eBike USFS Designates E-Bikes “Motorized Vehicles”

[4ster]

Is that an official sticker or one someone put on? (The "No ebikes No pedal assist)

Official

What's the gist of the article? I'm not a member of USA Today.

A friend sent it to me, it was not behind a paywall.
It is a long article & pretty much covers the gamut. My takeaway is that there is still a lot of confusion about what an E-bike is & where they are allowed & not allowed to go.
Also, we are way behind Europe & probably the rest of the world.
Here is an excerpt:

Electric mountain bikes, known as eMTBs, are more than just welcomed in this 21,000-acre playground; they’re encouraged. The county park’s 40 miles of trails include specialized tracks for competition, plus rest stops with air pumps and spare inner tubes. More than half of the visitors are cyclists. A plaque at one canopy urges, "Of all the paths you take in life, make sure some of them are dirt."

Next door, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve shares a border with the regional park. It, too is laced with miles of hiking trails.

Yet that park has a giant sign at its entrances featuring a picture of an e-bike with a slash through it: “Electric Bikes Prohibited.” It is run by neighboring Scottsdale, where a municipal ordinance bans battery-powered bicycles on all 225 miles of trails.

Adjacent properties. Opposite policies.

Adding to the confusion, numerous trails from the county park lead over the mountain crest and into the preserve's no-eMTB zone.

The two grounds might as well be a symbol for the turf war that has emerged with the infusion of electric mountain bikes into America's backcountry.

& the difficulties of introducing legislation…

When U.S. Forest Service managers tried to open trails near Lake Tahoe to e-bikes three years ago, the agency wound up in court – sued by the National Horsemen’s Association.

See if this link gets you there

An electric bike rode into the backcountry. Now there's a nationwide turf war — USA TODAY

Nobody seems to agree about electric mountain bikes: Are they bikes? Are they damaging? Do they belong on trails? Too late. They're already out there.

apple.news

Weaving in and out at 20 MPH can happen on an eMTB, or even a regular mountain bike, or road bike. I am sorry but comments like this make people think that eMTB's have two speeds, stopped/off and 20MPH.

Believe me I pass the rental E-bikes frequently on my analog bike while riding this mostly level trail. I ring my bell and usually move onto the dirt because most of them look very shaky.
My issue is that if there is no enforcement and these rental shops business relies on renting the bikes so these people can ride on this particular trail why make everyone lawbreakers, maybe they should just open it up?

I will have an E bike soon and would much rather ride it legally.

 

[dbostedo]

If the apple news aggregator link doesn't work, here's a direct USA Today link:

An electric bike rode into the backcountry. Now there's a nationwide turf war

Nobody seems to agree about electric mountain bikes: Are they bikes? Are they damaging? Do they belong on trails? Too late. They're already out there.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Andy Mink]

If the apple news aggregator link doesn't work, here's a direct USA Today link:

An electric bike rode into the backcountry. Now there's a nationwide turf war

Nobody seems to agree about electric mountain bikes: Are they bikes? Are they damaging? Do they belong on trails? Too late. They're already out there.

www.usatoday.com

Still wants me to subscribe.

 

[Andy Mink]

Try this one.

 

[dbostedo]

Still wants me to subscribe.

Yeah, me too now.

 

[4ster]

This is happening NOW in the Tahoe area & is open for public comment NOW!

Forest Service

Forest Service

www.fs.usda.gov

After sorting through a bunch of documents, I found this video the most helpful...

Box

usfs-public.app.box.com

 

[Andy Mink]

This is happening NOW in the Tahoe area & is open for public comment NOW!

Forest Service

Forest Service

www.fs.usda.gov

After sorting through a bunch of documents, I found this video the most helpful...

Box

usfs-public.app.box.com

While I'm not familiar with the trails it sounds like Class 1 Ebikes are getting recognized as a legitimate use. I don't know why they won't be allowed on the relatively few trails mentioned. On one of the slides near Camp Richardson there are two parallel trails, one of which allows C1 bikes and one that doesn't. That seems odd.

I'm glad to see movement in an area that may well lead the way to other lesser known/used FS holding.

 

[4ster]

While I'm not familiar with the trails it sounds like Class 1 Ebikes are getting recognized as a legitimate use. I don't know why they won't be allowed on the relatively few trails mentioned. On one of the slides near Camp Richardson there are two parallel trails, one of which allows C1 bikes and one that doesn't. That seems odd.

I'm glad to see movement in an area that may well lead the way to other lesser known/used FS holding.

In regard to the Camp Richardson trails (if I understand correctly): The one that will allow C1 bikes is the paved path which I posted about on page 14 in this thread that they would NOT be allowed.

I live right next to the very busy paved FS bike path that leads to popular beaches & other attractions. It is clearly marked.
View attachment 170267

Ironically this E-scooter was parked right there
View attachment 170268

& another 50’ down the trail.
View attachment 170269
I use this trail often in the Spring to access the MTB trails till some of the sensitive wetland meadows dry out, then I avoid it. Lately there are more E-bikes, E-scooters & 1 wheelers on it than anything else, I have even encountered electric motorcycles .

Last summer there was an article about perhaps opening some of the FS single track in the area to E-bikes but they were pretty specific that this trail would NOT be included…

View attachment 170266


Two new E-bike specific rental shops opened last summer along with the longtime bike rental which also rents E-bikes all a few blocks away along the highway adjacent to the city bike route which turns into the FS path at the end of my street. Do you think these shops are informing the tourists “Sure we will rent you a bike but you need to ride it on the highway”. Why did the city grant them a business license? Two of them went by these signs without even blinking while I was taking these pictures. There is not & never has been any enforcement. The problem is that this is a very busy path with many families weaving all over the place & even 20mph is a treacherous accident waiting to happen!!!

It is the LAST place they should be allowed but I'm sure the 3 E-bike rental shops up the road will be happy about it. That trail is out of control & unsafe during the busy times & is currently overrun with rental E-bikes. Interesting that this piece has done a 180 & except for this I am in favor of the rest of the proposal.
The parallel trail(s) are unofficial trails that I & some of the neighborhood kids started decades ago. I imagine they will open one of them & decommission the rest.

 

[Philpug]

In regard to the Camp Richardson trails (if I understand correctly): The one that will allow C1 bikes is the paved path which I posted about on page 14 in this thread that they would NOT be allowed.

It is the LAST place they should be allowed but I'm sure the 3 E-bike rental shops up the road will be happy about it. That trail is out of control & unsafe during the busy times & is currently overrun with rental E-bikes. Interesting that this piece has done a 180 & except for this I am in favor of the rest of the proposal.
The parallel trail(s) are unofficial trails that I & some of the neighborhood kids started decades ago. I imagine they will open one of them & decommission the rest.

This is the biggest fear and issue I have seen. It is the resort areas where the oblivious of trail and biking etiquette are renting these and disrupting the natural flow. I would like to see these rental shops throttling the power by cutting off Turbo or whatever the highest power is. People are not only getting in over their heads but making is unsafe for other people on the trails. I have yet to see an eMTB owner compromise their or others safety.

 

[Andy Mink]

throttling the power

I'd be curious to know what class bike the shops are renting. I'm guessing there are C2 (throttle) and C3 (pedal assist but 28mph) getting rented. Maybe some C1?

 

[4ster]

This is the biggest fear and issue I have seen. It is the resort areas where the oblivious of trail and biking etiquette are renting these and disrupting the natural flow. I would like to see these rental shops throttling the power by cutting off Turbo or whatever the highest power is. People are not only getting in over their heads but making is unsafe for other people on the trails. I have yet to see an eMTB owner compromise their or others safety.

Couldn't agree more!
This paved path is about 4 miles long & I wish I had recorded some of the carnage & blatant abuse I witnessed this summer. Everything from shaky old folks all the way to kids on Surons leaning on their electric horns cutting corners at 30 mph! I used to ride this path frequently with the groms while they were learning to ride, now we stay on the dirt.

 

[Andy Mink]

Couldn't agree more!
This paved path is about 4 miles long & I wish I had recorded some of the carnage & blatant abuse I witnessed this summer. Everything from shaky old folks all the way to kids on Surons leaning on their electric horns cutting corners at 30 mph! I used to ride this path frequently with the groms while they were learning to ride, now we stay on the dirt.

Unfortunately a lot of this comes down to enforcement and there are just not enough LE to go after the bad apples. When I worked for the Parks Department I always told the bosses that if they were going to institute a new law or rule they better have the people on the ground to enforce it. Otherwise it's a waste of paper and signage.

 

[4ster]

I'd be curious to know what class bike the shops are renting. I'm guessing there are C2 (throttle) and C3 (pedal assist but 28mph) getting rented. Maybe some C1?

Good question. Most of the rentals I see are probably class 1 but on that trail 20mph is pretty fast especially for folks with no experience. I know one of the shops rents models that look like the old Honda trail 90 motorcycles with fatter tires, racks & lights. Pretty sure they have pedals but they may have throttles too.
One thing that has changed is that although they are all over town, I don't see the Lime Scooters on the bike path anymore. I wonder if some entity came down on that company with the threat of fines to keep them off the path.

 

[LouD-Truckee]

I should know better.... but here goes....
observation a couple days ago.... pull up to alongside a kid by the raley's in Truckee... he's on a nice, shiny super73.... by himself, on his way to the sports fields for practice.... I ask him, gently, how old he was.... just turned 10.... off he goes.... no hands....
another acquaintance observed a while back how 80%+ of the traffic on Legacy trail was ebike (incl super73's, sur ron's, 10 year olds, etc.) pretty much running off pedestrians, families, cyclists, etc.
city (or whoever) has recently implemented speed limits.... 15mph.... no more enforceable than age limits.... and still hazardous on a lot of the trail due to blind spots, others on the trail, etc... where "get out of my way, I'm on an eBike" doesn't/isn't.... well....

 

[scott43]

So what I'm hearing is that motorized vehicles go as fast as..motorized vehicles..

 

[RiderRay]

I just don't get it. An e--bike is a motorized vehicle. If they are allowed then mopeds should be allowed. This can go on and on.

 

[Andy Mink]

I just don't get it. An e--bike is a motorized vehicle. If they are allowed then mopeds should be allowed. This can go on and on.

That's why they had to redesignate the trails as motorized with restrictions (class 1 only) instead of no motorized with a class 1 exception. The FS is recognizing, at least in the Tahoe Basin, that C1 bikes are only pedal assist, no throttle. They must have also looked at the studies by IMBA and others that show these bikes don't do any more trail damage than an analog bike.

 

[4ster]

I just don't get it. An e--bike is a motorized vehicle. If they are allowed then mopeds should be allowed. This can go on and on.

Yeah, I didn’t get it either…
… till I rode one!

Class 1 E-bikes deserve their own designation & shouldn’t be lumped in with other motorized bikes. They are great on traditional non-motorized MTB trails & except for egos they bruise nothing.
I can ride instead of drive to the trailhead.
I can tow the kids where I would otherwise have to drive them.
The best part is that I can ride with my younger friends & family again & not feel like I am holding them up.

 

[AmyPJ]

Saw this on a Trek Fuel EX-e page on FB. "Pedal assist OK!" This plus "No Surron Bikes on the Trails!"
It's not that hard to clarify.

 

[Andy Mink]

Saw this on a Trek Fuel EX-e page on FB. "Pedal assist OK!" This plus "No Surron Bikes on the Trails!"
It's not that hard to clarify.
View attachment 212460

I like the sign but it kind makes the other one hard to read.And you know someone with a different brand would say, "but it's not a Surron!" because, well, PEOPLE!