Are electric bikes better than bikes?

[snipechief]

So true......I had a guy tell me that my ebike didn't provide any exercise......I told him he was full of crap.....since getting my ebike.....my replaced knee as well as the good one are going up and down thousands of time each day I ride......they are getting more exercise than they have had in years.....they feel better and...like you say.....the mental part of riding is great.......next time I see that guy....think I will kick him with my unexercised replaced knee! LOL!

There ya go ;-)>

 

[SDGuitarMan]

So true......I had a guy tell me that my ebike didn't provide any exercise......I told him he was full of crap.....since getting my ebike.....my replaced knee as well as the good one are going up and down thousands of time each day I ride......they are getting more exercise than they have had in years.....they feel better and...like you say.....the mental part of riding is great.......next time I see that guy....think I will kick him with my unexercised replaced knee! LOL!

For the people who claim ebikes don't/can't provide any exercise, give them a simple challenge. Take them to even a small uphill, turn off the battery, tell them to hop on and take a ride up the hill. Pedaling a 60+ pound bike up a hill is much more exercise than pedaling a 20 pound road bike up the same hill.

 

[JerryB]

For the people who claim ebikes don't/can't provide any exercise, give them a simple challenge. Take them to even a small uphill, turn off the battery, tell them to hop on and take a ride up the hill. Pedaling a 60+ pound bike up a hill is much more exercise than pedaling a 20 pound road bike up the same hill.

I'd rather just kick the guy!

 

[Train Dan]

Always loved a bike, and have owned a number of them over the years. Five years ago, had a crash on a bike trail, and hadn't been near a bike since.
Buddy got an E-bike, and convinced me to try one. It has been great; we have lots of rail trails in our area. My suburb isn't especially bike friendly, so it needs a Jeep ride to a trail, but the trails are great.
Mine is Class I, so no pedal, no go. I tend to keep the boost relatively low.
The same friend who encouraged me to get a bike made an insightful observation; the biggest issue with E-bikes is introducing electronics to a mechanical device. The relative simplicity of a regular bike is a lot of its charm.
Dan

 

[FastEddieB]

I can assure you that since I have gotten my ebike, I have had extended periods of time where my heart rate was aerobic and even anaerobic.

Not to be pedantic, but even at rest you are metabolically “aerobic”. I remember this from when I trained to be a personal trainer.

Most cycling will have you in your “aerobic” zone. Extreme effort causes a shift to anaerobic metabolism , but you can’t stay in that range for long. Interval training has you going back and forth, but for general conditioning staying somewhere in your aerobic zone is just fine.

For those interested, there’s something called the Karvonen formula for calculating heart rate as percentage of maximum. There are sites where you just plug in the numbers (resting heart rate and maximum attainable heart rate) to get results. Studies have shown that staying around 60% to 70% or so of your max heart rate range is more conducive to long term compliance to an exercise program, in that training much above that can be uncomfortable and discouraging for many.

 

[procreator]

Thanks for the clarification.

I was just reporting the info that my $29 fitness watch and free app were showing.

They couldn't possibly be wrong!

 

[JerryB]

I can only tell you my experience at getting back on a bike at 75 years old some time ago. I live in a hilly area of SW Washington State and even through I have perfectly good Trek Hybrid bike I knew there was no way I would be able to climb those hills.

So I started to investigate e bikes learning as much as I could to find all features that I wanted/needed. I am so glad I took the time to do that because I see many people here on the forum that didn't do their homework and have come to regret it one way or the other.

SW Washington......hills......me too! Love it!

 

[th 'fern]

There is no one answer to the question (posed by the passive/active spammer).

Recently bought a road ebike. 248w.

For me - a road cyclist of 35+ years - the climb home at the end of every ride became burdensome. Burdensome because of age (72), and recovery from cancer. I do not expect to get much stronger in the coming years. The rides on my regular bikes are limited in distance (to some extent) to save energy for the climb home. With the Orbea Gain, rear hub, Class1 - I can knock off 30-50miles regularly, in less time and with less lasting muscular fatigue. Bike is about 30lb and with motor off rides like a typical road bike, tho heavy at rear hub. Descends like a champion with low center of gravity.

I have a carbon bike and several with integrated brake/shifter levers. But never a bike with discs, or Shimano, or electric shifting, or a motor, or batteries.
Old dogs can learn easy new tricks, bet on it.

But I do confess, it lacks the feel and nimbleness of fine lugged Italian steel. With skinny (22-25mm) tires.

 

[Otto]

I am not a sports doctor, but I was a serious MTB biker and
road cycling years ago and I can say you really got to work
it hard to get a meaningful aerobic benefit from cycling,
thats just the physics of cycling and most recreational
cyclist don‘t ride their bikes in that manner not even close.
You will get much better beneficial aerobic exercise from a
moderate brisk walk for one hour a few times a week,
from Riding an e bike very little benefit if any, I myself
will make sure I get my walks and hiking in to take care
of that.

 

[JerryB]

My repaired legs are much stronger since getting my ebike.....my righ arm is as well from lifting a beer can to my mouth after enjoying a nice ride.

 

[Otto]

Yes casual biking will still benefit knee strengthening and also
overall improved leg muscles conditioning , my above post
was really related to aerobic benefits, there been some debate
among doctors about the pro and con with ebikes and one of
them is the low aerobic benefit if any?? So folks who think they
are getting that and then forgo regular walking maybe not so
good??
this is not walking around your house or across the parking lot
to walmart , but get out and walk for an good hour on some
trail or path a few times a week

 

[Django]

There is no one answer to the question (posed by the passive/active spammer).

Recently bought a road ebike. 248w.

For me - a road cyclist of 35+ years - the climb home at the end of every ride became burdensome. Burdensome because of age (72), and recovery from cancer. I do not expect to get much stronger in the coming years. The rides on my regular bikes are limited in distance (to some extent) to save energy for the climb home. With the Orbea Gain, rear hub, Class1 - I can knock off 30-50miles regularly, in less time and with less lasting muscular fatigue. Bike is about 30lb and with motor off rides like a typical road bike, tho heavy at rear hub. Descends like a champion with low center of gravity.
View attachment 6214
I have a carbon bike and several with integrated brake/shifter levers. But never a bike with discs, or Shimano, or electric shifting, or a motor, or batteries.
Old dogs can learn easy new tricks, bet on it.

But I do confess, it lacks the feel and nimbleness of fine lugged Italian steel. With skinny (22-25mm) tires.
View attachment 6216

Nice pack. I agree, there’s nothing like a lugged steel frame with Italian style. The new, higher end Carbon frames ride and perform great, but they lack the charisma of the lugged Steel. The hydro formed Aluminum can be excellent as well. Steel has it’s drawbacks, but it’s a small price to pay for beauty.

 

[th 'fern]

An ebike ride can be aerobic. Depends upon how you ride it.

When the motor shuts off at 20mph and I pedal a 30lb ebike at 22-23mph = aerobic.
If I pedal my standard bike at 6 mph around the park path = non-aerobic.
Trust me.

Old dogs can learn easy new tricks, bet on it.

 

[punxatawneyjoe]

The e-bike alows those who couldn't normally pedal a bike for any distances to go many places and ride on many beautiful trails. Get out and enjoy fresh air while getting exercise at the level that is comfortable to them. My wife is a cancer survivor and now has one lung. I bought her an e-bike and she has put over 600 miles on it in only a few months. She sometimes shuts the assist off and pedals it to challenge herself. In this case the fat tire bike is even harder than a regular bike to pedal so she is getting great exercise. I think both bikes serve their purpose but am glad there is an e-bike option for some.

 

[SDGuitarMan]

I am not a sports doctor, but I was a serious MTB biker and
road cycling years ago and I can say you really got to work
it hard to get a meaningful aerobic benefit from cycling,
thats just the physics of cycling and most recreational
cyclist don‘t ride their bikes in that manner not even close.
You will get much better beneficial aerobic exercise from a
moderate brisk walk for one hour a few times a week,
from Riding an e bike very little benefit if any, I myself
will make sure I get my walks and hiking in to take care
of that.

An ebike ridden often even with pedal assist will give you a much better workout than a regular bike that is never ridden, so there's that.....

The problem comes when you ride it with throttle only.

 

[procreator]

You will get much better beneficial aerobic exercise from a
moderate brisk walk for one hour a few times a week,
from Riding an e bike very little benefit if any

I agree that there are more effective aerobic exercises that e-biking. If a person already has a walking or exercising routine, then I whole-heartedly agree that there would be minimal benefit from e-biking. But if one were starting from a position of doing little or no aerobic activity, then e-biking - with the end goal of pushing oneself physically - has much benefit. At least, that is what I am discovering. Even over the past couple of weeks, hills that I would use the highest PAS level to climb I now use much less assist and more leg oomph.

 

[JerryB]

Yes casual biking will still benefit knee strengthening and also
overall improved leg muscles conditioning , my above post
was really related to aerobic benefits, there been some debate
among doctors about the pro and con with ebikes and one of
them is the low aerobic benefit if any?? So folks who think they
are getting that and then forgo regular walking maybe not so
good??maybe.......
this is not walking around your house or across the parking lot
to walmart , but get out and walk for an good hour on some
trail or path a few times a week

I hear ya.....some good advice. I would also add......pedal your ebike in a low PA......I rarely get out of PA1.....I pedal for the exercise for my legs and get a little aerobics at the same time.......I also get aerobics by walking and maintaining our 5 acres......yesterday dropped two 60 ft. trees......now that there is aerobics,

 

[dukeloo]

Better? I think it depends on your personal needs. For me I am a commuter, so an ebike works for giving me consistent times. I do wish that ebike components were more robust like say a moped components. I started out pleasure riding in my neighborhood and got riding a beach cruiser to work, 12 miles one way. One way, One day, then every other day, then every day over three months. My goal was to beat public transportation. Once I accomplished my goal I got an ebike for time consistency.

I noticed that I lost 50 lbs too. I am a Type 2 Diabetic and my blood sugars have decreased by 80%. I don't own a car and rode motorscooters (Yamaha XMAX, Majesty...etc) in Denver and now Albuquerque. So I grew up with riding a moped when I was a teenager and also working at a moped shop in HI. Now as a ebike commuter I like the upright seating position (Beach Cruiser), I also found what works well for maintenance are belt driven internal hub geared bikes. I'm currently testing out hydraulic brakes. I come back to component robustness. The most expensive component on your ebike is the battery.

I would think Yamaha has the overall solution since they've build building ebikes since the 1980s, but they don't have the style of bicycle that I like. I have owned a Raleigh Retroglide, Blix Aveny, and now a Priority Current. I have been commuting for three years now. I am learning how different bicycle styles work. My commute now is 6 miles one way and I also own a Priority Coast Cruiser bike non-ebike. My dream ebikes are Aventon Level 2, Evelo Omega, and Dost Drop CVT. Enjoy! The technology gets better every couple to three years.

 

[Vaf513]

Last guy who told me riding my ebike was cheating I said "so is your wife"!!

 

[procreator]

Dukeloo wrote:

I have owned a Raleigh Retroglide, Blix Aveny, and now a Priority Current...My dream ebikes are Aventon Level 2, Evelo Omega, and Dost Drop CVT

I'm interested in what you found to be the differences between the e-bikes you have owned, and also why the dream e-bikes are listed.

Thanks!