Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire E-bikes. Cheating.

E-bikes might be cheating (if you are a purist snob), but if ain't cheating, you ain't tryin'!

My wife and I have been riding bikes quite a bit recently but the enjoyment, exercise, and being outside is more important than the "burn", when we ride together. But we live a bit out of town, a little too far for her to keep up to a ride to a brewery or anything downtown.

(I ride my mountain bike on trails for a real work-out when she isn't interesed)

Our wedding anniversary is tomorrow and we've been riding some e-bikes here and there (SIL has one, we've been test riding them at a few shops here as well)

So, we splurged a bit and bought a pair as anniversary gifts to each other. They will go with us in the motorhome for light trail riding, I'll ride mine to work periodically (30 miles) once things open back up, and, they're just friggin' FUN! We'll be able to ride together on rides she wouldn't be comfortable with otherwise - into town, to the next town over (Ft. Collins), to our friends houses south of town... It's nice to hit a button when heading into the wind or up an incline and just get a huge power boost.

For the uninitiated, our bikes are "class 1" bikes - they don't have a throttle and won't speed us down the road unless we peddle. Class 1's add power to the pedal stroke. I can run ~32 MPH on my bike, pedaling like I am running 15 MPH.

I went with the Trek Super Commuter:



Took it for a medium-long ride (for me) when we got home today (20 miles). My 500 Ah battery has a range from ~40 to ~90 miles depending on how much "assist" I ask it for. I had a nice work out... Rode 50% no assist 50% "eco" mode most of the way out, "tour mode" most of the way home, and "turbo" for a 2 mile home stretch that was straight uphill, and into a driving wind and rain.

Ran the battery down 8%. Never would have peddled that myself without being destroyed, especially uphill into the wind at the end.

Can't wait to go camping and take them along!

Got myself an ebike to keep up with the Grand and neighborhood kids. Love it.

Duck O' Dumb,

You might not be gay, but I guarantee you know what a dick tastes like.

Nice!

They provide a lot of options - keep up with others, extend the distance of a ride, extend the time of a ride... All without getting completely wiped out.

I think we're going to get a lot of use out of ours (and I will keep trail riding on my old Giant MTB)

Bad as s if ya ask me..... but you didn’t.
Still bad a ss

might be good for coyote hunting

Damn, bad ass. Thanks for posting. Seems like there'd be an adjustment riding off road not being able to index of RPM's. Cool toy though.

There were some high end e-MTB there today, too. I test rode the Trek Rail 9.9. INSANE bike. Drop off my driver's license, borrow a helmet, and they said, "have fun!"

I think the sticker was $10,500. I found some construction site off I-25 north of Loveland maybe 2 miles from Scheels where they are rebuilding the frontage road.

Strange experience. It'd be a learning curve for sure.... I was moving through some tactical sections with concrete and rocks in manual. Added some electric assist, stomp down on a peddle, and the front end came up 6" off the ground. Romped around there for an hour. Fun as hell.

But honestly, it wasn't for me. I think I prefer the tactile aspects of the technical environments. Seems safer?

But for a long 14 mile R/T ride through town with the wife to hit a brewery or two.... We're set!

Can you ride them in areas that don’t allow motor vehicles?

Can you go hunting for deer on one?

Federal wilderness area rules still apply. Hooves or boot leather.

That said, I'd sure like one for elk hunting.

Can't speak to the e-motorcycle... but if you are asking about the bike:

There are generally 2 types in the US:

Class 1 (adds power to each peddle stroke) and class 1 plus class 3 (adds power to your peddling, plus has a "throttle" switch, which gets you up to 28 MPH, without peddling). Over 28 MPH puts e-bikes into motor vehicle category, in many/most places.

GENERALLY speaking, any of the above under 28 MPH is just a "bike", by most local jurisdictions rules.

Can't speak to hunting rules in your area. I hunt in some remote wilderness areas where a a simple *game cart* is illegal to use.

I’m not sure.... I haven’t rode one....

Sure does look cool as f u k.
I’ve done some mountain biking and dirt (gas engine) that resembles that.

Looks fun

So are these any help up steep hills, or just keep you up to speed on flat land?

The one I built runs like a scalded ape. No problem climbing single track without pedaling. But I did gear down the front chainring and top speed is only about 23 mph.

The ones I've seen over here have the motor in the hub

An older gentleman that belongs to our hunting group has one of the Quiet Cats and really likes it. His is the tri-cycle type and he has a trailer for it with bicycle type 20” tires on it.

It does well in the moderate hills that we hunt in and he’s hauled more than a few deer out with it on the trailer. He’s also hauled seed and fertilizer for planting food plots.

His wife uses it for her yard work on their place.

All in all it’s pretty impressive. He plugs it in to recharge every night for the next day.

Iirc, he paid ~ 5k$ for it with the trailer, light kit and a large gel type seat.

Boys and their toys.

I like eBikes. I was thinking about getting my wife one so she can join me on longer rides.

Two-stroke or bust!

They’re definitely filling a niche. The big concern I would have is the batteries. In the future will you be able to find a replacement for whatever Ebike you have. Seems like the technology is still changing fast.

Great Video, if you were curious this is the light he was using on the drone to illuminate the track at the end of the video.

Aputure Amaran Tri-8s Spot Daylight LED Light with V-Mount Battery Plate



With the price they charge for the nicer E-Bikes I'd just get the real thing and be done with it...

Me too. Also, I'd be concerned about what happens when the battery is drained. The E-bikes weigh a lot more than regular bikes and would be harder to pedal, even where it's flat.