I did bad things on Trek's Fuel EXe. I rode it where I wasn't supposed to. But in my defense, most of the trails where I live are closed to e-bikes, and I had a metric shit-ton of fun.
Some of the fun came from being naughty, sure. A feeling that took me way back to the mid-1980s, when I started riding mountain bikes. Back then, almost all trails were closed to mountain bikes. But my friends and I didn't care. We just rode our bikes, explored, and grew our skills, asking for neither permission nor forgiveness. We were having fun and knew we weren't hurting anyone or anything.
This is a bike review, not an essay about e-bike trail politics, but unfortunately, separating the two is difficult. What I find interesting is that I don't find my position in today's debates about e-bike trail access to be substantively different than how I felt all those years ago about mountain bike trail access. I don't feel guilty about wanting to ride an e-bike or enjoying myself on an e-bike and, I believe, neither should you. Riding e-bikes is a blast; they are not the devil many cast them as. And frankly, the quieter, sleeker, and less obvious e-bikes get (like this Exe), the more difficult it will be to tell them apart from unpowered bikes. And as they get better and lighter, also like this EXe, they're going to become more appealing to more riders. Even those who, in the past, had rejected e-bikes.
Guess what horrible event happened when I rode the EXe? Nothing. Nobody noticed, nobody said anything, and no horsemen of the apocalypse appeared. I, however, enjoyed myself immensely because, with assistance or not, the Exe is a damn fine mountain bike. And when you add its sleekly integrated and well-tuned motor, the EXe becomes one of the most compelling bikes-overall-in recent memory.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Spring 2023 من Bicycling US.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Spring 2023 من Bicycling US.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
A Celebration of Junk Miles
No longer dreading my next bunch sprint, I felt like I belonged on my bike again.
THE 92-MILE FAREWELL
THE SEA BREEZE OF THE LONG ISLAND SOUND FELT DELIGHTFUL, AND I WISHED I COULD RIDE WITH MY EYES CLOSED AND TRUST THE REST OF MY SENSES TO STEER ME BACK HOME.
CHECKING IN ON MY CYCLING SELF
BUT, TODAY, PEOPLE OF ALL SORTS OF WONDERFUL, COLORFUL CULTURES WHO LOVE THE WIND IN THEIR HAIR HEAR THE SOUND OF A MILLION ANGRY HORNETS ON THEIR TAIL.
EVERYONE KNOWS 52x11 IS BIGGER THAN 48x10. EVEN THOUGH IT ISN'T.
THE HUMAN THRESHOLD FOR 'LEAST NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE' IS GENERALLY ON THE ORDER OF 10 PERCENT CHANGE OF A VALUE.
I RODE THROUGH PAIN. YOU SHOULDN'T. HERE'S WHY.
AND WHILE \"PAIN\" AND \"SUFFERING\" ARE OFTEN THROWN AROUND IN THE SAME BREATH, WHEN IT COMES TO THE BODY THEY'RE NOT, IN FACT, THE SAME.
THE RACES ARE FASTER. ARE THEY CLEANER? AND DOES IT MATTER?
THE LAST TWO EDITIONS OF THE MEN'S Tour de France were among the three fastest.
BRAYDON BRINGHURST VERSUS THE BEAST
THIS FORMER POLE VAULTER IS THE RARE ATHLETE WHO CAN BLEND EXPLOSIVE POWER WITH PRECISION AND CONTROL. BUT HE'D NEED A LOT MORE THAN THAT TO RIDE HIS BIKE UP THIS INSANELY TECHNICAL DOWNHILL TRAIL.
THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FRICTION-FREE
CONSIDER THE HUMBLE LIKE CHAIN. IT'S AN OFTEN OVERLOOKED BICYCLE PART COMPARED TO FLASHIER COMPONENTS WHEELS, CRANKS, AND DERAILLEURS. BUT THE CHAIN IS THE CRITICAL LINK IN THE DRIVETRAIN BETWEEN THE RIDER'S POWER AND THE BIKE'S REAR WHEEL.
MOLLY'S LAST RIDE
Twelve-year-old Molly Steinsapir crashed onto the pavement from a Rad Power e-bike and never woke up. With a poorly regulated electric-bike industry, WHO IS RESPONSIBLE WHEN A CHILD DIES?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMBINE AETHOS WEIGHT, VENGE AERODYNAMICS, AND BUTTERY SMOOTHNESS?
Building a great bike is hard. Making a great bike better is even more challenging. Yet every three to four years, brands that make race bikes for their professional road racers take on this challenge.