The summer of the e-bike is approaching as fast as an e-biker passing a traditional leg-powered bicyclist on a steep uphill.
This collision of technology is becoming more common on trails across Wyoming, as e-bikes account for most bike sales in the state and more riders are drawn to the advantages that come with battery power.
“It’s the fastest growing segment of the bike world. It isn't close,” Michael Kusiek, executive director of Wyoming Pathways, told Cowboy State Daily. “I think it's over like 60% of all bike sales right now are e-bikes.”
Kusiek’s group advocates for all kinds of recreationists seeking access to trails, and e-bikers are the newest group showing up at trailheads all over Wyoming looking for a place to ride.
Mostly, said Kusiek, “There's no signs up that say ‘No E-bikes,” as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service continue to wrap their heads around the growing e-bike craze.
Kusiek remains involved with a proposed trail system on the western flank of the Bighorn Mountains east of Lovell in the Cottonwood Canyon area.
“That might be a really ideal system to try this out because you have tremendous sightlines out there,” said Kusiek, explaining how the wide-open terrain might lessen the chance of collisions between traditional mountain bikers and e-bikers.
Whatever regulations the BLM places on e-bikers in a new Cottonwood Canyon trail system could set a trend for how access is managed on other public lands, as e-bike technology presents enforcement challenges.
“With land managers, even if they have a lot of staff — which they don't anymore — they can't really tell the difference. These bikes are so subtly different from regular bikes,” said Kusiek.
But potential traffic problems on existing trails is a real concern, said Kusiek.
“They can go 15 to 20 miles an hour uphill,” added Kusiek. “Those of us who still climb on a traditional bike are doing 4 to 6 miles an hour. You can come up on somebody pretty quickly.”
These are fraught moments on the trail — when a traditional rider huffing and puffing their way uphill is forced to pull off a single-track and let an e-biker pass.
Some traditional riders set out with a goal: “I want to ‘clean’ this climb, I want to ride this thing from bottom to top,” said Kusiek.
Then here comes an e-biker, buzzing the traditional rider from behind.
These kinds of clashes could occur across Wyoming, said Kusiek.
“These are the things that we forecast if this growth trend continues,” said Kusiek.
E-Biker Chaos?
So far, there’s no Sturgis Rally for e-bikers in Wyoming, but places like the greenways of Jackson are filling up with battery-powered transportation of all kinds.
There are small e-bikes that look like mini motorcycles and long, cargo-style e-bikes with bench seats for kids and bins for groceries. Then there are e-scooters and onewheels. Those watching the rise of e-transportation in Jackson have some concerns.
“What's happening in Jackson on the pathway system, it's almost like Mad Max, right?” said Kusiek, who described the pedestrian and bike paths as a free-for-all of e-transportation.
“You've got speed issues. Too many kids on e-bike issues,” said Kusiek. “It's a haves and have nots problem at the schools.”
“I got a lot of love for everyone on two wheels,” Jesse Rezin told Cowboy State Daily. A pioneering trail builder on Teton Pass and member of the Teton Freedom Riders, Rezin said he doesn’t own an e-bike, but he is seeing problems in Jackson.
“I hate to sound like an old man now being 43 years old, but kids and e-bikes — there's going to be some interesting pile ups,” said Rezin. “There are pedestrians and road bicyclists getting skimmed by handlebars with kids here in Jackson riding on e-bikes on the greenways.
“You know, someone wearing shorts, T-shirt, no helmet, flip flops on their iPhone, 12-years-old, going 35 mph, looking at their phone and clipping someone.”
Trail Access
In the mid-2000s when downhill mountain biking started to gain popularity around Jackson, there were sometimes problems with clueless riders cranking uphill on a dedicated downhill section of trail.
Horseback riders also sometimes got in the way of mountain bikers screaming downhill on narrow trails.
But now, said Rezin, random traffic no longer strays onto dedicated downhill sections around Teton Pass, and so far, e-bikes have not been a problem.
“I have a few friends with them,” said Rezin. “I can't afford one otherwise, to be honest, I'd probably have one by now.”
The type of e-mountain bike that catches Rezin’s eye runs around $15,000, while e-bikes in general cost anywhere between $1,000 and $20,000.
“In 2022, there were 1.1 million e-bikes sold in the United States, almost four times as many as were sold in 2019,” reported Bridger-Teton National Forest in a draft environmental assessment of e-bike use on Forest Service trails around Jackson.
“E-bike use is currently allowed on open motor vehicle roads and on 74 miles of motorized trails out of the overall 744-mile summer trail system,” wrote BTNF, as it sought public comment on an updated e-bike policy. A decision is expected in May or June, in time for the summer riding season.
“Forest staff, patrollers, and volunteer ambassadors have documented an escalation in illegal e-bike use and are seeing growing user conflict on non-motorized trails,” continued the BTNF. “This drives the need to be proactive and develop a sustainable long-term plan to provide for quality e-bike opportunities on public lands while also minimizing the effects on other recreationists and natural resources.”
Tim Hoff, owner of Hoff’s Bikesmith in Jackson, said e-bike enthusiasts have strong counter arguments to all the complaints raised by “crusty” traditional mountain bikers who don’t want to share trails with e-mountain bikes.
“They said, ‘e-bikes will tear up the trails,’ and we showed them, ‘no, they use the same tires as regular mountain bikes,” Hoff told Cowboy State Daily, offering e-bike test rides for anyone curious about the new technology.
The BTNF draft environmental assessment looks at all the implications this technology might have on the forest trails e-bikers hope to access.
This includes the potential for forest fires caused by exploding lithium ion batteries, though the chances of this, according to BTNF, are low.
“There is only one documented occurrence of e-bike-caused wildfire — a small bushfire in Australia caused by a homemade e-bike,” reported BTNF. “While some black-market e-bike batteries are known to be more prone to explosions or overheating, new regulations around the manufacturing and selling of these illegal batteries are already being implemented.”
For anyone curious about how e-bikes are exploding in popularity among Wyoming riders, Kusiek with Wyoming Pathways recommends attending the Jurassic Classic Mountain Bike Festival in Lander Aug. 15-17.
“We get folks from all over the country,” said Kusiek. “It’s great because it has something for every level of rider.”
This includes riders in their 80s who are rediscovering the sport after they thought they had aged out.
When asked if Hoff’s Bikesmith serves an octogenarian clientele, Tim Hoff said, “Lots of them.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
