E-mountain bikes are the big thing in the bicycle industry. This is where the research money ends up, this is where the marketing budgets are spent, this is where the action is. Some brands are even removing non-motorized models from their portfolio. The future belongs to the electric drive for mountain bike manufacturers.

However, there is a catch: the weight. Today, an e-mountainbike weighs 26 kilograms. That's almost twice as much as a comparable "organic model". The extra weight doesn't matter, after all, the bike has a motor - so the pounds are of secondary importance, according to the widespread opinion. But time will tell: It is these extra pounds that show the e-mountainbike its growth limits.

The excess weight really comes into its own on steep Alpine trails. Downhill, the brakes are so tight that it's not uncommon for riding enjoyment to fall by the wayside. However, this is just one situation in which the e-mountainbike does not make the best trap on a tour today: the bike has to be lifted over a fence, there is a pushing passage, the bike is loaded onto the train or hung on the rear rack of a post bus, the bike cellar is reached via a staircase. These days, the e-mountain bike is always a nuisance. And all because of its weight.

When I'm about to go for a ride in the bike cellar today, I often opt for an e-bike. Not because I'm indulging in a fitness craze during a midlife crisis and want to conquer every climb under my own steam. Nor because I have a fundamental aversion to e-mountainbikes, on the contrary. The decisive factor is being overweight, which robs me of the freedom that got me hooked on mountain biking in the first place. The freedom to just ride off, even into the unknown, even into an unexpected adventure in the mountains. With an e-mountain bike, you need to plan every single ride carefully. Are there push sections? Fences? Fallen timber? Have you ever heaved an e-mountainbike through the countless passages in the dry stone walls in the Jura? With an e-mountainbike, you have to know a route in detail before you tackle it. That contradicts my original idea of mountain biking. Almost all of my mountain biking adventures over the past 30 years would not have been possible with an e-mountain bike. That's why I usually opt for the organic bike.

If e-mountainbikes really are to become the big thing for the bike industry and Alpine tourism that they hope they will be, e-mountainbikes will have to be put on a radical diet. The fighting weight to stay in the ring is around 18 kilograms. With today's 26 kilograms, e-bikes are primarily used on wide gravel roads - which in turn doesn't have much to do with mountain biking. But that's another story.

If manufacturers manage to develop lightweight yet powerful e-mountainbikes, then the real boom will be triggered. Today's growth rates will be the prelude to the much bigger, second wave. The trigger: the weight. And then the organic bike will become my second choice in the garage. But until then, dear bike industry, there's still a bit of work to do. Long live the diet!

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