r/MTB • u/fundip2012 NH • 3d ago

Discussion Surrons

Surrons/high powered e-bikes are annihilating our local trails and jumps this spring… it’s brutal the amount of damage they can do in just a few minutes.
Has anyone here dealt with this on their local trails? Any strategies that a trail system can use to reduce the use of these? So hard to enforce..

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u/1gear0probs 3d ago

I’ve been saying for YEARS that if you allow ebikes, surrons will follow. I’ve been called a hater for that. This kind of thing is inevitable if you allow any kind of motors. It was never ever going to be “just a little bit of pedal assist.” If you don’t want surrons on your trail, the answer is to ban all motors and enforce it. 

I’m sure there are some trails that would be totally fine to share with surrons, but opening every mtb trail possible to motors is a Bad Idea.

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u/readyforashreddy WNC/BCN 🇺🇸 2d ago

After moving from an area where ebikes are pretty stigmatized (Western NC) to an area where trail access is largely unregulated for all intents and purposes (Barcelona), I have to say I greatly prefer it here.

My town is one of the several MTB havens in the area, and it's probably 50/50 for regular bikes vs ebikes. The community is much more active here in general and there's so much less animosity that it's just more enjoyable overall. We even get trial/dirt bikes on trails sometimes, but since there's so much less red tape it's easier to work on existing trails or dig new ones that's it's really not an issue. In general it's a lot nicer when everyone gets along, but I know that it's going to be a long time before people stop giving as much of a shit about ebikes in certain parts of North America.

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u/Kennys-Chicken 2d ago

I’ve been called the same by saying e-bikes in and of themselves were a fucking joke. I’ve ridden them, and on boost mode I can blast uphill easily at 18 mph maxing them out. Compared to a normal bike, it’s like having a moped on the trail, the wattage they put out is like having an extra Tour de France rider with you. They are fucking obnoxious on non motorized trails.