Pinkbike Poll: What's The Least Awful Word That Means 'Not An E-Bike'?
A selection of e-bikes and, erm, bikes that aren't e-bikes.
I know what you're thinking - a mountain bike without a motor is just a mountain bike. Sure, that's perfectly clear if we're just discussing those simpler machines. But many e-bikers refer to their steed as a "bike", so when it comes to comparing an e-bike to its non-motorised equivalent, it's pretty confusing to just call it a "bike" as well.
Some e-bikes are starting to look a lot like the regular version.
So there are a surprising number of occasions when we want to refer to a mountain bike, but make clear that we're not talking about an electric one. For example: "When the battery goes into limp mode, it almost feels like I'm riding a [...]"
Some common terms include "non-e-bike" (which is a bit clunky), or "acoustic" and "analog" - which don't make sense because neither word is technically the opposite of "electric". The opposite of analog is digital, and if your e-MTB was truly digital you'd do a wheelie every time you touched the pedal. According to the internet (which you should never believe), the word closest to the opposite of acoustic is "nonauditory". I don't think that's quite right either. The term "pure" or "purist" often comes up in this context, which in my opinion has definite gatekeeping vibes.
Of course, this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek - and there are definitely bigger problems in the world - but if you had to differentiate between an e-bike and its regular counterpart, which term(s) do you hate the least?
What's the least awful way to refer to a mountain bike while making clear you're not referring to an e-bike?
Complete the sentence: I don't ride e-bikes, I ride a [. . .] bike.
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"E-Bike" = Motorcycle
It's the fact that the bicycle has a motor in it that makes it so.
You can't argue that, it's not up for debate. And your opinion doesn't negate straight up facts. Now let's do this poll for ebikes. I've already got some good ones:
Bitchcycle
Motorcycle
Pussymobile
Jk fatties, relax.
"Bike" is what normal pedal powered bikes should be called.
Sometimes I jokingly call my bike (I don't own an ebike), a "me-bike", which amuses me a bit.
Give eBikes their own publication and dedicated staff. Pretty sure that is what most people wanted from the get-go, but we ended up getting this hybrid where you can “filter” out eBikes instead. It just leaves both groups wanting and having weird conversations about what we should call things.
I like, "bike."
If a bike is not good enough for you, then don't buy something else and call that a bike.
I call them eww-bikes.
“A mountain bike”
I call my Ebike, an Ebike.
Not sure who started this analog, acoustic, bullsh*t
Both are fun to ride, and that’s all that really matters to me.
"The word moped was coined by the Swedish journalist Harald Nielsen in 1952, as a portmanteau of the Swedish words motor and pedaler.
But, oddly, ebike is not motorized vehicle when it comes to trail use?
Like, as long as the rider is pantomiming the act of pedaling the motor doesn’t exist?
Slow your roll BRO
Not all us “fatties” ride
E-bikes. I’m 260 I’m my birthday suite and I don’t own an E-bike or plan on getting one until I’m old enough to need one.
Bike = Bike
E-Bike/ Pedelec = motor to assist pedal power, no separate throttle
Moped = pedals and throttle controlled motor (operate independently) common aftermarket hackjobs ridden by fast food delivery riders
E-Moto = throttle controlled electric motor, no pedals. AKA twat-mobile, aka getaway vehicles for theiving shits and balaclava clad drug dealers.
Language evolves, and is mostly driven by convenience and number of users of certain words/expressions.
Slightly OT: When I was a wrench, most of the serious bikes I saw were 'Harleys' but did not have a single part manufactured by Harley Davidson.
It’s all good.
I just don’t know why the bike industry doesn’t know us clydesdales can ride.
I can’t find a jersey that’s a XXL
that doesn’t fit like one for a raodie doing a time trial
Or just just lump it in as an OHV
Soon enough HD will release a e-bike with simulated glasspack for your hydra hub that turns it into a deep mean sounding swarm of angry bees.
"Bike"= Bike
"E-Bike"= Abomination
no one ever, EVER once called a Toothbrush "accustic"....its toothbrush and ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH
Rocking bike, a play on rocking chair.
I'm going on a ride tomorrow.
Which bike you taking, the ebike?
No, my bike.
No need to be a nob. Your road bike?
No my bike.
Nob. Your enduro bike.
No my bike.
Etc
But if that battle's been lost I'd go with traditional, shortened to trad. As with trad climbing the community will soon be made up almost entirely of strange, beardy counterculture types who enjoy suffering more to achieve the same thing. And I'd be proud to stay one of them ;p
Vélomoteurs had no pedals...
Bike = Bike
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine, bona fide
Electrified, two wheel E Bike
What'd I say?
E Bike
What's it called?
E Bike
That's right! E Bike!
E Bike
E Bike
E bike
I hear those things are awfully loud?
It glides as softly as a cloud!
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my fire road riding friend!
What about us yeti loving slobs?
You'll be given dentist jobs!
Were you sent here by the Devil?
No, good sir, Levy’s just on some leave’l!
Moped now that wasn’t so hard.
Thank you.
I bet all of you complaining about ebikes ride xc on purple flats that match your grips
Come on PB.
The thing is what ever a group of riders is on becomes the centre of the focus and narrowed down to “bike”.
A group of riders out for a Sunday blast on a Firebkade, Gixer and R6 just call these bikes. Off road stuff becomes dirt bikes or if they’re into it Enduro and crosser (uk) woods/dirt bike and moto elsewhere.
If you are actively doing work to keep moving, you are on a bike. If you can hold a position and you get movemennt anyways, it's passive.
That's why the throttle is so important to this equation. Old mopeds had throttle and could be used without pedaling.
Now here me out...
Honestly I kinda like e-mtbs for the powered ones, because they are a different beast than the e-hybrids and e-commuters, and (WTF!) e road bikes. That said "Moped's" historically have a throttle. My bro-in-laws fat tired commuter with a throttle= MOPED. I think all of RADbikes fleet are MOPEDS! (yeah I'm yelling it). I think THIS would also help alleviate the gen publics confusion between the legal classifications of 1,2,3 (look it up just plain poorly done)
So pedal powered by a meat engine = Bike, and the subsets there of.
If it has an electric motor providing at least a portion of the go I propose.....
. NO throttle, MUST be pedaled to go primarily with e-motor assist = e-bike (or "e- [various subset])
Actually pedals, with assist and option of a throttle=MOPED
Not designed with pedalling as primary input for movement.= e-SCOOTER or e-MOTORBIKE
"Removal of the Special Rule for Model Aircraft"
www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/11/2020-26726/removal-of-the-special-rule-for-model-aircraft
When the electrified bicycle fires that have caused 300 deaths and legislative action in NYC finally come to a national forest near you, the Sierra Club will be ready with legislation that says "bikes cause fires, bikes must be limited to bike parks". This is what happened to model aircraft. That law is already written, sitting at thinktanks, ready for the national emergency necessary to get it signed. One LiPo fire on a hot summer day is all it will take.
If we don't defend the line between bikes and not-bikes, we're going to lose access to our trails the same way model airplanes lost access to the sky: all at once, with the stroke of a pen.
If it has a motor and pedals, it's a motor-pedal. You could call it moped for short.
Bikes are bikes.
Defend the line.
That's like saying "Driving a car is mostly illegal in the United States". Just because you have to get a license now doesn't mean it's illegal.
E-bikes will f*ck up cycling as we know it. It's already happening. Everything that makes bicycles so awesome, is being tossed away just for some assistance.
Simple, affordable, elegant, lightweight, lasting for decades, easy, cheap and occasional maintaintenance, safe has now become complicated, expensive, ugly, heavy, obsolete in 10 years (if not earlier), needing professional, expensive and frequent maintenance, and dangerous. But hey, you have assistance!
People saying 'just don't buy one' are missing the point. Once 'bike' becomes synonymous with 'e-bike', everyone on a bike (a 'normal' bike, that is!) will suffer the consequences of everything e-bikes are f*cking up.
Soon landlords will just say 'no bikes allowed in my appartments', because well, 'bikes cause fire'. School kids here will no longer except a bike, because 'all my class mates ride e-bikes'. And the list goes on. It's horrible.
#ANARCHY
The problem with "bikes" and "ebikes" is that the layperson would consider bikes the umbrella term, like how model aircraft became drones. The only way to defend the line is to make a distinction that "meat bikes" and "ebikes" are entirely separate entities.
No one is saying there has to be parity in abilities within a sport.
All these apologist posts are going to be wonderful historical artifacts for reporters digging up the history of the first mass casualty forest fire started by a moped power train.
jimmymacontwowheels.com/recall-santa-cruz-heckler-9-e-bike-dropping-its-battery-like-a-bomb
jimmymacontwowheels.com/a-list-of-rare-e-bike-and-e-bike-battery-charging-fires
I take great efforts to make sure my bike isn't "acoustic", and make sure I track down/fix any weird noises I hear
I also dislike the analog/digital comparison.
Acoustic;
adjective
acous·tic ə-ˈkü-stik
variants or acoustical
ə-ˈkü-sti-kəl
Synonyms of acoustic
1
: of or relating to the sense or organs of hearing, to sound, or to the science of sounds
acoustic apparatus of the ear
acoustic energy
: such as
a
: deadening or absorbing sound
acoustic tile
b
: operated by or utilizing sound waves
2
: of, relating to, or being a musical instrument whose sound is not electronically modified
acoustically
electrek.co/2023/03/12/believe-it-or-not-the-amish-are-loving-electric-bikes
Motorcycle implies a certain level of power (more than a class 1 ebike IMO).
Moped implies low power and also has pedals IMO, and is probably a more accurate description.
But most people think of something like a Vespa when they think of a moped (I'd call those more of a scooter... which also gets confused with the little stand on kids scooters and now e-scooters), which I think gets e-bike enthusiasts feathers rustled.
On the eBike is a motorbike debate... A motorbike weighs 10x that of a bike, an eBike weighs a Christmas dinner more than a regular bike, and it rides exactly the same trails (much to everyone's disgust)
Mountain biking used to be about innocent fun with friends, being active, goof around, improving bike handling to overcome tricky parts of the trail, enjoying nature.
Now it's 'smashing laps'. And showing it all off on social media. If you want that, fine, but there already was motocross for that. Go do that.
And at least here. The same rules that allow e bikes to be considered bikes actually include small displacement gas motors as well.
dear moped marketeers trying to make more money by avoiding laws by framing motorbikes as bicycles: gtfo you asocial lowlifes.
Then there a special category of bikes was introduced that we specified with the adjective 'electric'.
And now PB asks us how we specify bikes that aren't that special category that requires that adjective?
How is 'bike' not an option, and why is this even a question?
Will the next poll be how 'non-imitation paintings' should be called, without providing the option of 'painting'?
An E-biker should have to say "real bike" in this instance.
Subcategories:
Broped = e-mtb
Dadped = e-cargo bike
Doperped = e-roadbike
e-moto = anything with a throttle
Proud owner of many bikes and one dadped
I continue to have mixed (though generally positive) feelings about e-bikes on trails, but e-bikes in the city are amazing. Lower bar for entry to get on a bike = more people riding bikes in the city, which makes it safer to ride bikes in the city, which means there are fewer cars.
So-called "eBikes" all have motors and all have throttles. Your crankset is a throttle. Just like a thumb-lever like you see on a couch, or a twist-grip like you see on what most of us would recognize as a "dirt bike" - the harder you push (or twist), the more power is provided by the motor, and the faster you go with relatively little physical effort. These "eBikes" are OHVs (Off Highway Vehicles) - or ORVs, or OXVs, or whatever your State or the Feds like to call them.
Those with power magnitude switches? Part of the throttle.
These so called "eBikes", are motor cycles - not far removed from "dirt bikes". They are motorized vehicles just like "dirt bikes" and need to be regulated as any other motorized vehicle, e.g.; licensing, and prohibited use in places set aside for non-motorized use.
There are only two fair ways to resolve this argument - and it is NOT to make an exception as we've been doing. BTW - whenever you open your hole to make an argument that your eBike is a "bicycle", understand that - oh yea..., it has a motor. Throttle be damned. It still has a motor. Duh.
One resolution is to prohibit use of all motorized vehicles on trails not so designated (with the exception of aBikes being used by those who can legally present a handicap tag in/on their automobile because they have a medically verifiable handicap).
The 2nd resolution - which may be closer to the wishes/choices of others who elect to ride eBikes for whatever reason not including a verified handicap (stupidity & weenieness are not handicaps), is to just open up all trails that currently allow the use of the eBike class of motorcycles, to ALL classes of motorcycles regardless of the type of motor they use for propulsion, or the type of throttle they may use.
I'd be cool with the 2nd option. All those trails that 13 yr olds of all ages are fond of coasting down - are ready made hillclimbs. Now THERE'S a trail you can use your throttle on!! Most of those REALLY GOOD ONES are couch-wide - you can ride your dirt bikes two-abreast & race your buddy to the TOP!!
This is already a complete sentence, the dramatic pause was [...] tantalizing.
If you want people to remotely take you seriously.
Let's see..., what other arguments are out there? Bazillions of them. "MY eBIKE ISN'T A MOTORCYCLE BECAUSE yada yada poopy poopy blather blather. All with one hand grenade stuck in their mouth - their eBike has a motor. A bazillion arguments. One response, "it has a motor". Period.
Electric motor cycle (E-BIKE) = motor/battery power.
Why do I need to redefine my bike because it doesn’t have a motor?
People want to argue in the internet more than have civil discussions. Its the divisive and controversial content that gets the clicks.
Bike and eBike it is so simple.
I think you're asking the wrong question here.
Shouldn't we be voting for names to describe an E-Bike?
I'll throw "Minimal Effort Required Bike" in the ring
But just for the lol's, how about "No-ped"?
Then race bike (which would now be a gravel bike) and bike (which meant commuter)
Later road bike, track bike, cross bike, mountain bike, trials bike, jump bike (now dj)
Mountain bike then became xc mountain bike, trail bike, downhill bike.
And we added time trial bike and gravel bike.
Do you really want to now relabel everything "analog xc mountain bike", "unassisted road bike", "legacy time trial bike" ?
Velocipede is "fast foot". Lets go back there.
..... they are wrong. End of discussion.
It's the other ones, the ones with electric motors, that need a distinct term as to not confuse them with real mountainbikes.
E-bike - electric motor + pedals
Motorbike - motor + no pedals
Don't rebrand the original because some new class has come along that needs defining. Brand the new class.
One is a mountain bike. MTB
One is an electronic mountain bike. E-MTB
Hey want to ride this sat morning? Sure yeah we riding Ebikes? Nah I'm gonna bring my chameleon. If the guy doesn't know that the combination of you saying No... and that a chameleon is a hard tail MTB then you should find a new riding parter because that answer alone tells you what kind of ride the guy plans on having.
We overthink too much.
MTB
E-MTB
Jesus.
I don’t get how it’s not already been mentioned…
All these old 40 year olds calling it analog or acoustic really gets my gears grinding. It’s a mountain bike you weekend warrior, Covid riding, 2 burgers away from a heart attack, meat head.
Obviously the discipline type comes in if relevent such as, DH bike, XC bike etc
but refering to things like " human powered DH bike" get ta f u k ! : )
Amishbike? This must be from the country where the only brand of copying machines was called Xerox, and it's now a verb as well.
Skinny, broke, middle-aged mountain biker discovers joy of trolling ebikers online to help fill the expanding void created by the fact that being the fastest climber in his dwindling ride group no longer matters to anyone.
“Being the fastest up the hill used to kind of balance out the fact that I was, umm, not that into jumps. Now newbies on e-bikes are already passing me downhill and clearing that gap I always ride around which is bull$hit because they cheated.”
Cause that's what they were called before e-bikes came around. And that's why e-bikes are called e-bikes. Because they needed a different name. Because it's them which appeared later. Damn. (BTW - I own and like and ride both)
'nuff said.
FHPB = Fully Human Powered Bike - just a regular bike. Or perhaps just bike as in XC bike, down country bike, trail bike, enduro bike, DH bike.
Why does it matter so much. Just ride whatever you ride.
Media is not culture. It is just a medium.
It should be asking
"What is the least inoffensive way to describe 'through headset cable routing'?
Feel free to add your suggestion below.
And also why I refer to my motorcycles as "motorcycles" and not bikes, even if they are two wheeled vehicles.
The powered ones are "disability access vehicles."
electrek.co/2023/03/12/believe-it-or-not-the-amish-are-loving-electric-bikes
I have a word for e-bikes: "Moped"
When I do, I either have to take it on the head for not riding a real bike, or listen to other ebikers manic frothing.
( self evident after a cold damp Scottish climb )
E-bike - trans bike
( blurs boundaries and has transistors )
Because this is true and flattering, like "sport" cars are !
I ride NAP bikes then I take a nap cuz I'm middle aged and pedaling a bike is work.
That could be very marketable.
*And that is meant without any disrespect to anyone
Some people can’t take a joke
Electric powered with a motor = mountain e-bike
Acronym checks out.
Bike = Dusty Bike
Dweeb Bike or Digital Bike = E-bike
Cut and dry terminology.
E-bike = cheater
2 fun laps were enjoyed. The really physical climb up from the waterfall that only a handful can clean was fine on both laps. The down to Achnashellach was amazing. First lap was an ice check lap, 2nd pretty fast. My legs are burst after a really hard training week, so I was glad of the assistance on the climb. The descent is so much more physical on the eeb compared to the Amish. It's awesome on both though (faster on the eeb somehow going down).
Enjoy your bikes, no matter what you want to call them, don't hate on other folks bikes or choices unless they are litter louts straight lining everything !