Mountain bike trails being vandalised or damaged isn’t anything new, but with electric motorbikes gaining in popularity, instances of trail damage and illegal access have been rocketing.

In the UK, motorbikes of any kind generally are not permitted on mountain bike trails or within forestry land. But, as we’ve seen recently with Le Pleney’s off-piste trails, when have signs or barriers stopped people from accessing land they shouldn’t be on? Well, never.

And as electric motos become more attainable, and police forces too stretched to deal with trespassing and antisocial behaviour, some of our mountain bike communities are at breaking point. And beyond damaging the trails, they’re also damaging our reputation as a community. No, they’re evidently not mountain bikes, but are often mistakenly termed ‘e-bikes’ by mainstream media.

And it’s not just us mountain bikers that are fed up of rogue motorbike riders, the topic even came up in the House of Commons a few months ago when Home Secretary Yvette Cooper branded some off-road bikers a “total nightmare.” But what’s actually been happening, and what can we do about it?

The diggers being used by the team at Ride Sheffield were vandalised earlier this year

What are electric motorbikes and why are they so popular?

Electric motorbikes are becoming increasingly common thanks to their combination of high power, low weight, and relatively low price – entry level models can be had for less than £3,000, considerably cheaper than many of the e-bikes we review. You can buy road-legal electric versions, which are classed as motorbikes and require appropriate licensing and insurance; and those for off-road use that cannot be legally ridden on the road, and should only be ridden on private land.

How powerful are these things then? Some can hit 50mph in less than four seconds from standing. Now imagine mixing that amount of acceleration and speed with publicly accessed trails and other trail users, and you can see where things might not end well.

We should add that there is nothing inherently wrong with these bikes, and many mountain bikers also enjoy riding motorbikes and dirt bikes. The problems arise when people ride inconsiderately and illegally.

Electric motorbikes have up to six times as much power as the punchiest of e-bikes

Trail damage and threatening behaviour

Mountain bike trails are, inherently, designed for mountain bikes. The force an electric motorbike or any motorbike for that matter puts through a trail often leads to destruction and damage of the surface. This then requires hours upon hours of time to rebuild, often done by volunteers.

The UK MTB Trail Alliance has highlighted several recent incidents in which electric motorbikes have caused damage to mountain bike trails in the UK. Alongside this, there are also several reports of antisocial behaviour.

One particularly worrying report came from Grenoside woods in Sheffield back in March, where a dog walker was threatened with a knife by a motorbike rider wearing a balaclava. Why? Because they confronted the riders for “booting” one of their dogs after they ran in front of their bikes.

An incident in Surrey Hills with off-road motorbike riders

Also in Sheffield, but in Lady Cannings, there have been reports of motorbikes damaging a trail that has been closed for refurbishment. The Cooking On Gas trail is a popular blue-graded trail, and has been closed for over four months for refurbishment.

Built, maintained and funded by Ride Sheffield, the group was hit with a major setback in March after motorbike riders damaged the closed trail. Additionally, the group’s diggers and vans were vandalised and broken into – although this hasn’t been necessarily associated with motorbike riders, just merely happened during the same day.

Some of the damage caused by motorbike riders riders to Sheffield’s Cooking On Gas trail while it is closed for refurbishment

“If this continues this will be the end of Bolehills as you know it”

Back in February, Bolehills BMX Track was damaged by motorised bikes and put the future of the track in jeopardy. As the Facebook post states, the vandalism caused by riders is being classed as ‘criminal damage’ by police, and is therefore worth reporting if you do come across anyone causing damage.

And up and down the country there are stories of riders, dog walkers, and just people enjoying the outside being subject to motorised bikes plaguing the environment they visit. And it can be intimidating to witness a bunch of people hooning down a forest path on a motorised vehicle. Many people go to these places to get away from vehicles, or to enjoy peace and quiet away from towns and cities. So it can be infuriating if that’s taken away from you.

As someone with dogs that don’t like traffic, I like to find quiet places to walk them, and in the last few weeks I’ve encountered several off-road motorbike riders on bridleways and quite frankly, they scared the poop out of my dogs. In towns, you expect it. But in the countryside, where you’ve purposefully gone off the beaten track to avoid these things, it’s unnerving and makes me think twice about my route choices, knowing these riders could just appear at any moment.

And perhaps unrelated by all but the manner of transport they’re on, there are also multiple reports of bikejackings, threats, and more antisocial behaviour done by riders of these types of vehicles.

Interestingly, and something that perhaps shows just how little power authorities have, is the influx of influencers and YouTubers riding these bikes and filming themselves on MTB trails. For example, @stingyrogerr who has videos showing just that – a group of riders on electric motorbikes on MTB trails.

But what can be done? We could go on, and list several more reported incidents – but we don’t want to be fearmongers. Yes, it’s important to highlight the dangers of these dirt bikes and the associated anti-social behaviour, but equally, we shouldn’t just focus on the negatives.

In some instances, the police have apparently suggested not riding alone, but for some of us, that’s just not practical. These are trails for mountain bikes, not dirt bikes, not electric motorbikes, not anything motorised. And we have a right to be there, and to enjoy the trails.

Bolehills BMX track was hit earlier this year, and those who run the track are at their wit’s end

What can we do about the plague of electric motorbikes?

As it stands, there are no official statistics available on the illegal use of off-road motorbikes or the prevalence of anti-social behaviour that stems from this usage. Which means the government doesn’t have the data to understand how widespread the issue is, and the police have no special powers to try and prevent the activities from continuing.

Robin Grant, of the UK MTB Trail Alliance suggested we need a data-driven approach to assess the scale of the problem and to understand how to properly deal with it.

“The damaging and illegal use of electric motorbikes on mountain bike trails and associated antisocial behaviour is clearly a growing problem,” he said. “For us to successfully pressure the police and the government to take action, we need their data to confirm what we’re telling them, so it’s really important that mountain bikers report all incidents they witness to the police by calling 101 or online at Police.uk.”