eMTB XC Results from the Les Gets World Champs 2022

 It's motocross with electric bicycles and it's infinitely less fun to watch.

I am not against Ebikes. However I am fully against these companies attempts to legitimize them as some sort of "Normalization" of cycling. The conspiracy theorist in me has a hunch that this e-bike push is beneficial to cycling manufacturers through planned obsolescence. Motors, battery configs etc. etc. are all so rapidly developing that replacing the parts on a 5 year old bike is going to be near impossible. They have created a product with a limited life cycle due to the very nature of batteries yet sell them at a premium.

There's so much unsustainable about the Emtb market yet the marketing would have you believe they are the best thing since... well... a bicycle.

When you bring the "Sporting" aspect into E-bikes you're opening a can of worms. I can do some tricky stuff with an ebike motor to make it pass inspection yet offer more than the legally allowed power levels. I have 0 clue what I am doing, I am a hobbyist that likes to electrocute myself for science... someone that knows what they are doing is going to dominate ebike racing lol. Performance tuning an electric motor isn't unheard of. You could literally put a switch in your handle bar where you tighten your grip a lil xtra and it trips the switch and turns your damn power up 25-50% lol. I could sneak some shit into these bikes that you'd never lose. There's no way they're spending 2-3 hours disassembling all of these bikes and doing complete rebuilds to inspect them.

They have created a completely ungovernable sport in which it is highly beneficial to the athletes, teams, and manufacturers to "Cheat".

 @Cheddar420: Look, I think E-XC is bizarre too. But I'm getting a tinfoil hat vibe from you here. Of course there is a "conspiracy". Companies exist to make money. Customers showing they want these things. So companies make more and better ones, increase prices, etc. It's the conspiracy of a "market economy". If people didn't want them, companies would not make them. Now if you're somehow implying these companies are using The Force to convince people to buy things they don't actually want, well yea, that's called The Marketing Dept. Exists for every product and service ever.

As for cheating, well sure, we've been down that road for a century of road racing. And really racing of any sort. Always an arms race. Either governing bodies will keep up, or they won't and the discipline will die. So what? Doesn't effect you and me, right? And honestly, if you know anything about battery tech, you'd welcome someone to come up with a cheat to cram more capacity into the same size and weight. Hell, Elon would pay them mad bank for that! Probably cause a bidding war between Tesla, Ford, GM, CATL, Panasonic, etc. Get my drift here?

 @Chuckolicious: thinking a bicycle manufacturer has anything to do with battery design is outlandish. They get Panasonic/Samsung to do it like everyone else. Battery tech advancement isn't really possible with current materials. There's trillions of dollars being invested annually into finding the next best battery, ebikes have 0 to do with that. Tesla, Panasonic, Samsung, and the big auto-manufacturers have been searching for years and haven't found the holy grail yet. E-bikes are such a small market that it's just unrealistic to think they would have any impact. The requirements of ebikes provide no significant challenges that would require a new battery/motor design. There's more possibility of advancement in battery management then there is in increasing capacity or power available.

E-bikes consist of components from other markets that have plateaued there's actually very little room for advancement in terms of the brushless motors and batteries. The big tool brands have thrown so much money at brushless motors there's not much that's going to shake up that space anymore. Not without a new type of motor. Would it be great if E-bikes played a part in that? Sure, but it's extremely unlikely.

There's no reason a motor and battery compartment can't be standardized to a degree. Even if there's different standards, or series for style of MTB (enduro, downhill, xc), producing parts so that these very expensive products have a longevity that matches a traditional bicycle would go a long way into sustainability and curbing the negative environmental impact that these machines are having. But this has a negative impact on companies bottom lines. These are things that should have been done before they sold billions of dollars worth of landfill.

I can't support E-bikes or be a "Defender" of the product until there's readily available motors for aftermarket purchase so consumers don't get left with a heavy, ugly, brick of a non-e-bike when their battery inevitably eats shit.

 @Cheddar420: Umn, was that a long way of simply agreeing with me? You're the one that brought up "cheating". I simply pointed out that it was extremely unlikely in any real sense. So I'm utterly confused by your response.

 @Chuckolicious: I don't agree with you. E-bikes will have 0 impact on battery progression as it's at it's peek. Elon's literally going to space to try and find a solution. Specialized? Not so much. Cycling companies are doing nothing to advance the tech, they are using readily available technologies and half assed applying it to bicycles so that every year they can have their scheduled "improvement". Which in a way is fabricated. Brushless motors have peeked. Battery tech has peeked. The only thing they are improving is the application.

As for the cheating they have a sport that's traditionally infested with cheaters and have provided them yet another way to cheat. A technical way that UCI isn't qualified in it's current state to investigate. UCI is acting as an advertising arm rather than a sporting body. They just want to get those products out in front of peoples eyes rather than having a viable competitive honest sport.

 @Cheddar420: Dude, with all due respect, WTAF? My very clear point was that there's not a chance in hell that some bike company or race team would come up with some sort of amazing chemistry to add capacity for he same size/weight. Are you ok?

So, since there is no actual way to cheat with the batteries, what other way would someone cheat? Motor/power mapping doesn't even matter since the more power, the less range. So that's part of the race, you have to determine how best to use the limited power the battery provides.

 @Chuckolicious: Do you want to have a conversation or do you want to attempt to insult me because you don't understand? I am open to a conversation. I am not open to someone attempting to insult me because of their own ignorance.

You can certainly cheat with batteries. Overvoltage an electric motor and it goes harder until it dies. Generally a pretty safe thing to do within reason. Hiding a small pack of high discharge cells somewhere on the bike isn't unachievable, depending on frame of course. Creating a switch from the traditional battery to the high discharge pack so that you can use that additional power at your discretion also not that unrealistic and could be easily achieved by even a hack like me with an afternoon of research. You could use it to get the whole shot, or at a tech climb and be at an advantage over other riders.

 @Cheddar420: Holy cripes are you tedious, and exhibiting some real Dunning Kruger. You know what? I'll pass at this point. :-/

 @Chuckolicious: You don't even know what Dunning Kruger is...

Jesus you are the most ignorant person I have ever interacted with online. I was assuming I was talking to a teenager, by how you were acting, so I was trying to be detailed in my explanation.

You're 54 and you behave like this? That's embarrassing...

You said you can't. I explain precisely how you can multiple times. You then go on to say "so you can't with batteries" what? Maybe don't get in conversations that are out of your element if your reaction, at 54 years old, is to act like a child.

 @Cheddar420: Feel better now?

 @Chuckolicious: I feel no different. You've had zero impact on me. Meanwhile you seem to feel some sort of way.

Your personality type is why this place has the rep it has.

 Ebikes are legit. I just got one for overuse knee injury from riding mtb too much. Handles much better than I thought. However, I find it much harder to climb really rocky, rooty, technical terrain with tight switchbacks on an ebike. The regular bikes climb easier because the balance and traction is more predictable. However, for just brute steep uphills and not super technical terrain, ebikes really shine.