techno-ag said:

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JeremiahJohnson said:

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Hard to tell that one is an ebike and one is not. This the the fine line i was talking about. Both are mountain bikes. One has pedal assist.

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Looks like something for purists to nitpick over.

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Agreed. I'm not interested if a pedal assist should allow it to be counted as a mountain bike, but it's damn clear it's got a motor at that point. And whether it's easy to tell if it has an electric motor or lithium batteries really isn't part of the assessment, but I feel bad for the rangers and game wardens who are responsible for policing illegal OHV use.

CivilEng08 said:

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JeremiahJohnson said:

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I think that there is a fine line between what is a motorized vehicle and what is a bike. Lots of these areas are for no motorized vehicles and e-bikes blur the line.

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Crazy! It's not a gray area at all. Whether pedal assist or full e-bike doesn't matter, it's powered by a motor. Couldn't be more black and white. Use them all you want on area that allow motorized vehicles and keep them out of areas closed to motorized vehicle traffic.

Do people have this same debate about trolling motors on non-motorized waterways?

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I guess the question would be this:

Can the e-bike be operated as a normal bike if the battery dies or the motor quits? If the answer is yes, then it's more bike than anything. If the answer is no, then it's a motorized vehicle.

With your trolling motor comparison - you can't hand operate the trolling motor if the battery dies or the motor quits, so it's an actual motorized propulsion device. Would you throw a fit if a hand operated prop was used in a no motor zone?

I honestly don't care either way. More people getting out into public lands is good. It's also bad, because people suck.

No I wouldn't be upset if someone had an old school hand crank egg beater tied to a prop. Lots of kayaks have a pedal power propulsion system. You have others with trolling motors. You don't get a pass on the trolling motor by fish and game because the battery died and you're having to paddle back home. Normally you'd have to remove the motor to be legal or same with HP limited motor zones.

I don't see what's wrong. With an e-bike , hunters have been using 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, golf carts and Polaris Ranger type ATVs for years an e-bike is just the new "in thing" to use. They probably are similar to an electric golf cart in that they are very quiet and you can sneak up on animals.

We have used all of that stuff except e-bikes on our ranch. I guess if some areas don't want them or other motorized vehicles that's ok too- it's their rules for their property.

fullback44 said:

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I don't see what's wrong. With an e-bike , hunters have been using 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, golf carts and Polaris Ranger type ATVs for years an e-bike is just the new "in thing" to use.

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While the industry talks about being focused on conservation, growing the sport, and making it accessible to all to hunt public land (that's meant for everyone). There still a large portion of people that have hunted out west longer that get real upset when the sport actually grows and access increases to the public. In their mind, it's their own private "public" land.