Ebike riders get more exercise than cyclists?

This will not end well...

Good gawd, what a dumb article. Just say that e-bikes get some people out exercising at all that otherwise would be on the sofa and leave it at that. That's not a bad thing, but don't try to twist a "study" into a piece of BS click-bait.

Not interested in baloney.

"The study’s authors even go as far as to say the results should potentially be used to lobby for increased e-bike usage and improved e-biking infrastructure."

Ok, so now we know the purpose of the study.

Also for the record, the majority of people will raise their heart rate to 80% max by walking up a 3% grade for a few minutes. Source: Harvard.

So, basically its saying that its a bit better than that.

Right then.

Cool story bro.

Noplacelikeloam said:

Also for the record, the majority of people will raise their heart rate to 80% max by walking up a 3% grade for a few minutes. Source: Harvard.

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Can confirm I'm like that. It doesn't feel weird or anything, just shocking when I see the numbers on my HR tracker. It's just walking! My HR goes only slightly higher if I hammer my bike up a steep climb (with my square taper bottom bracket and FSA crankset complaining) with over 50 pounds of luggage bolted to the rear.

Getting one's heartrate up does not equal good exercise!

1813254617.th said:

Getting one's heartrate up does not equal good exercise!

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All exercise is good. Not everyone needs to "hammer" all the time to see health benefits. In fact, steady low intensity efforts do quite a lot for overall cardio health.

That said, this article...worthless.

noapathy said:

All exercise is good. Not everyone needs to "hammer" all the time to see health benefits. In fact, steady low intensity efforts do quite a lot for overall cardio health.

That said, this article...worthless.

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That I fully agree with. I just think cardio is far from the only type of exercise one needs.

Doing only cardio is vastly better than doing nothing, though.

I won't even grace this article with my view. Saying e-bikes riders get more exercise than cyclists is kind of like saying e-sports gamers playing sports games get about as much exercise as athletes because they also sweats a lot, need intense concentration, and have their HR go up.

If it had an ebike I would use it more per week for short rides and grocery getting and such vs. my regular bike which is strictly relegated to commuting duties as I don't want to schelp groceries on my commuter as it is not set up like that nor is it set up as a casual bike which would certainly mean more exercise for me, even it was assist and short distance trips, vs. now where i combine these trips into car trips.

That said this is a pretty clickbaity article, especially coming from electrek and the actual study being of european countries where bike commuting and errand riding is a lot more normal than the US where bikes are still considered toys by a large percentage of the population and bike related infrastructure is a secondary or even tertiary consideration in a lot of municipalities vs ensure that single occupant vehicles can get to and from starbucks the most efficiently.

While the article that _CJ linked to does feel very click-baity and biased, there is an actual study behind it...


Having just spent 11 days in Italy (including time in Rome, Naples, and La Spezia), I saw tons of people using e-bikes for both recreation and utility. Pretty cool, imo...

Heck, I even rented one to accompany my daughter around Rome while she was running (faster than I can anymore) at night. I started on one of those e-scooters, which ran outta battery, I searched for another one and it turned out to be an e-bike. Really fun, actually.

edit: oh yeah, I saw 2 "real" mountain bikers while hoofing it through the cobblestone streets of a small medieval town. And, around Lake Como, I saw tons and tons of roadies, including what appeared to be pro teams out for really fast training rides (30-35 mph pacelining through twisty relatively flat terrain).

Alternative facts

so, people who exercise more get more exercise? What an astounding revalation.

Agree it's too click baity but it seems like a lot of people aren't getting the gist of the article. People tend to use their ebikes more often and for longer periods than they would on a regular bike, thus more exercise.

How is that a bad thing?

You know, after some more thought. If improving e-bike infrastructure benefits cyclists in any way, I say why not? Where I live, you're expected to do everything in cars. When I search up public transportation routes. Google tells me to DRIVE to XXX station instead of, you know, take another bus there or walk there.

Ridiculous.

I can bring my bikes on buses, trains, and the like, but there isn't enough safe roads and parking spaces for bikes for me to ride to those bus/train stations.

One other very good thing is that e-bikes opens up "cycling" to a much wider audience. That means I can go riding with some of my friends that just do not want to hammer away in a bike saddle. I'm just concerned that manufacturers will once again find a way to make e-bikes so overpriced and overcomplicated that they're useless for the masses.

1813254617.th said:

You know, after some more thought. If improving e-bike infrastructure benefits cyclists in any way, I say why not? Where I live, you're expected to do everything in cars. When I search up public transportation routes. Google tells me to DRIVE to XXX station instead of, you know, take another bus there or walk there.

Ridiculous.

I can bring my bikes on buses, trains, and the like, but there isn't enough safe roads and parking spaces for bikes for me to ride to those bus/train stations.

One other very good thing is that e-bikes opens up "cycling" to a much wider audience. That means I can go riding with some of my friends that just do not want to hammer away in a bike saddle. I'm just concerned that manufacturers will once again find a way to make e-bikes so overpriced and overcomplicated that they're useless for the masses.

Click to expand...

Agreed and Seattle is a fairly bike oriented town so I see tons of every day folks riding ebikes around here. There is a company from here that is well known for making utilitarian ebikes that are cheap and well made. I see tons on the road and Mixed user paths here. (Rad Power bikes). It is easy for companies to make an expensive ebike just like car companies can make an expensive car but if you want cheap alternate fueled vehicles bikes are where it is at currently. I wonder if any car manufacturer builds a Rad bikes style car if a lot of folks that might migrate to the ebikes might make the jump to car instead.

I'd get one of these: RadWagon 4
price is insanely good for what you get.

rockcrusher said:

I wonder if any car manufacturer builds a Rad bikes style car if a lot of folks that might migrate to the ebikes might make the jump to car instead.

I'd get one of these: RadWagon 4
price is insanely good for what you get.

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Ohh, if someone made a small electric car that is basically an enclosed recumbent with assist I'd ride the absolute **** out of that!

1813254617.th said:

Ohh, if someone made a small electric car that is basically an enclosed recumbent with assist I'd ride the absolute **** out of that!

Click to expand...

Let me google that for you:

rockcrusher said:

That said this is a pretty clickbaity article, especially coming from electrek and the actual study being of european countries where bike commuting and errand riding is a lot more normal than the US where bikes are still considered toys by a large percentage of the population and bike related infrastructure is a secondary or even tertiary consideration in a lot of municipalities vs ensure that single occupant vehicles can get to and from starbucks the most efficiently.

Click to expand...

This. When every city/town/etc is laid out for cars only and the mass transit is lacking to say the least, getting people to ride (e-bikes/bikes/etc) will always be a struggle. I'm glad some cities are making efforts to change, but it's still not nearly enough.

walkerwalker said:

Let me google that for you:

the CityQ is 4-wheel electric bicycle with car-like functions and comfort

www.designboom.com

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Yup, something like that. I was thinking about the Raht Racer velomobile from a while back, but toned down to be more friendly to cyclists.

A 3-wheeled velomobile is closer to what I had in mind, the CityQ is still too car-like for my tastes. It's probably more practical, though.