Electric Bicycles?

Sure, I understand your basic philosophy but it's a little simplistic. I wouldn't let a great brain surgeon fix my knee even though they both went to med school. Just like you wouldn't let the guy down at the bike shop work on your car. And I sure wouldn't let the guy down at the ford garage do more than put air in my bike tires. Good mechanical skills are just the foundation, you still need specific knowledge and practical experience.

Agreed,to a point but there is a reason bicycle mechanics do not get paid much compared to other mechanics. Bikes are just not very complex. I would not have a problem letting most motorcycle mechanics work on my bicycle but not vice versa.
 
I used the bike shown except it wasn't the fat bike style this fall. It was awesome and really fun. You still have to pedal and this particular model doesn't have a throttle. The salesman said that this is why it's legal:confused: It did only last about 13 miles and that wasn't on the highest mode. I have never seen an official statement about them until today.

I was seriously thinking of investing in one but will have to rethink and make sure it's legal for the uses I want.
 
If I spend 5K on a bike its going to have a 500cc Honda motor attached.
 
If both the forest service and BLM consider them a motor vehicle it seems that they would be restricted to the same travel as any other motorcycle. There are a few single track trails that motorcycles are allowed on that ATVS are not allowed but most of the gated logging roads I've seen restrict any motor vehicle traffic. Sounds like these are not allowed on those roads.
 
I thought even regular bicycles were prohibited in Federally Designated Wilderness Areas? If so, then those types of non-motorized areas would probably prohibit these. I guess it depends on the non-motorized area you are talking about. I'd guess different state and local designations would differ.

Wilderness areas prohibit any wheeled vehicle (including game carts). I think the intended use for these would be old gated logging roads on forest service property but it sounds like they wouldn't be legal on those either.
 
Well to put it in perspective I work weekends at a Felt bike dealer. This bike only exists because Jim Felt the company owner is a very serious archery elk hunter and its his pet project not a bike I'm aware of any has in stock and there are plenty of 12K felt IA triathlon bikes around our shop so explicit price isn't an issue.

As far as being an e-bike that part is kind of a head scratcher unless its meant to be a quiet cat equivalent. My guess might be Jim hunts a private ranch because an E-bike doesn't buy you a lot of access on public areas as stated. Most all of the mountain bike advocacy groups have taken an open stance against e-bikes on most mountain bike trails. That bike motor aside is at least a 3k+ bike even if it was pedal only.
 
I can think of a ton of areas I hunt where it would serve me well, especially during archery season. Most of the forest roads around me are open to atv travel, just not full size vehicles. Having the ability to slip in a mile or two past the gate silently before daylight would be great.
 
From the comments of the Facebook post above-

Jason Matzinger- Yep nothing with a battery in wilderness... You can still use them in areas that are non mototrized as long as it's not wilderness...

Not sure how their salesman can be saying they're legal when the documentation above says otherwise.
 
All public land management agencies view E bikes as as motorized vehicles so any route that is closed to motorcycles is closed to E bikes. If Matzinger is using his ebike in a non motorized area, he is breaking the law. It is really not that difficult - If a bicycle has a motor, it is a motorcycle.
 
If you want to split hairs and ebike won't produce power you if you aren't pedaling so there is that. A max power output of 400 watts is quite nice in a threshold setting, but isn't overwhelming. I'm a small guy and seeing shorter offroad efforts in the 1200w range and 300 watts for an hour at threshold. Put a 200 lb guy on there and you basically just made him really in shape rather than on a motocross bike.

I completely agree it doesn't make sense from a hunting tool perspective as being the best legal tool to cover ground when if falls into the same realm as other electric atv's.
 
Where he was hunting in the picture was not breaking the law.

However, his company statement shared by Randy is not going to land well for those spending an arm and a leg to find themselves violating the law.

I am surprised there has not been a retraction to his comment considering the intent to sell for the reason listed as "legal"...
 
I don't disagree with it being banned from areas of non motorized use, but how awesome would this be as a grouse bike on trails that allow motors. Talk about stealth and efficiently covering trails. I would love riding my fat bike into the grouse woods and not being gassed at the top of every rise. I know, riding more pre season equals less gassed in season for all upland pursuits. But the ground one could cover with a hard charging pointer and an e-motor fat bike, wow! Sounds like a phenomenal time.
 
Well to put it in perspective I work weekends at a Felt bike dealer. This bike only exists because Jim Felt the company owner is a very serious archery elk hunter and its his pet project not a bike I'm aware of any has in stock and there are plenty of 12K felt IA triathlon bikes around our shop so explicit price isn't an issue.

As far as being an e-bike that part is kind of a head scratcher unless its meant to be a quiet cat equivalent. My guess might be Jim hunts a private ranch because an E-bike doesn't buy you a lot of access on public areas as stated. Most all of the mountain bike advocacy groups have taken an open stance against e-bikes on most mountain bike trails. That bike motor aside is at least a 3k+ bike even if it was pedal only.

I met him (Felt) at a tri expo while checking out the bikes. He's the last guy I would have guessed is bow hunter. lol
 
However, his company statement shared by Randy is not going to land well for those spending an arm and a leg to find themselves violating the law.

I am surprised there has not been a retraction to his comment considering the intent to sell for the reason listed as "legal"...

True. I guess I'm glad I didn't pursue a purchase of one:eek: I'm pretty sure though that the BLM and FS came out with this after his marketing campaign had started. This really was the first time I had heard about it and the crazy thing is that I asked at our local regional office prior to using one and the guy at the desk didn't think they had any ruling on them at the time. I'm kinda bummed because it was really fun feeling like superman on a bike. My legs were still tired though I'll tell you. :D
 
To me the best use of a mountain bike for western hunts to truly gain access and speed would be for antelope in the BLM sections where a road briefly crosses private but there is a continuous legal route for walking and your could portage your bike 400 yards then open up multiple miles of continuous public double track. My 29er hardtail only weighs 23 lbs so carrying it a short distance isn't bad at all.

I definitely have used a mountain bike while duck hunting when we lack enough layout boats for everyone and you need to loop 3 miles of levee in a short period of time to get to within wadable distance of where you are hunting or early teal season where its most just a few patches of sheet water rather than navigable distribution ditches.

The e-bike thing was definitely a stretch by any means, but similar to what Lawnboy said it wasn't until recently that anyone had taken a definite position on their use even within the cycling industry let alone public land managers. I'm still not sure why normal bikes aren't allowed any place that horses are.
 

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