{GEShole Content Warning}
This week Arcteryx announced the inevitable. US$4500 electrically powered pants. These Mo/Go, or ‘mountain goat,’ trousers are being “Marketed as a mobility device that can help hikers extend their range instead of a medical device that can assist those with mobility issues (you can think of them as an e-bike but for walking).“
My first thought was, how many sherpas packing solar panels does one need to summit Everest with a walk-assist? Then, I imagined conversations with future owners about how much fitter and more interested everyone (who can afford them) will be when they’re using these two-legged time machines to pack a two-hour hike into thirty minutes. How many iterations will it be before motor-assisted-walking becomes walking-assisted-motoring?
It is hard, in these moments, not to imagine the extent to which the motorization of things will continue. I mean, Shimano already makes BEASTMASTER e-fishing reels that pull the sea monsters up into the boat for you. Who doesn’t golf with a cart these days? What’s left?
Even within fully-human-effort enterprises, like person-pedaled mountain bicycling, the uptake in motor-and-battery actuators amongst the highest-priced options is admittedly all-consuming. The new S-Works Epic 8, for example, requires babysitting nine separate batteries on the bike*, and it is self-propelled.
*{Derailleur, Shifter, Dropper, Remote, Power Meter, 2x Tubeless Valves, Fork, & Shock}
Of course, any opinion contrary to the blenderization (macro & micro) of all activities makes the holder a gatekeeping, elitist, snob. And how can that GES-work hope to hold up in the face of hypotheticals?
What if someone starts using their Mo/Go pants to walk three blocks to their grocery store? Isn’t that great? They’re not taking a car. It‘s not like the pants walk for themselves, it’s you but better.
What if someone without arms uses a Shimano Beastmaster 12000 (yes, a real thing) to land a swordfish or giant squid? Isn’t that equitable?
What if a rider doesn’t have the thumb strength to shift a cable-ratcheting drivetrain? Should they be forced to single-speed in the name of not attaching a battery to every component of every product in the human experience?
And really, whether folks use e-pants to bag peaks, e-reels to bag fish, e-MTBs to bag more laps, or a Vitamix to bag their homemade soup, how is it anyone else’s business what mobility aids they choose to adopt? Investing time, energy, and even being into an activity no longer buys any more social equity than the next person with the cash or credit to sign up.
And remember, in the face of the boldest claims of these battery-assisted personal achievements, only a total GEShole would suggest replacing ‘I’ with ‘E’ in the sentence “I did this.”
I was actually prompted to write this after reading about Fox Racing Shox’s inevitable new e-dropper on Pinkbike, as opposed to the unsurprising adaptation of amazing life-changing mobility technology for folks with disabilities so that rich people can walk faster and farther than equally fit poors.
From tubeless valves to shock lockouts to dropper posts, it’s clear that the biggest brands have figured out that adding batteries is the secret to boosting new sales of boringly perfect, and perfectly boring, bicycle components as well as their margins on said products. Fine, that is the bet they are making with their development and production dollars – no different than most bike brands and their e-engineering efforts – but despite the most aggressive marketing efforts, there is nothing inevitable about the uptake of these products.
There is no manifest battery. Never mind that both gold medals in this year’s Olympic games were won on cable-ratcheting drivetrains, even if all the super-luxury-level shifting systems start running batteries let’s remember that Shimano XT (LG or HG+) is an amazing, top-quality, “premium” high-end drivetrain that works fantastically for anyone with thumbs. Look past the plethora of boutique options added on top of every category and remember that the relative cost adjustment to being a mid-priced option does not equal a decrease in performance or quality.
Put another way, a Lyrik Ultimate does not stop being a “premium” super-expensive CAD$1550 boinger just because there’s now a CAD$2150 Flight Attendant option with a battery. Nor will SRAM stop making them when folks keep buying them as opposed to the e-alternative.
BikeYoke will still sell their, awesome, “premium” cable-actuated Revive dropper (even if they do release their own battery version), Shimano XT LinkGlide is just getting started, and we’ll still be able to buy over-priced battery-free-valves for our tires. It is not inevitable that all your riding friends are going to switch over to pedal-assisted-motoring, or that you will not be able to find new mountain bicycle friends.
And regular old “premium” hike pants will continue to exist, no drama on a walk because you forgot to charge them. It’s not a matter of “whether you like it or not” because the choice not to add batteries will continue unabated.
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