tomsgr

I just don't get those "motorcycle" remarks. I have been riding lightweight 4X, trail and enduro bikes for 2 decades. My current bike is a Transition Spur. For the last 10 years I have been riding 300cc 2-stroke hard enduro motorcycles, lightweight rally bikes and trials motorcycles. I have also tested a 25kg full-size enduro e-MTB. Saying that an e-MTB is closer to a motorcycle than to a regular MTB is total nonsense. Even a lightweight sub-70kg trials motorcycle feels very different to an e-MTB. A 110kg enduro motorcycle is a completely different world. Would I want a 25kg e-MTB for flat trails?... no. Just because I would prefer something more playful. The same way I wouldn't ride a 170mm enduro MTB on those trails. But if you are doing long alpine descents, a full-size e-MTB is perfect in my opinion and on steep descents it feels fairly nimble and not that different to a regular MTB. I'm 195cm and 90kg so it might be easier for me to manoeuvre a heavy bike than it would be for a shorter/lighter rider. My next bike will probably be a full-size e-MTB. My local riding includes alpine trails at an altitude between 1000m and 2000m. Often times the ride starts with a road climb covering up to 900 vertical meters followed by a 20min DH ride on some steep, rocky trails. On my Transition Spur the climb takes me 1h 30min, on an e-MTB I can do the same climb in 40min and the battery has enough capacity for me to do 2 loops. Still takes some good effort to get up and gives me twice the DH time.

This sport doesn't have any "real" money in it. Most people who aren't active mountain bikers themselves couldn't care less about our little competitions. It's a great hobby, but a terrible career choice. Very few will make a decent career out of it, but even for them the risk/benefit ratio is way off. It's not just MTBing, the same goes for off road motorcycles (arguably much more interesting to watch than MTB) and many other action sports. There was a video a few years ago on IRC Tires YouTube channel from an endurocross race where they encouraged sponsored riders with a $100 bill to try to do a high consequence triple jump where the 2nd landing was a log. $100??... it was embarrassing to watch.

@charmingbob: I agree. I would prefer to see the judges calm and focused instead of screaming and jumping up and down in their chairs.