The e-MTBs are coming – take your moral standpoint now

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There are a lot of ‘next big things’ at the moment, with plus-sized wheels, longer front triangles and 12-speed cassettes being some of the biggest in every way.

As you may be aware from reading other columns I've written, some see this as a good thing: it’s progress. Others view it as a bad thing: it’s a conspiracy to force new stuff on us and spoil what we’ve already got.

• How complaining about new standards says more about you than the industry
• GoPros are amazing and I hate them
• It’s not not about the bike

Yet if anything, e-bikes are even more contentious – more so, even, than wheel sizes. My time editing magazines taught me just what a hot-button topic they are.

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E-bikes have mostly been aimed at city commuters, who just want to get to work without pumping sweatstains into their suits

In fact, the only thing that ever prompted an angrier response than e-bike reviews was the time I accidentally insulted hipsters on fixies. And when I say ‘insulted’, I asked if a hipster doing a trick was cool or not. Threats of legal action followed.

The bike industry, which as we all know operates from an evil moon crater and has regular meetings next to an evil suggestion box, is very keen for e-bikes to take off. And actually, they’re already doing very well. Even by 2013, e-bike sales were above 600,000 units a year in Germany and Holland, which meant that over 50% of total adult bikes sales were battery-operated. That’s a pretty big market.

The hard sell

Inclusivity for the unfit, impaired or severely unaerodynamic is hard to argue against – and certainly e-bikes make getting up into the hills easier

A moral minefield

E-bikes are not motorcycles – they have no throttle, provide no power unless you do, and are limited to 15.5mph

You can read more at BikeRadar.com

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