a mountain bike to lower my center of gravity. I think I get a bit more fatigued. At the end of the day, it's just great fun, isn't it? I love it. We're in a privileged space here where on the channels, we get lent enough bikes to ride wherever we want. It's great. I love riding e-bikes as well, but I do love jumping between two, which is a lot of people, obviously, are just going to spend their money on one bike. We've talked about cost. Reliability is still a bit of an issue with e-bikes as well. It is. They're all great. There's a massive spectrum of different bikes to choose from. There is one thing, actually, we didn't touch on. That was one of the reasons, and this is not a hate. It's actually more of a dislike. I dislike spending, if you go for a day out at an uplift center or a bike park, you're spending three hours in a van. I don't like that. I'd rather spend my time on my bike, climbing up a techie climb to get a full ride experience. It's not a hate. It's just a dislike. Yes. That's why I tend to ride an e-bike as well because I am short of time, so I like to ride it. Obviously, that's different for whatever family situation or setup you have at home as well. There you go. Get involved in the comments. We'll check them out. We'll try and answer any questions as well in there. Yes, I'll try and get Steve on another big day on the mountain bike soon. No, thank you for inviting me out.