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Breathinghard – your May 8, 2019 at 8:55 pm post is Spot on. Let’s keep the older folks in mind. My wife moved on from her late 80’s Specialized Hard Rock to an early 2000’s  Bontrager, but now her aging bum knee has me looking at a 2020’s e-MTB to help keep her in the game. As the saying goes – Growing old isn’t for sissies

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TRSMITH thank you for excellent points in your July 28, 2019 at 4:41 pm post on the e-Bikes topic.

There’s too much needless conflict amongst folks with fundamentally common interests.  I  remember the 1980’s all trail access issues that Mountain Bikers faced my wife and I had our first MTBs – pretty basic Specialized Hard Rocks that that I replaced with Gary Fisher Joshuas now largely dated in tech and appearance. In the 1980’s Hikers and Equestrians didn’t want ANY Mountain Bikers on THEIR trails.

Some of them even today, still don’t want us – over 30 years later. In the end, you know what? No one died, and for the most part nearly everyone’s happy and OK sharing most of the trails. Still hoping the USFS and BLM folks ease up on pedal MTBers and the newcomer e-Bikes for the older folks.

AOPA calls private pilots who haven’t flown in a while “Rusty Pilots” and are trying to get them back flying. We have a lot of “Rusty Mountain Bikers” who would like to get back in the game – albeit a bit slower (I’ve had my share of MTB crashes decades ago). e-MTBs may be a way for Rusty MTBers to get back in the game albeit a bit slower.

Re. your comment on tire type/size and trail impact, WRT Fat Tire Bikes, they would have a softer trail impact (PSI). Sort of like a John Deere 4×6 Gator UTV with its 6 massive low pressure tires – that have less PSI impact on the dirt than a hunter’s boot… In studies in the 2015 time frame, IMBA determined that e-MTBs “didn’t have a greatly different impact on trails” than pedal-MTBs, however motorcycles were another story in that study. As they say – Ride On.

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