Electric Motors And Gravel Bikes

Ridley's new e-Aster gravel bike. (Image courtesy of Ridley Bikes)

 Of course, bicycles with electric motors in them are big business. However; some circles of cycling are not as hot with the trend as others. On one hand, you can hardly turn around and not hit a cargo bike with an electric motor in it. Ditto for many long-travel mountain bikes.

Now look at road cycling. Hmm.... Not a lot of movement in the e-Road bike market. There are some, sure, but you just do not see a lot of chatter about those bicycles. Same thing in the gravel cycling scene, at least for now. This may be changing soon.

 My friend, Ari Andonopoulos, calls road bikes "cheater bikes". I would guess this is because riding on gravel, which Ari loves to do, is met with more resistance and takes more effort than riding smooth(er) paved roads. I say this because I find it to be true as well. Gravel is not 'easy', and besides the technical skills needed to navigate loose crushed rock roads, the effort you must put in might be a bit daunting to some who know what road cycling is like.

Ribble Allgrit e-Gravel (Image courtesy of Ribble Bikes)

So, will something with assist for gravel riding be acceptable by those who want to ride gravel roads? I'm going to go out on a limb and say "no", if you are a traditionalist, long-time gravel rider. However; I would not be at all surprised to see some of these more "bicycle-shaped" gravel bikes with electric motors start to find appeal with many more riders, both aging and young.

Early gravel bicycles with electric motors looked....goofy. They did not appear to be the bicycle I'd want to be seen on. Vanity? Yes....I'll admit it. But how my bicycle looks matters, and something with a swollen, misshapen down tube and a "belly" where a motor resides is not my cup of tea. I don't care how good the motor and battery are. 

I will say the elegant Ridley e-Aster and the Ribble Allgrit e-AL models of e-gravel bikes are appealing. They are easy on the eye, and you get a modicum of assistance but not a motorcycle level  of power. Is a bicycle like this "the best of both worlds"? It could be for some, I think.

On the other hand, these bicycles could pose issues for race directors who, understandably, could miss detecting these bikes and have contestants in non-ebike categories taking advantage of the stealth nature of these bikes. Now....I have no horse in this race, and I don't really care, but some folks will cry foul. I can see how this might become an issue. But besides this, I would think these bicycles might have a chance at becoming something we see a lot more of out on the gravel. 

With more "normal" looking e-gravel bikes and, hopefully, lower price points, we might see the next mini-boom in cycling come from e-gravel bikes. Time will tell...