There’s a brief moment of confusion when you first hear about e-bike racing. It’s got a motor, right? How can it be racing if they’ve got electric assist? Then it dawns on you that, of course, they have engines in Formula 1, motorbike racing and rally too.
E-bike racing - just like e-bikes themselves - has been growing and growing over the past five years, to the point where there’s a e-bike category in most competitions and there has been a UCI-endorsed World E-Bike Series since 2020.
At Big Bear Bikes, we are right behind the e-bike boom and are happy to be adding an e-bike racer to our group of supported riders as of the 2024 season.
Robbie has competed in the UK enduro series competitions for the past four years. The 26-year-old, who lives in Danby in the North York Moors, spent his first couple of seasons riding in more local races like Boltby Bash and Ard Moors, working on his skills and confidence.
In 2022, he secured an incredible second place in the 2022 British Enduro Mountain Bike Association (BEMBA) British National Enduro Series, with races in Llanfyllin, Llongollen, Glentress and on the Isle of Man.
Robbie told us: “I actually started racing motocross first. I got my first motocross bike when I was four and I did that until 2019, when I was 21. In 2020 I had my first season starting to race mountain bikes properly and now I’ve been doing that for four seasons.”
Robbie said: “I want to have as much fun as possible going downhill because that’s what I love doing. You get so much more with an e-bike. It’s amazing how many downhill trails you can do in a short space of time. I don’t have lots of time during the week, especially now when it gets dark so early, but with an e-bike you can get loads done.
“It’s still really hard work if you’re all-out on an e-bike. Where I live, because it’s so hilly and the hills are so steep, you really struggle to get heart rate zone two or three training because you’re in zone four all the time. An e-bike helps you stay in zone two or three and get that really good cardiovascular workout. It makes your heart really strong.”
Enduro racing involves between three and six mostly downhill stages, the times for some or all of which are added together to give a total time. The fastest aggregate time wins. Between each stage, there are untimed “transfer stages” that mostly involve climbing to the top of the next descent. This might include elements of chair lift, hike-a-bike and human-powered pedalling.
Enduro racing sees riders setting off individually at intervals and it’s up to the rider - within certain limits - how quickly they get to the start of the next timed section. There’s a mixture of skills involved, from navigating tight and twisty technical descents to braving all-out speed sections
The rules differ between events but, overall, enduro is an accessible discipline which aims to create a festival atmosphere around the competition, with the best examples of this in the UK including Ard Rock in the Yorkshire Dales and the TweedLove events in Scotland
The most obvious difference is that riders compete on an e-bike, with the differences in handling challenges that the extra weight of the motor and battery brings with it. However, at an event with various categories, the downhill stages are very often the same in the e-enduro class as in the enduro.
There may be tougher transfer stages where riders have to tackle technical uphills to get to the start of the next timed stage. In some events, organisers have created extremely challenging transfer stages where riders need to spend a lot of time in Turbo mode to make the next timed stage within an allocated period. Battery swaps are also allowed in some competitions and some timed stages could be uphill too.
Very much like e-bikes themselves, e-enduro is very much in the ascendancy, with more and more riders competing all the time. As this continues to grow, we expect enduro and e-enduro courses to diverge as organisers look to offer something different to spectators.
Robbie and Alistair compare Trek Rail and Trek Fuel EXe
Robbie said: "It's a Trek Rail 9, with some upgrades. Big Bear Bikes has a lot of shiny Burgtec parts in the shop so the bike is fully bars, stem, seat clamp and mech hanger. I have chosen to put Shimano XTR brakes on the bike, along with Hope wheels and pedals, an Ergon seat, fitted in store, and Continental tyres. The colour of the bike is Gloss Dnister Black.
“I think it’s great. I’m very comfortable going downhill on it. I don’t know if it’s my motocross background but I’m very used to a heavier bike. It’s really stable and you can really push it downhill.”
“I just want to win every race!” says Robbie. “It’ll be interesting to see what the competition will be like on the e-bike this year. A lot of the boys I ride with have gone e-bike so I think there will be more competition.
“I’ll be entering Boltby Bash, Ard Rock, Ard Moors, two or three races at TweedLove and Naughty Northumbrian too. I always like Boltby Bash because it’s my local one. It’s 40 minutes away from home and it’s a nice mix of loamy trails and steep, fast stuff too. I always like Ard Moors, which is another local one, and the Scottish ones because you get some good, long downhills there too.”
We’ll be following Robbie’s progress during the 2024 season so keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram for updates. If you’d like to know more about racing - or just exploring - on e-bikes, come and talk to our friendly, expert team in store in Southgate, Pickering.
