Comment by righthand
1 day ago
Anything for the world to actually avoid the health benefits of riding a bike. What is wrong with a standard human powered bike? I expect a global obesity epidemic in 10 years as people begin buying/building WALL-E-style beds.
People with knee problems, areas with hills. An ebike is still active movement; sure you're not getting any cardio, but it's immeasurably better than driving. If this (or any ebike) is a thing that gets someone on a bike that otherwise wouldn't be on a bike, it is a good thing. For some it might be a stepping stone, for others it allows them to ride where they can't/won't ride at all.
I also noticed that some people who used to pedal switched to e-bikes due to laziness.
That would include me, except for the fact I'm e-cycling a lot more than I would have pedaled previously (and driving a lot less)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821...
"Physical activity gains from active travel are similar in e-bikers and cyclists."
E-bikes make people who aren't fit enough to ride muscle powered bikes to start doing moderate exercise on local trips they would used cars for before.
How can they be the same? One requires much more physical effort. That sounds like junk science. Perhaps they are similar type of gain but the difference in actual result must be a canyon wide.
Following a heart attack, I got a pedal assist, I got hundreds of hours of exercise and outdoors. You always are exercising, just lightly, and you can adjust your input level upwards at will. Brake fluid issues got me back onto my push bike this week. It's different - there's definitely more effective strength training going on in accelerating and climbing hills. Otherwise, it's not THAT much of a difference. I just go slower. 10 mph rather than ~15.
Found the person who lives in Kansas. Sometimes I just want to ride to work without having to deal with that 2km hill on the way. And my bike is still human-powered, with electric assist. Do you not know how e-bikes work, perhaps?
Signed, former Cat 2 road racer
I have ridden a pedal assist ebike and the amount of push I apply to a pedal is 100x less effort than I would to a standard bike. There is no way the physical benefits are remotely the same. Good for you for avoiding exercise though. Also I live in Brooklyn with plenty of long hills. I also have plenty of friends with ebikes here who swear by them like you do. They struggle with health issues related to physical activity. Obviously having some sort of engine, pedal-assist or not is convenient but do you really understand the cost. You might as well drive and move the non-gas pedal foot up and down for the same benefit.
Good for you for avoiding exercise though.
I realize that you really, really want to think that we are talking about electric motorcycles, but you obviously have no idea how e-bikes work, so I see little benefit in discussing it further. My HR monitor says I get plenty of exercise on an e-bike.
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> Do you not know how e-bikes work, perhaps?
I suspect not. Even though ebikes are common now, I often hear this comment. Ebikes assist your pedaling; they don't pedal for you. (Well some can pedal for you but you learn quickly that if you let the motor do all the work you'll run the battery down and then you will have to do all the work pedaling a 65-lb bicycle home.)
Lots of people seem to think if a motor is present, then the motor is doing all the work. Ebikes are not motorcycles. What the motor actually does is make the hills less steep and less long. It's a lowpass filter for terrain.
Indeed not all of the work, only most of it.
Not only does it remove the steepness and length, it removes practically any physical benefit you get from using a bike. As is stated in my original point.