# UCI to organize e-MTB world championships in 2019



## outlaws (Aug 26, 2008)

https://www.velonews.com/2018/09/news/uci-to-organize-e-mtb-world-championships-in-2019_479427

Let the circlejerk over the BEST ebike in the market commence!


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

Yup, just a matter of time..


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

no different than DH or Enduro race, really. just can hold races in flatter areas than needed for DH/Enduro


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## sfgiantsfan (Dec 20, 2010)

No different than a moto cross race, except less power


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

sfgiantsfan said:


> No different than a moto cross race, except less power


well there is the 200 lb difference in machine and big difference in power. A KTM 250 puts out 38HP = 28,500 watts, for eg. Literally 100x as much as an ebike nominal power.

which makes it no different than a mountain bike race, except a little bit more power (tack on a few hundred watts, though within the variability of riders' power abilities) and a little bit more weight (typical ebike weighs 12lbs more than my trail bike)


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

BCsaltchucker said:


> which makes it no different than a mountain bike race, except a little bit more power (tack on a few hundred watts) and a little bit more weight (typical ebike weighs 12lbs more than my trail bike)


except Bosch (or whatever) wins one race while Shurter (or whoever) wins the other.


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

not saying I am a fan of the ebike race idea. The racing is not important to most MTBers, including me for 24 years now, since i quit racing (and I used to be a race organizer for 5 years)

And they could just go to spec-racing, ideally. everyone on the exact same ride. Maybe limited to 5WH and 150 watts, lol. Would make no sense to have one guy with 250 watts and another guy with 300watts, or any difference in power curve and engagement


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Since non of the motors are certified by an outside organization, or tested to any standards, or systems not easily modified, pretending you can hold a fair contest is a joke.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

My guess is that they won't even bother checking power output. They will just have weight classes for the bikes or batteries or both, and design the courses such that having a motor able to put out huge power would drain the battery too fast. It would be a tortoise and hare situation. A rider could get way ahead, but then when the battery died, they'd have to see if they could hold on with only human power. I'm also guessing here that the rules will not allow batteries to be removed or swapped at any point. 

This will be interesting, for sure. 

Hmmm. There have been a couple of instances of racers cheating by having hidden motors. I wonder if racers will cheat by *not* having a motor. I can think of courses where an eBike would slow you down rather than make you faster.


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

More and more big emtb races. Makes you wonder what the future is going to be like.. I’m guessing more and more emtb sales and acceptance.


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## life behind bars (May 24, 2014)

Gutch said:


> More and more big emtb races. Makes you wonder what the future is going to be like.. I'm guessing more and more emtb sales and acceptance.


With few places to ride I wouldn't bet on it.


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## rlee (Aug 22, 2015)

UCI cannot even get the cheaters that it has now. PED's or hidden motors. How in the hell is it going to catch people technology cheating?


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

maybe it really doesn't matter because eMTB racing will never be much more than a 'fun to participate' event, I imagine. Making it some kind of serious event is laughable imho. It's more like a fondo or 24 hr event, an excuse to go riding hard and drinking beers on the sidelines. Already there is some eMTB racing going, and the participants enjoy it, so why knock it till you've tried it?


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

The Boogaloo (might have spelled that wrong) races are basically short tracks with jumps - a bit like BMX, a bit like MX, not really much like what most of us would call "mountain biking". It will be interesting to see if that's the format they decide on, or if it will be something more traditional (ie, long loops/point to point on singletrack). 

It is obviously nigh-impossible to control motor settings/batteries/etc, so my assumption is that they won't really try too hard on that front. I guess you could do an IROC style thing with everyone on the same bike, but that format wouldn't make the manufacturers very happy. 

-Walt


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## ninjichor (Jul 12, 2018)

I want to see these courses seriously challenge what these bikes can do.

No recycling enduro, DH, and XC routes, I want to see something that has people ready to get off and push/carry. Preferably where the trail is respected...


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

Sponsored by Samsung, batteries plus, and craftmatic beds?


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## WoodlandHills (Nov 18, 2015)

What if the race began with fully discharged batteries and competitors had to pedal a stationary bike with a generator attached? It would be up to the racer to decide how much assistance to use and when to use it and how much energy to put into the battery. It would bring an element of strategy into the affair as racers had to decide when to leave the charging area and enter the course and then ration their battery as they raced the course. They would also begin the course fatigued from the charging portion and the entire race would be human powered.

The first stage of such a race would be like a spin class with all the racers side by side pedaling away with a big bar graph above them showing how much they have put into the battery. They could have a set minimum charge level that all racers would have to reach before entering the course and “race” to that level before departing the charging area to enter the course.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

BCsaltchucker said:


> maybe it really doesn't matter because eMTB racing will never be much more than a 'fun to participate' event, I imagine. Making it some kind of serious event is laughable imho. It's more like a fondo or 24 hr event, an excuse to go riding hard and drinking beers on the sidelines. Already there is some eMTB racing going, and the participants enjoy it, so why knock it till you've tried it?


Do you have any idea what the UCI is?

I didn't think so.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

life behind bars said:


> With few places to ride I wouldn't bet on it.


UCI = Union Cycliste Internationale, the *world* governing body for competitive cycling.

You can ride almost everywhere on an ebike outside of North America. eMTB racing is going to be huge, and I will not be surprised to see eRoad races as well.


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

No need for doping anymore!


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

J.B. Weld said:


> except Bosch (or whatever) wins one race while Shurter (or whoever) wins the other.


Yup!


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## chuckha62 (Jul 11, 2006)

One question: Why?


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

chuckha62 said:


> One question: Why?


Why do international sports federations like the IOC, FIFA and the UCI ever do anything? For the good of the sport! Oh, and money, preferrably in suitcases.


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## tfinator (Apr 30, 2009)

WoodlandHills said:


> What if the race began with fully discharged batteries and competitors had to pedal a stationary bike with a generator attached? It would be up to the racer to decide how much assistance to use and when to use it and how much energy to put into the battery. It would bring an element of strategy into the affair as racers had to decide when to leave the charging area and enter the course and then ration their battery as they raced the course. They would also begin the course fatigued from the charging portion and the entire race would be human powered.
> 
> The first stage of such a race would be like a spin class with all the racers side by side pedaling away with a big bar graph above them showing how much they have put into the battery. They could have a set minimum charge level that all racers would have to reach before entering the course and "race" to that level before departing the charging area to enter the course.


That would be funny, but as there would always be energy loss the best bet may to be to just ride a normal bike at that point and get a massive headstart.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk


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## WoodlandHills (Nov 18, 2015)

Except a “normal” bike would never charge the battery and thus would never reach the minimum charge level and would not be allowed to leave the charging area. 

The important thing is that it would be a 100% human powered race which seems to be a big deal to the old fashioned types here.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

WoodlandHills said:


> Except a "normal" bike would never charge the battery and thus would never reach the minimum charge level and would not be allowed to leave the charging area.
> 
> The important thing is that it would be a 100% human powered race which seems to be a big deal to the old fashioned types here.


You could do it like blood dopers. In the months leading up to the race, you'd charge up your battery bit by bit....


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## WoodlandHills (Nov 18, 2015)

Race officials would verify that all batteries were fully discharged before the race began.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

WoodlandHills said:


> Race officials would verify that all batteries were fully discharged before the race began.


Sure, the UCI is really good at enforcing the rules for fair compeition.


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## ninjichor (Jul 12, 2018)

Doesn't have to be the UCI world champs, but if anyone can attract a serious emtb crowd, make it seriously challenge what emtbs can do. Make it a mix of all the formats, DH, Enduro, XC/marathon, cyclocross, trials, dirt jump, slopestyle, eliminator, Rampage, whatever... I want to be seriously impressed. The kind of stuff that would make half the riders wimp out, or accept compromise in order to make it up elsewhere, which may have others anticipating a chance to show off and make a name for themselves. 

Make that **** judged, instead of a single stage race, though make time count. Judged parts makes it a much better spectator sport worth $$$. May the best rider and bike win.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

It is a tough one. UCI wants to play in the future of this growing category.

But ebike racing by its very nature means riding OUTSIDE of motor-cutoff. It means riding faster than the 20mph motor cut-off to win.

That means that most of the time, there's no assist. And it kind of sucks on a bike this heavy. And it is such a strange experience. 

And any kind of strange interpretation of the 20mph cut-off can make a huge difference.

fc


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## WoodlandHills (Nov 18, 2015)

Keep and enforce maximum watt limits, but remove speed restrictions: these are racebikes not class 1’s. The purpose of factory race teams is to develop new technologies and promote the brand, this would encourage efficiency which would trickledown to Class 1 as longer range.

I would also suggest adding a claiming rule to keep the use of one-off bikes or exotic materials to a minimum. Perhaps a minimum production requirement?


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

WoodlandHills said:


> Keep and enforce maximum watt limits, but remove speed restrictions: these are racebikes not class 1's. The purpose of factory race teams is to develop new technologies and promote the brand, this would encourage efficiency which would trickledown to Class 1 as longer range.
> 
> I would also suggest adding a claiming rule to keep the use of one-off bikes or exotic materials to a minimum. Perhaps a minimum production requirement?


That actually makes a LOT of sense. But they are handcuffed I'm sure by the 20mph since that is the very definition of Class 1.


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## brownpownow (Jul 19, 2018)

I can't wait for the new motor-driven Ironman competition. It should be amazing!

Rather than "swim, bike, run" it will be:

Motor swimming









Motor Bicycling









Motor running


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

fc said:


> That actually makes a LOT of sense. But they are handcuffed I'm sure by the 20mph since that is the very definition of Class 1.


They won't be Class 1, they'll be Pedelecs, so 15.5mph.


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## BCsaltchucker (Jan 16, 2014)

honkinunit said:


> Do you have any idea what the UCI is?
> 
> I didn't think so.


 again a trolling comment from the peniz gallery

UCI is not the org that decides what is taken seriously or not. The participants do. No way I, for myself, can take a emtb race seriously!


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

ninjichor said:


> Make that **** judged, instead of a single stage race, though make time count. Judged parts makes it a much better spectator sport worth $$$. May the best rider and bike win.


Not a fan of judged sporting events, give me a finish line or stopwatch anytime.


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## elder_mtber (Jan 13, 2004)

Maybe e-bikes will end up being FIM sanctioned. Who knows?


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

This is dumb, we all know it’s dumb, kinda like racing Jack Russels or camels.

I liked the comparison with a motor powered Ironman


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## ninjichor (Jul 12, 2018)

Should rethink the purpose of events.

What purpose do old events serve? Glorifying people spending a large chunk of their prime years training? What practical use is this, besides using people's sense of familiarity to attract viewership (ad money) and interest in self-importance/worth (competitors).

How about new events that do what the old events do, but do even more. An evolution of sorts, that displays man's achievements over nature, through nurture and technology. The real winners are the ones that demonstrate quick adaptation to unfamiliar environments, and benefit from knowledge without spending years of their life to chase. Throw riders into unfamiliar lands and tell 'em to hit various checkpoints

The should make events that help get people get connected to long careers, comparable in qualifications to accredited institutions giving tests/examinations or whatever. Shouldn't be about some dream about doing hobby, dictated by rules to have a certain image... it's nonsense to simply show that you've ridden your bike for a long culmination of time, with an intent on improving the skill. It's no wonder people are criticizing things for giving out awards for participation, simply because you paid entry fees. xD


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

Or just ride your ride with your bike of choice and don't worry about events.

I've done done some racing over the years, bike, kayak, muni, ultras. They're fun, esp if you want sone support for extended events. The reality of racing is that training is 95% of the "event"; the race is the icing.

So yeah, racing an ebike is wired, but the same could be said fir many things. Sadly, I suspect ebike races are for advertising, but perhaps all racing serves that end...



ninjichor said:


> Should rethink the purpose of events.
> 
> What purpose do old events serve? Glorifying people spending a large chunk of their prime years training? What practical use is this, besides using people's sense of familiarity to attract viewership (ad money) and interest in self-importance/worth (competitors).
> 
> ...


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

ninjichor said:


> What purpose do old events serve? Glorifying people spending a large chunk of their prime years training? What practical use is this, besides using people's sense of familiarity to attract viewership (ad money) and interest in self-importance/worth (competitors).


I think you should keep in mind that the most profitable/popular events are all participant/training based ones (ie, triathalon, adventure/tough mudder type races) where the organizers make their money due to entry fees. The events are designed to be doable by ordinary people, so that the whole office can sign up (and train together) and then actually go out and finish. Now, if you're a "serious" athlete, you can of course go compete with other fast people and there are pros and an official winner - but that's not really the point of the race, because other than significant others and family members, nobody is watching.

Mountain bike racing is much less popular, of course, but it's basically the same thing. Nobody is going to sign up for something where they don't know what the course will be, or whether they'll even be able to finish (though there have been races like that - think the old Montezuma's Revenge). Nobody will pay to watch, either.

I guess it might be neat to throw pro mountain bikers into some crazy situation where the course was almost unrideable and then give them e-bikes, but I (and you) *still* wouldn't watch it, because at best it would look like really lame slow ISDE (and nobody watches that either) - unless you just completely delimit the bikes/batteries, in which case it would quickly evolve into electric ISDE where you need a $50k bike.

-Walt


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

^I agree, watching anything but downhill bike racing is boring.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

^yet pro road racing is a far more popular spectator sport. I like watching both.


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

My wife and I enjoy watching pro road racing as well. I find the strategies more interesting than off road.


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

Yeah, road racing has enough tactics and unpredictability that it's at least somewhat watchable. Mountain bikes is just pure time trial, all the time. 

It's always going to be a participation based sport, it's just not audience friendly enough (to other mountain bikers, let alone the general public) to get any traction. 

Enduro format is probably out for e-bikes, since it's not hard for normal bikes to make the transitions in plenty of time and they handle better in general on the timed parts. I think the only realistic option is to make courses with *really* steep and rough climbing that are only ridable on an e-bike. Basically XC with a Scott Trials twist (I'm showing my age there). 

The problem there is that unridably steep stuff is hard to find on public lands unless you're using moto trails, since that sort of grade just erodes like crazy and no LM in their right mind will let you build it. I'm guessing that's why what we've mostly seen so far is sort of electric-BMX style stuff on small closed courses.

-Walt


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Gutch said:


> ^I agree, watching anything but downhill bike racing is boring.


Yup. Enduro is good too, since they're essentially riding bikes like we ride, just with mad skills. EWS races are impressive in person. Even though they've made XC courses much more technical over the years, it's like watching paint dry. A bunch of super fit people hammering away, little passing or drama.

I used to love watching road races on TV on a second monitor at work, but the persistent doping has taken a toll on me. Still great as a travel show though, and the commentary on Eurosport is good.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Here's yer rules:



> Chapter VIII E-MOUNTAIN BIKE
> § 1 General
> 
> 4.8.001 An E-Mountain Bike is a bike operated with two energy sources, human pedal power and an electric engine, which only provides assistance when the rider is pedaling. E-Mountain bike events must be organised in accordance with the following bike standards: -
> ...


https://www.pinkbike.com/news/2019-...el-size-emtb-alpine-snow-bike-pump-track.html


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## tahoebeau (May 11, 2014)

Harryman said:


> Here's yer rules:
> 
> https://www.pinkbike.com/news/2019-...el-size-emtb-alpine-snow-bike-pump-track.html


What emtbs have a maximum engine output of only 250w? Aren't most embts well over the 250w maximum? I thought in the eu it was a 250w nominal engine.


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## ACree (Sep 8, 2004)

Walt said:


> The Boogaloo (might have spelled that wrong) races are basically short tracks with jumps - a bit like BMX, a bit like MX, not really much like what most of us would call "mountain biking". It will be interesting to see if that's the format they decide on, or if it will be something more traditional (ie, long loops/point to point on singletrack).
> 
> It is obviously nigh-impossible to control motor settings/batteries/etc, so my assumption is that they won't really try too hard on that front. I guess you could do an IROC style thing with everyone on the same bike, but that format wouldn't make the manufacturers very happy.
> 
> -Walt


Sounds like a lot like scrambles, which was mx in the 60s, before it became MX.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

tahoebeau said:


> What emtbs have a maximum engine output of only 250w? Aren't most embts well over the 250w maximum? I thought in the eu it was a 250w nominal engine.


You are correct, no one is using 250w max motors. Maybe the UCI is figuring this out as they go along....


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

The whole power/battery size issue will be so difficult to deal with that I still think they should just have weight classes for the bikes. 14kg and 19kg. Whatever you can pack into that weight, go for it. Depending on the course, the 14kg bikes might be faster than the 19kg. Maybe have a bike and a battery limit - 14kg and no more than 2kg can be battery, and 19kg with no more than 4kg can be battery. 

The eMTB industry would respond with some amazing bikes.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

honkinunit said:


> The whole power/battery size issue will be so difficult to deal with that I still think they should just have weight classes for the bikes. 14kg and 19kg. Whatever you can pack into that weight, go for it. Depending on the course, the 14kg bikes might be faster than the 19kg. Maybe have a bike and a battery limit - 14kg and no more than 2kg can be battery, and 19kg with no more than 4kg can be battery.
> 
> The eMTB industry would respond with some amazing bikes.


How about just a low WH limit? Use it as you choose with whatever motor you want. I doubt they'll be racing for hours. Can you measure that accurately ahead of time?

Not that any of it would happen, this is the UCI afterall, where the diamond frame is sacred and it all revolves around showcasing manufacturers bikes, which are available for the general public to buy. It's in the rules, no prototypes.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

Harryman said:


> How about just a low WH limit? Use it as you choose with whatever motor you want. I doubt they'll be racing for hours. Can you measure that accurately ahead of time?
> 
> Not that any of it would happen, this is the UCI afterall, where the diamond frame is sacred and it all revolves around showcasing manufacturers bikes, which are available for the general public to buy. It's in the rules, no prototypes.


The only fair way to enforce the WH limit would be for the race organizers to supply the batteries. Someone could take a Bosch case and install a different battery composition (and some ballast if necessary to make it weigh the same as the standard battery). In fact, you know that would happen. Might as well avoid the entire issue. The bike plus battery can weigh x, and the battery can weigh y.

The way to prevent prototypes is easy. Just like in some car racing classes, you have a surrender price on all of the bikes. If you win on a bike, be prepared to sell it for $8K or whatever the cost limit is for the class.


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

My point about prototypes, which wasn't clear unless you already know how the UCI stifles innovation, is that they only allow bikes a consumer can buy. Or will be able to buy, in the next model year. So, they'd never allow any non standard ebike, regardless of how that affected innovation. It's all about money, it's not about racing. 

Yeah, there will always be cheating, let them take each others bikes like Scandinavian beer league rally racing and call it a day.


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## life behind bars (May 24, 2014)

honkinunit said:


> The only fair way to enforce the WH limit would be for the race organizers to supply the batteries. Someone could take a Bosch case and install a different battery composition (and some ballast if necessary to make it weigh the same as the standard battery). In fact, you know that would happen. Might as well avoid the entire issue. The bike plus battery can weigh x, and the battery can weigh y.
> 
> The way to prevent prototypes is easy. Just like in some car racing classes, you have a surrender price on all of the bikes. If you win on a bike, be prepared to sell it for $8K or whatever the cost limit is for the class.


"Claimer" racing still has cheating.


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## MattMay (Dec 24, 2013)

*New UCI E-Bike Regs*

Over at Pinkbike they've posted the new UCI regs, including the new e-bike regs. https://www.pinkbike.com/news/coach-chris-kilmurray-analyses-the-2019-uci-mtb-rule-book.html

We all love to say "an e-bike is not a bike." Well, looks like we are wrong. According to UCI anyway. "An E-Mountain Bike is a bike..."


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

MattMay said:


> We all love to say "an e-bike is not a bike." Well, looks like we are wrong.


Of course an ebike is a bike. A motorcycle is a bike, a bicycle is a bike, a moped is a bike. The UCI didn't say ebikes were bicycles, not yet anyway.


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## WoodlandHills (Nov 18, 2015)

life behind bars said:


> "Claimer" racing still has cheating.


 The purpose of the claiming rule is not to prevent cheating, but to keep the deep-pocketed factories from building $50,000.00 ebikes made from angel wings and unicorn hair. With a decent claiming rule such bikes can be purchased by any racer for a nominal fee, thus serving two purposes: 1. making it financially painful to keep getting your spendy ebikes claimed disincentivising such practices and 2. putting the claimed bikes in the hands of privateers who will use them against the factories.

Anyone who has been involved with professional racing of any sort knows that "if you ain't tryin' to cheat, you ain't tryin' to win", so this rule does nothing to address that attitude.


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

Well, unless they allowed some form of delimiting, the 15.5mph cutoff is going to mean it's straightforward XC racing (probably with pretty steep climbing) or nothing, since in a short track/Boogaloo type or enduro race the motor would basically never be useful. 

-Walt


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

MattMay said:


> We all love to say "an e-bike is not a bike." Well, looks like we are wrong. According to UCI anyway. "An E-Mountain Bike is a bike..."


The UCI does say at their events an emtb is a bike. Unless you try to ride it in a bike race, then they'll ban you for years.


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## figofspee (Jul 19, 2018)

J.B. Weld said:


> Of course an ebike is a bike. A motorcycle is a bike, a bicycle is a bike, a moped is a bike. The UCI didn't say ebikes were bicycles, not yet anyway.


The Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. By associating themselves with ebikes, they are equating assisted bikes with cycling.

The UCI is based in Switzerland where this debate is long ago settled.

As long as the EU definition of eBikes (25 km/h, 250 W) is respected, any eMTB is rated as a MTB bicycle


As of today, hikers and landmanagers in EU do not differentiate between MTB and eMTB

MTB and eMTB face the same trails access discussions

https://www.imba-europe.org/sites/d...ike_future development of e-MTB in Europe.pdf


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## ninjichor (Jul 12, 2018)

Well, those that want a lightweight ebike, that's much closer to regular bikes, will have their wish granted. 

I guess it'll be all about never letting your speed drop below 25 kph. They didn't specify max torque, so I'm going to be amused watching these riders tame these beasts that climb/accelerate like... I dunno, but I'm already laughing at the thought of this. xD


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

It reminds me of 80s/90s junior road racing, where they limited the younger kids to some ridiculous top gear ratio (like 42x13 or something crazy). The races were hilarious, since everyone was spun out the whole time. An hour of sitting the pack spinning as fast as you can, then a "sprint" every time.

Like I said, with a 15.5mph limit, you just have to make the races have really steep rough climbing for it to work at all. 

-Walt


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## Crankout (Jun 16, 2010)

Walt said:


> Well, unless they allowed some form of delimiting, the 15.5mph cutoff is going to mean it's straightforward XC racing (probably with pretty steep climbing) or nothing, since in a short track/Boogaloo type or enduro race the motor would basically never be useful.
> 
> -Walt


What's the point then?


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## Walt (Jan 23, 2004)

I guess you could do enduros where the transfer stage time allowed was so low (and the climb steep enough) that it could only be done with a motor assist. I'm not sure how popular that would be, though, given that on all the timed stages (descending) you'd probably be at least somewhat better off without the motor and battery. A lot of enduro races around here have thrown the whole transfer stage part out the window anyway and riders just take the lift up or are shuttled - it's basically a multi-stage DH race. 

You could, like I said, make a pretty cool race where the climbing was just crazy steep/hard, so that cleaning the climbs and keeping speed as close to the 15mph limit as possible would be the goal. Finding courses with super steep/rough/loose/technical climbing will be a challenge in many places, of course - maybe run *up* a steep DH track, then come down the XC trails/service roads where you'd be sprinting/pedaling out of lots of corners and the assist would be of some use? I personally hate descending endless switchbacks but that would be a decent place for an e-bike to shine.

It doesn't have to make sense to us for the lunatics at the UCI (this has nothing to do with e-bikes, they're corrupt and insane on all fronts related to bicycles) to make money promoting it, of course. 

-Walt


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Walt said:


> It doesn't have to make sense to us for the lunatics at the UCI (this has nothing to do with e-bikes, they're corrupt and insane on all fronts related to bicycles) to make money promoting it, of course.
> 
> -Walt


Just like with making winter fatbike racing a UCI world championship event, it's just a power and money grab. Being able to award the vaunted rainbow stripes means that any competing organization trying to organize a world championship is SOL and they own the future of the competitive side of the sport. They're locking it down early.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

Walt said:


> It reminds me of 80s/90s junior road racing, where they limited the younger kids to some ridiculous top gear ratio (like 42x13 or something crazy). The races were hilarious, since everyone was spun out the whole time. An hour of sitting the pack spinning as fast as you can, then a "sprint" every time.
> 
> Like I said, with a 15.5mph limit, you just have to make the races have really steep rough climbing for it to work at all.
> 
> -Walt


The junior limit in the 70's was 52x15. I think I still have a 5-speed Regina freewheel that is 15-16-17-19-21. Before the race you had to go to "rollout" where they checked your top gear ratio. They also checked your tires to be sure they were glued on well.


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