Electric Bike

Karl Gesslein / October 8, 2017 A week ago I wrote and article waxing philosophic on whether or not pedal powered bicyclists and ebikers could ever live together in harmony. I decided that the perfect followup to that article is one that clearly outlines the rules that I chose to live by when electric biking in the woods. IMBA released this short 2-page pdf which shows their ideas about eMTB etiquette, but it’s sorely lacking in a lot of areas that I think I need to outline in this article. Long story short, the most important rule of riding your electric mountain bike on single track trails...

Karl Gesslein / April 15, 2015 The last 2 weeks I traveled south and got to ride in a handful of states with my Sun Kiss single speed fat ebike. I haven’t actually done much trailriding with electric fatbikes other than in snow and was actually amazed at the difference. I grabbed my massive 20 lb 22Ah battery today and rode for 3 hours straight in the spring slop switching back and forth between bikes to see which I liked better, the results really surprised me. Which bike is more fun in the muddy crap that my favorite trails have turned into?   My full suspension bike...

Karl Gesslein / December 21, 2016 Last week when riding I had a sketchy looking pickup truck stalking me from the road. As I cut across the road from one trail to another on my electric fat bike I dropped down into a ravine I heard a gunshot. I stopped and waited and looked around. There were 2 more gunshots in rapid succession. Normally this would not concern me as Upstate NY turns into a war zone during deer hunting season. What concerned me was that deer hunting season was over and it was now muzzle-loading season, and there is no muzzleloader...

Karl Gesslein / December 30, 2016 Two years ago I wrote this post about riding Electric Fatbikes in the snow which had a lot of great tips. For the past 2 years I’ve been riding almost every day in the winter on my efatbikes and I’ve learned a few more things in the last 2 years. I’m going to try to add to my last article without being too repetitive. No matter if it’s snow, slush, ice or bare ground you can ride and have a good time of it   1) Top off your battery before you go out : I charge everything to...

Karl Gesslein / October 8, 2015 The state of ebike legality in the United States for a very long time has been ‘whatever you can get away with’. The laws vary from state to state and many states have no laws whatsoever governing ebike usage. NYC has banned them, but with limited and inconsistent enforcement. In many other places like Moab they have been banned as well, mostly because too many people were riding too recklessly without any self-imposed limits on their behavior. In general, I have found that the a large majority of regular non-motorized the cycling obsessed crowd absolutely abhors ebikes, but the...