E-bikes are pretty amazing, aren’t they? Amazing for all those extra descents you can cram into precious ride time and the fact that you can blast up climbs while barely breaking a sweat.

What’s not to love when e-bikes open up terrain previously out of bounds for older, less fit, and less able riders? Or how a the best electric mountain bikes are perfect for exploring places you previously wouldn’t have bothered busting a lung — or pushing up a steep hill — just to check out?

E-bikes are bloomin brilliant when done right, letting you get in more laps and more grins

E-bikes smash over rough ground without bucking novice riders and never fail to put a big grin on your face. They add bonus DH laps and give riders that sneaky sense — like a naughty kid — that somehow, you’re kind of getting away with it.

But, like the yin to any yang, nothing’s really free. The rise of e-bikes is transforming everything about the way we ride. Their popularity proves that e-bikes offer riders exactly what they want, but gorging on tasty trail treats too quickly can feel a bit like eating ultra-processed food. You get the immediate sugar-rush high, but it lacks the wholesome, hard-earned satisfaction of a human-powered bike.

Mick Kirkman is a man in love with mountain biking… and preferably when powered only by his own legs (or a ski lift)

It’s probably time for a hypocrite warning alert before I start playing devil’s advocate for effect: I love e-bikes. I was an early adopter about a decade ago and still ride them all the time. But a part of me wishes they weren’t around at all. Because where do you even start with some of the negatives?

The Trail Toll

I’ve written before about falling out of love with e-bikes after a decade testing them, but now it’s time to put down precisely why I’m sometimes so down on the idea.

It’s obvious that a big, heavy machine with the ability to smash up and down hills again and again will plow up trails in double time. Anyone riding the same local spot for years can’t fail to have noticed radical changes:

• Trail erosion and the hammering of precious earth? Check.
• Thumping braking bumps and deep ruts from brake-dragging, where trail builders can no longer keep up with maintenance? Yep, that too.
• Muddy, churned-up dirt littering trail edges where e-bikers scoot about searching for traction? Absolutely.

E-bikes let you pull around bigger tyres, which further damage trails

And, since we’re talking about e-bikes, a lot of this scooting around is done on mud spikes — because who cares about drag when a motor has your back? Prioritising traction means digging deep into the ground with (more than slightly dubious) 250 watts of continuous power.

Who else’s local tracks are starting to resemble craters on the moon? And let’s not even talk about the berms that get pushed down the hill into the next postcode by thousands of e-bikes smashing into them. Last time I checked, no one riding them is doing more trail maintenance to make up for it either.

Have-a-go heroes are hitting sections way above their pay grade

It’s not just the sheer volume of repeated traffic doing damage — it’s that e-bikes bring riders who wouldn’t have attempted some of the steeper tracks that often get damaged the most. Have-a-go heroes are hitting sections way above their pay grade, before getting sucked down the hill, hard on the brakes, by the sheer mass of the bike. Many wouldn’t have even been in such zones without the free lift to the top or the glued-to-the-floor, 25kg “lifejacket effect” of an e-bike to (just about) get them down in one piece. And now, here they all are — three laps in a row. That nice little catch you relied on to hook into and turn on that tricky bit you loved? Gone.

There’s no denying e-bikes cut up the ground more than regular bikes, partly because you can ride them further

Climbing Carnage

Trail devastation isn’t one-way either. Multiple desire lines are cropping up everywhere on climbs.

In my beautiful local woods, what used to be scenic singletrack slithers are now a mud-ravaged mess. Like a seriously angry ADHD child has scrawled with black pen all over everything, as the wheelspin brigade goes wherever it pleases to find traction.

Take one spot near an English Heritage site. Over the last three winters, motors have really taken hold. A once-cute (cheeky) footpath has turned into a 3m-wide bog, looping around ever more neighboring trees. And, just like a walker who deviates around a puddle and then complains about others doing the same, e-bikers keep sneaking wider and wider. Because even with walk mode, who actually wants to walk one of these heavy beasts? I don’t blame them, but don’t imagine for a second that nosy-parker walkers aren’t noticing — and that it might not be jeopardizing your local spot.

Shutting gates, giving way to horses and walkers, and generally being friendly is something many e-bikers don’t seem to get

Hooligan Behavior

A lot of newer e-bikers haven’t grown up regular mountain biking. Some come from other sports (with or without an engine), or straight from Yates Wine Lodge, and have never heard of the Countryside Code — never mind English Heritage. Forget shutting gates; some of these fellas are more likely to put down their vape and portable speaker for a minute just to smash the top few planks off a fence so they can bunnyhop their electrified shire horses over it.

New e-bikers put down their vape and portable speaker for a minute just to smash the top few planks off a fence so they can bunnyhop their electrified shire horses over it

And don’t tell me you haven’t noticed an increase in litter from the new breed of riders e-bikes seem to have enabled? I know it’s only a very small minority, and I’m sounding like Victor Meldrew, but still — it simply didn’t used to happen.

Back to the Old School

Years ago, things were simpler. Everybody had the same bike—well, the same in the sense that words like motor, battery power, range, torque, modes, Newton meters, and range anxiety weren’t even in the vocabulary. These words now infect trails everywhere, with a background hum of motor whirr as the soundtrack.

Old-school riders had to pedal with legs that weren’t bionically boosted by lithium-ion, and differences in speed and distance were dictated by the rider’s fitness — not by battery size. Climbing sucked for a lot of people, myself included, but it was part of the experience. You suffered and chatted on the way up, regrouped at the top, and laughed about how sketchy the lightweight bikes were on the way down.

Taking time to chat on the climbs is part of the experience of mountain biking for me

But while cramming in more runs is an undeniable advantage, it’s also breaking down the communal acts that brought us together:

• The shared experience of effort.
• The extra time to talk and listen.
• The quiet interaction with nature at a slower pace.

Which e-biker hasn’t had to call it a day because the battery died, rather than their legs?

Techno Nerds

E-bikes have turned everyone (mostly blokes, obviously) into tech-obsessed statisticians. Riders now fixate on display screens and apps to monitor battery levels and make sure they don’t get stranded pedalling a pig of a bike home. We’re basically all becoming roadies, geeking out over power data and range.

In the early days of mountain biking, you just rode your bike. You got fit by riding every week. It built a stronger riding culture, boosted social networks, and gave a genuine workout.

Sure, e-bikes can provide exercise — but unless you have the willpower of an Indian Saddhu, it’s not the same level of effort.

The Amflow is currently winning the wattage arms race, and I’m worried big power like this draw down e-bike restrictions

Where We’re Headed

E-bikes are incredible, but they aren’t without drawbacks. They demand massive resources to manufacture, they’re fragile, expensive to repair, and — unlike old-school bikes that last decades — many will likely end up dumped.

Then there’s the arms race for more power. The latest DJI/Amflow e-bike is about to carve up your local climbs, sailing dangerously close to UK/EU 250w power limits. It’s only a matter of time before someone slaps restrictions on us all.

Like some Victorian parent might say: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”

Of course, none of this will stop me from enjoying e-bikes. They’re amazing. But maybe, just maybe, we can all try to be a bit more considerate to trails, nature, and the riding community, before we ruin what makes this hobby so special.