Most of us really wouldn’t mind if people who needed a little extra help (older people, injured people, people new to the sport) were riding bikes that provided a small assist to help out with the hills. It’s actually great to see older people being able to ride again with some help from a motor, for example.
But instead, we’re seeing a lot of e-bike builders abusing the concept to hack or build bikes that are basically electric motorcycles. It gets old fast when your local mountain bike trail is now crowded with kids motoring up the mountain on their modified e-bikes without even pretending to pedal. It’s even worse when they end up deep into trails they’re not qualified to ride with a dead battery and no natural ability to pedal back out.
The end result has been a blanket ban on e-bikes on most trails and a lot of animosity toward e-bikes. I wish there was a better compromise, but after watching all of the dumb outcomes play out on my local trails from a small handful of people abusing the concept, I understand why it had come to this.