E-bikes, or pedal assist mountain bikes, are a hot topic right now with both sides having arguable points. But if you aren't racing or being competitive on your MTB, then shouldn't the focus be more fun? I took my roommate Brig out for his first ever ride on one to see if...maybe he can have a bit more fun?

Cheers to Republic Bikes for supporting me: http://bit.ly/RepublicService

Trailforks Link:
Rupert - https://www.trailforks.com/trails/rupert
Pseudo Tseuga - https://www.trailforks.com/trails/pse...

Strava for the 1st ride:   / strava  
Strava for the 2nd ride:   / strava  

Follow me on Instagram too: @paulthepunter
  / paulthepunter  

Connect with me on Strava:   / strava  

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Panasonic Lumix GH5: https://amzn.to/2Dnfo5J
Mavic Air Drone: https://amzn.to/2S74mF8
GoPro Hero4 for best audio: https://amzn.to/2uD8wu5
Best GoPro Chest Mount out there: https://amzn.to/2JqV560
A Gimbal Like Mine To Stablize Footage: https://amzn.to/2NWAwlx

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🚲Check Out The Bike Parts List Below (some are affiliate links):

Trek Slash 29 Frameset: https://goo.gl/HW6Ef8

OneUP Dropper:
🇺🇸https://amzn.to/2NOiuSr

OneUP EDC Tool:
https://goo.gl/qgnQFG

E*Thirteen 9-46t 11spd Cassette:
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🇨🇦https://amzn.to/2NiSBJo

E*Thirteen TRS+ 29x2.35 Tire:
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🇨🇦https://amzn.to/2Li1vGg

E*Thirteen TRS Chainring:
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🇨🇦https://amzn.to/2Jnx5QZ

E*Thirteen 29er Wheel:
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Renthal Fat Bar Lite:
🇺🇸https://amzn.to/2LevgIb
🇨🇦https://amzn.to/2mjozd0 -- non-lite version

Renthal 40mm Apex Stem:
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🇨🇦https://amzn.to/2mfCCjv

ODI Elite Pro Grips:
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Crank Brothers Mallet Pedals:
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🇨🇦https://amzn.to/2mg9QPK
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Script:
This is Brig.

Brig loves everything about mountain biking. He lives in world famous riding destination of Squamish, just to be closer to the trails. After only riding the whistler bike park for years, he realised that a bike that could pedal would mean more access to trails, and he likes nothing better than ripping down a nice flow trail.

But there’s one thing that Brig like, and he’s not the only one. In order to get to these amazing trails, you’ve got to earn your turns and well...Brig doesn’t like that bit. Now here’s the thing - Brig isn’t a lazy dude. He works long hours at the dock on tug boats and in his spare time he’s always hiking, in the Gym or just being in the outdoors. So by the time it’s time to ride, he’s already hurting.

Now this isn’t a video about how much better I am at pedalling uphill compared to my buddy, it’s a video about looking at ways that would make it more fun to ride together. Because really it’s Brig that gets annoyed at being left behind, not me.

After years of riding the park, this dude can go round a berm fast. Even on this lap he was dropping me pretty quick.

Luckily for us, Republic Bikes who are a supporter of my channel had an e-bike demo day. I know it’s a controversial subject, but I have absolutely no problem with e-bikes and I wanted to see what Brig thought about them.

Like any other shop demo, they swapped over Brig’s pedals while he watched on and got him set up on the bike. Making sure Brig knew what he was doing with the motor controls, we would head to a different area of Squamish and hit up something a bit more technical.

This climb is a little steep and he would normally walk up the whole thing. This made the whole ride take longer, but now I have a rider that I can chase and pushes me to go faster up the hill. But again, you knew this would happen, I knew this would happen. What I wanted to find out was how Brig felt about it.

There we go - we were having more fun. That’s all we wanted. But what about the downs? Will he be able to ride the same going down a trail? We dropped into the black rated trail Rupert to find out.

By this point he never wants to do Rollercoaster, which is awesome by the way, and there’s a lot of time waiting at the bottom for him to catch up - something that annoys Brig. But here we are, now having an absolute ball.

You don’t need to tell me that e-bikes are something that not everyone is a fan of, I am up to speed with the land access issues that are coming up in America and other mountain bike areas. But for me and Brig, this e-bike would mean we can ride together and both of us have the same amount of good times and probably go on more rides. But would he buy one? Maybe hit the subscribe button if you want to find out….