Comment by mikestew
1 day ago
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.
The majority of ebikes people are riding are going to be pedal assist bikes like Citibike ebikes. It is very clear to me that you do not want to acknowledge the substantial decline in health benefits with ebikes compared to standard bikes and do not fully understand that while convenient for longer distances they are slightly less healthy than walking. But okay continue to claim that I’m ignorant of the magic of ebikes. Typical “you just don’t get it” response when pointing out obvious falsehoods. I’m glad you found something that gets you around and isnt a car and does give you a bit of healthy benefits as well (heavy emphasis on ‘a bit’). Maybe I’m being aggressive but I’m hardly wrong or lacking understanding.
> 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.