"However, now you can climb on an electric hunting bike that can move at twenty or thirty miles an hour without pedalling. You can cover that five miles in fifteen minutes as opposed to hours while still carrying all of your gear." Quoted directly from the beginning of the book..."
I have EXPERIENCE on an ebike. Fact is, the only place you can go 20-30 miles per hour is on a graded road, while being passed by hunters in trucks. They are extremely hard to ride on a single track with gear. I have tried. Best use for these is on two-track fs or logging roads where you want to be silent. Bugling into Canyons hoping to get a reply so you can ditch the bike and head after them. A single track would have to be damn near flat without root balls/rocks/erosion, and all the other things that would make this hard. It may gain you a few miles in some areas, but that's it (if the single track is winding along the bottom of a canyon). By the time you load it and yourself up, ride at 5-10 mph, and find a place to ditch it, you haven't gained much on the guy walking in. They also do not have the torque like a motorcycle. I grew up riding motos and prudent use of the throttle could get you through a lot of places. But in steep places they don't have that pop that a throttle does. I had a very hard time, and ended up turning around on a 300 vertical foot climb (over a half mile or so) that was probably about a 15-30 degree hill.
BUT on logging roads and two tracks, being silent is a big plus, and this is where they shine, and what I bought mine for. I hunted an area that is known to be devoid of elk because of a persistent wolf problem. The area has plenty of logging roads,u would need to put miles and miles on to find elk. Elk know the sound of an engine. This is where they have an advantage.
From a guy that is selling ebikes. Fact is, this is bullshit. Go try it for yourself, you can rent them at many bike shops now. Then let me know.
Also, don’t they make electric utv, wouldn’t that be a better option for logging roads? They are silent and you can carry everything, including a dead elk.
Those who think e-bikes are going to suddenly appear of on single track mountain hiking trails are ignorant to how they work, and to the difficulty of riding any bike on those type trails.
Matt
As for hunting, we would ride, call, ride, call. Ended up face to face with a grizzly doing it. We all agreed (3 of us), it was a great way of staying silent.
As for the electric UTV, my buddy brought a "bad boy" electric/gas bear hunting last fall. It was ok, but kinda gutless going up hill (and I mean a regular fs road up hill). It also "crunched" under tires alot, so, wasn't really nearly as silent as an ebike.
Matt"
Yep
It will allow some physically fit to get further, a bit quicker and with less effort expended than walking.
I can't see why anyone would have a problem with them being used in that fashion.
Have no issue at all with a mountain bike or e-bike on bike trails.
It is amazing to watch animals move away from ATVs and how far away it actually affects them.
Mountain bikes and e-bikes also affect critters but nowhere near the impact of ATVs.
I can’t wait to do that with my quiet, non-smelly ebike. I’m betting the results will be much different
Yes, I did call BS, not your BS, but BS on the book quote. There are many things in print I could call BS on. Point is, I think its best to try it before having an opinion. Kind of like me having an opinion on Sitka clothes when I've never owned or tried any. Ebikes have great advantages on logging roads and two track and some single tracks over your basic mountain bike because you can pedal less, look around more, and cover more ground extending your range. But don't be deceived, you aren't going to kill anything off one and you probably will find out you put just as many miles on your feet, just from a different starting point.
There are some mountain bike trails I don't find very fun to pedal up as well (on a regular mountain bike) that may be a bit more fun on an ebike with NO gear strapped on my back. Ebikes are really fun to ride around town as well. I really enjoy mine to go run errands on. If I had it for that reason alone, it was money well spent.
Point is, if most bowhunters thought about the trails and places they go to, try to picture riding a fairly gutless (by motorcycle standards) bike up there with a bow and 10 lbs worth of gear in a backpack. I mean really examined the places you go, the rocks, the switchbacks and washed out trails, ruts, roots, and logs, and then realized you were 2 miles from ANY trail when you actually saw or heard elk, you'd agree that it in most cases it's not very practical.
In any case, I truly hope you have your best season ever this year.
It seems you have the 4 food groups in your panniers. Hops, Barley, Water, Rice. A guy can live for years on those.
I bought the RadRover last spring, $2,100 decked out with fenders, rear rack, panniers and paying a bike shop to assemble it. They don't have to be as expensive as some think. Although, I was a bit disappointed with the hill climbing power of the rear drive and think I should have spent more for a mid-drive.
I used it quite a bit riding fs roads scouting for my cow moose hunt last year. I also used it to quietly ride an ATV trail to haul a climbing tree stand into fairly close proximity to an elk wallow. It's also a blast riding around home for errands or just for fun. It's not so much fun on rocky narrow trails.
That was my thought.... LOL
I bought a pretty good MTB for about $550.... in 1988. No suspension of any kind, but it did have 18 whole gears.
I won’t object to them wherever gasoline engines are permitted, but a motor is a motor is a cotton-pickin’ MOTOR. I can well imagine the limitations that some of the guys have reported that e-bikes have, but honestly, I don’t care. It’s like saying that a mo-ped is a “bicycle”.
But I’ll make you guys a deal; every bowhunter could be allowed a maximum of 2 wheels. Ride ‘em or shoot ‘em; your choice.
News release from the City of Fort Collins today announcing ebikes will be permanently allowed on bike-walking trails. Fort Collins has 285 miles of trails and has been conducting a pilot/conflict program for a year.
"Data and public input were collected during the pilot program, and staff has found no major issues associated with allowing e-bikes at this time. In addition, public feedback and input from City Boards and Commissions indicated more support for allowing e-bikes than opposition, particularly Class 1 e-bikes. Further, research and the pilot program indicate e-bikes provide mobility, sustainability, and health benefits."
Like them or not, they aren't going away...
I can put a Street Legal kit on my RZR2 and change my licensing option and use it here in town but I don't need/want to do that with my eAssist bike doing good enough for me.
Good luck, Robb
This may be true in your state, but this is not true in every state.
My bet is the animals will just stand and watch me ride along.
We all know what antelope do when a truck or atv drives on BLM roads.
Instead of whining about motors in non-motorized areas, hunters should be embracing e-bikes as a healthy alternative to stinky noisy ATVs and 4x4s. It would make hunting better for everyone in the long run.
Matt
Since you seem to be one of the biggest opponents to e-bikes, I'll ask you the same question that remains unanswered, so far. How many hunters do you know who regularly use MTBs to access non- motorized hunting areas? I've seen it only a few times in 50 years of hunting in Colorado. I doubt e-bikes are going to change that.
Matt
Pilot programs everywhere show they have more support than opposition. Some may compare them to allowing crossbows in archery season. Fair enough. I'm old enough to compare them to allowing compounds during archery season. So like it or not, better learn to accept them or you'll grow into bitter old men like some old trad guys we know, who still resent how compounds ruined bowhunting.
What they are not: Loud, nimble (compared to a regular MTB) or something that will move a thousand pounds, some magic machine that magically transports people effortlessly to any place they want to be in the backcountry
To address GG: "How many hunters do you know who regularly use MTBs to access non- motorized hunting areas? I've seen it only a few times in 50 years of hunting in Colorado. I doubt e-bikes are going to change that."
Honestly I know very few, myself included an avid MTBer, that use MTB to access non-motorized areas. However, I disagree with your belief that eBikes won't change that.
I don't know of anyone that accesses Wilderness areas with helicopters (BTW that's illegal). But if the rules changed to allow it, I bet many would do so. Just as many will begin to use eBikes.
Out of one side of "your" mouths eBikes are awesome tools that give a physical advantage and allow access to wonderful hunting areas. But out of the other side of "your" mouths, they don't really help all that much. Say what?!
Regardless what dimwit politician who's getting pockets lined with funding from eBikes to be "inclusive" dictates, "a little motor" and "no motor" are not the same thing. Because the next step is "a little more motor" and "another wheel" and "a motorized trailer" and so on.
Maybe we should allow battery-powered chain saws in Wilderness? They're just "a little motor" compared to hand saws, which are currently the only legal way to clear trails.
Maybe we should allow ATVs to drive "a little way" into Wilderness, because that border line should be more inclusive?
What's laughable is your straw man argument. I have yet to see where anyone claimed a small motor isn't a motor. Nor have have I seen anyone, here, advocating e-bike use in non-motorized areas. The fact that laws now allow them in some of those areas is reality. And a very small number of hunters will use those laws to their hunting advantage. Hopefully, a much larger group of hunters will embrace e-bikes where they are a practical alternative to ATVs and 4x4s, for the benefit of all hunters.
Matt
So a mechanical contraption with just a couple little wheels is still a "bow", right?. And as the wheels got bigger and became programmed cams, you guys eagerly embraced them because they allowed you to hunt in ways never possible before, shooting further, drawing easier, with unimaginable accuracy right out of the box. There's your "slippery slope", but where is your moral outrage?
Sure, I get what you're saying, smarba. I really do. Unfortunately, you're on the wrong side of this. It isn't "politicians" who are making the decisions. It's government policy-makers with no skin in the game who are studying the issue objectively. As in my quote above from my city plannners, they aren't finding conflicts that the fear-mongers claimed would happen, and support outweighs objections everywhere.
I have a compound, and it didn't make me a bowhunter. I have many unfilled tags. I'm not picky either, any healthy legal animal that presents a good shot gets and arrow. Furthermore, gasp, I have missed with my compound bow also.
I think you’re overlooking the fact that Lou has his tongue jammed pretty deep into his cheek, there...
And with that said...
“ So like it or not, better learn to accept them or you'll grow into bitter old men like some old trad guys we know, who still resent how compounds ruined bowhunting.”
I resent the hell out of ‘em, and I’m only 55!
Of course, all of my bows are single-strings; 2 out of my 3 MTBs are steel frame; I’m 5’4” and still ski 183s (down from 195s-205s); and both of our cars are 6-speed manuals...
So I’m ALLOWED to get pissy. You guys shooting wheels, cables and triggers need to shut the hell up and take your Growacet....
Ebikes do not handle well in my opinion and while sound good in theory (pun intended), dont provide the benefit you think theyre going to. I truly think theyre a worse and more unsafe version of a dirt bike. So if you wouldnt hunt or go somewhere with all your gear on a dirt bike, I wouldnt do it on a ebike.
And you guys are still debating e-Bikes? SMH.
And you guys still think it’s important to change the laws to allow you to the add the horsepower of a blow-dryer to a bicycle to make it easier for you to access areas which are off limits to Motiorized Vehicles??
Funny, isn’t it, how those who disagree with us are never raising a Valid or Substantial point, eh?
JMO, the world is NOT falling apart; the stock market is going to recover sooner or later; whatever it is, we will adjust. My wife and boys and I didn’t much care for getting flooded out of our home in Sandy, and I REALLY didn’t care for having our housing costs go up by $20k/year, but I took on a couple extra jobs and we got through it. Now, we even make mortgage payments instead of rent.
We’re not up against Ebola, the Spanish Influenza, Smallpox or the Black Death.
This, too, shall pass...
I guess that all depends on your perspective... ;-)
LOL
No, it's not. We are allowing the government and media to spiral us into a panic by a virus that has a mortality rate of 1-1/2% and typically like most flus, targets those over 60...
"stock market crashing, ..."
It's done it before, will do it again.
"business going under,.."
Don't know of any businesses that have failed this week.
"everyone locked in their homes,.."
Go the hell out. Take a walk, look for sheds, go for a run, pull trail cams. That's what me an the fam are doing this afternoon.
"frail people dying."
Frail people die everyday. Roughly 14,000 have died since our "normal" flu season kicked off in Ocotober/November. Majority are elderly, as they are hit the hardest by the flu. Just like last year, the year before, the one before that, the decade before, that...
Never took you for an alarmist, Pat.
Matt
Here is one that I had not seen before that is even more sophisticated.
https://gcn.com/articles/2013/07/10/darpa-warrior-web-exoskeleton.aspx
Rut Nut's Link
