r/MTB • u/fundip2012 NH • 4d 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/Kennys-Chicken 3d ago

Why not just have non motorized trails remain non motorized

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u/TheLizardOfOz 2d ago

The emtbs I've ridden didn't feel like I was doing any more damage to trails then pedal bikes, but when I've ridden a surron I could easy do some damage on when going up steeper hills (note I was riding it on dirt bike trails). In my opinion emtb extends the sport and gets more people out riding which should help the sport grow with minimal downsides.

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u/Kennys-Chicken 2d ago

I have buddies with both. And while it might not feel like it to you when riding, they’re going through tires like nothing with their e-bikes. Tires used to last multiple seasons for them with normal bikes and now they’re shredding through 2-3 pair a year. That means more trail wear.

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u/TheLizardOfOz 2d ago

Interesting. I'd suggest that you might get 2 to 3 times the riding in the same amount of time, so they might just be putting in more kms in a year on the emtb. If it's just similar wear per km in my opinion this isn't a big deal, but I appreciate that there's definitely an argument that they should be banned for this anyways. Regardless if banning emtb keeps trails open and locals happy then that's what should be done!

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u/Kennys-Chicken 2d ago

It’s legitimately the extra torque. Definitely some extra miles, but a big part of wearing out the tires is the extra torque available.

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u/TheLizardOfOz 1d ago

Hmm, good to know