What are your thoughts on Ebikes?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

People ride further and more often on an e-bike because it’s easier. I’ve got a fat friend on FB who now loudly brags about his 70 km e-bike “rides” but he burns under 500 calories.

You don’t need an e-bike to put your HR in the 120-135 bpm range - just peddle more.

First of all, there's no way that's true. Most eBikes have on the conservative end a range of 80-100 km with minimal pedal assist. I've got a cargo eBike with dual 500Wh batteries and I can get 180km range on eco pedal assist. I'm around 200lbs and my bike is about 80lbs with the batteries and all my accessories. In order to get a 70km ride in, he's definitely burning more than 500 calories - or his caloric count is not based off of his HR.

Second, what I said about the 120-135 bpm range is not about gettting to that, it's about STAYING in that range. With a regular bike you're easily going to get into anaerobic range and getting back down is going to be much harder, especially if you have any headwind or inclines.

Pre-pandemic I was riding 33km a day on my commute with a low level pedal assist and my HR was on average around 140 bpm. I was in great shape. I could go out fat biking and do huge hill climbs while my buddies were sucking wind.

Now I work from home and my "commute" is biking my kids to school, or the occasional ride to Sidney with friends. eBikes are an enabler. They take away the excuses, especially with wind. It gets you out more often, and makes you choose it as an alternative for transportation, and has the benefit of just getting you moving in a low impact method.

But like I said, eBike riders end up with better overall fitness: https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2881...-levels-study/

[Ryan Coke]

Originally Posted by kermitology

First of all, there's no way that's true. Most eBikes have on the conservative end a range of 80-100 km with minimal pedal assist. I've got a cargo eBike with dual 500Wh batteries and I can get 180km range on eco pedal assist. I'm around 200lbs and my bike is about 80lbs with the batteries and all my accessories. In order to get a 70km ride in, he's definitely burning more than 500 calories - or his caloric count is not based off of his HR.

Second, what I said about the 120-135 bpm range is not about gettting to that, it's about STAYING in that range. With a regular bike you're easily going to get into anaerobic range and getting back down is going to be much harder, especially if you have any headwind or inclines.

Pre-pandemic I was riding 33km a day on my commute with a low level pedal assist and my HR was on average around 140 bpm. I was in great shape. I could go out fat biking and do huge hill climbs while my buddies were sucking wind.

Now I work from home and my "commute" is biking my kids to school, or the occasional ride to Sidney with friends. eBikes are an enabler. They take away the excuses, especially with wind. It gets you out more often, and makes you choose it as an alternative for transportation, and has the benefit of just getting you moving in a low impact method.

But like I said, eBike riders end up with better overall fitness: https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2881...-levels-study/

Well, e-bikes are great for what they are. But coming up with something like “eBike riders end up with better overall fitness” seems on its face as illogical, and the article linked doesn’t support this. So I read the study on which the article is based, and your conclusion is completely inaccurate.

I would say the study has many problems, but in fairness, it didn’t make any claims similar to what your saying. The closest thing it said was that ebikers on average end up with a total weekly METs that exceeded the biking group. But the ebikers still had less METs on ebikes, but when combined with their regular cycling were very similar with regular cyclists. It was only the daily work activity that put that group over the regular cyclists overall weekly MET levels.

Kind of an odd finding, though not too unexpected considering the small sample size of Ebikers in this study, just 365, compared to over 7000 regular cyclists. Also keep in mind that anyone who rode an Ebike at all was categorized as an ebiker. If they rode a standard bike at all (but not an Ebike), they were considered a regular biker, compared to someone who did no biking of any sort.

I won’t go further, feel free to read the study. But it doesn’t say anywhere that ebikers have better overall fitness, which matches what most people would understand about the differences in riding a motorized bike versus a human powered bike.

The overall summary of the study was this; “The health benefits in terms of physical activity of using e-bikes, particularly when replacing car trips, should be factored in when considering subsidizing e-biking.” So replacing car trips with ebikes has health benefits. That’s fair, and an accurate presentation of the study.

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by pseudoreality

This is how I feel when passing the spandex people on my e-bike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKr-...nnel=xtttgydop

You're the jacked up truck of the bike paths

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Well, e-bikes are great for what they are. But coming up with something like “eBike riders end up with better overall fitness” seems on its face as illogical, and the article linked doesn’t support this. So I read the study on which the article is based, and your conclusion is completely inaccurate.

I would say the study has many problems, but in fairness, it didn’t make any claims similar to what your saying. The closest thing it said was that ebikers on average end up with a total weekly METs that exceeded the biking group. But the ebikers still had less METs on ebikes, but when combined with their regular cycling were very similar with regular cyclists. It was only the daily work activity that put that group over the regular cyclists overall weekly MET levels.

Kind of an odd finding, though not too unexpected considering the small sample size of Ebikers in this study, just 365, compared to over 7000 regular cyclists. Also keep in mind that anyone who rode an Ebike at all was categorized as an ebiker. If they rode a standard bike at all (but not an Ebike), they were considered a regular biker, compared to someone who did no biking of any sort.

I won’t go further, feel free to read the study. But it doesn’t say anywhere that ebikers have better overall fitness, which matches what most people would understand about the differences in riding a motorized bike versus a human powered bike.

The overall summary of the study was this; “The health benefits in terms of physical activity of using e-bikes, particularly when replacing car trips, should be factored in when considering subsidizing e-biking.” So replacing car trips with ebikes has health benefits. That’s fair, and an accurate presentation of the study.

I think that finding makes perfect sense and answers one of the big concerns people had brought up in this thread.

If I get an E-bike will it take away from the fitness I currently gain biking. The answer from one small study is no.

Anecdotally you it lines up pretty well with what most people report. Total milage increased and not a significant decrease in effort on recreational riding either by using other bikes or going further on an ebike.

[Redliner]

Tally another one up as "newly converted former e-bike hater". Nothing pissed me off more as I was hating life grunting up the Husky Road (Prairie Mtn - if you've ever climbed this you know how much it sucks) than hearing the whine of an e-bike coming up behind me only to watch them blow by like I was standing still.

Fast forward to last spring when one of my best friends & riding buddies calls me up and tells me to get up to his place, stat. I arrive to find two e-bikes hanging off the back of his vehicle. At first I was disgusted, almost felt betrayed. Then I rode the thing. I honestly couldn't wipe the grin off my face for the first hour. It's a total game changer. While agree that you don't get as much benefit from an e-bike ride compared to a "normal" bike on a 1 to 1 basis, I find that the type of workout you get is different. I still get a decent amount of cardio because you're trying to spin that crank as much as you can to keep the motor going, plus you're going uphill at a much higher rate of speed which means you have to think about line choice and actually ride the bike as opposed to just suffering up the climb while moving at a snail's pace. The additional benefit - which I think is huge - is you get way more ride time. I can take my regular bike out to Moose Mountain or West Bragg after work and do one lap, or I can take an e-bike and do three. I still ride for the same amount of time, (or longer on the e-bike because I'm not completely gassed) but I get way more Km on the bike and have way more fun doing it.

To be clear, the above statement applies to pedal assist e-bikes only. The ones with a throttle are basically dirt bikes and should be treated as such. I still have a quiver of "normal" bikes that get used regularly, but as a busy person with lots of family and work commitments my time is increasingly limited and I find myself reaching for the e-bike more and more often as it's ability to maximize my smiles per hour while riding is unmatched.

[Shazam]

You can always turn off the assist too. That way you have an extra 30 lbs to lug around.

[sa226]

I have a Thule Chariot with skis and wheels to lug my kids around. I take them cross country skiing etc.

What I thought would be fun would be to hook up the chariot to an ebike and hit some winter trails. Fat biking style. Im not sure how long I'd last lugging them around with just my legs doing all the work, so I'd like a little bit of an assist to take them out fir longer and farther.

Is that even feasible around here? Like at West Bragg or even on the spray lake connector between Canmore and Banff?

It's kind of hard to find info on trails like that, I do see that Alberta parks was doing a trial on pedal assist bikes on the trails in tbe parks, but that's about it.

[greyshep]

My wife has had some time on the Quest hub E bike that we bought on the boxing day sale thanks to this thread. So far she is loving it. It allows her to keep up with me as I typically like a faster pace and she doesnt give up when a steep hill comes upon us. It has made our rides much more enjoyable for both of us.

She says her heart rate still averaged around 135-140 on our most recent 20km ride so she thinks she is still getting some exercise benefit. She tries to keep the pedal assist at 1 most of the time. Hills are where she will increase the assistance.

Curious on the feedback on the rest of you who hopped on this deal.

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by greyshep

My wife has had some time on the Quest hub E bike that we bought on the boxing day sale thanks to this thread. So far she is loving it. It allows her to keep up with me as I typically like a faster pace and she doesnt give up when a steep hill comes upon us. It has made our rides much more enjoyable for both of us.

She says her heart rate still averaged around 135-140 on our most recent 20km ride so she thinks she is still getting some exercise benefit. She tries to keep the pedal assist at 1 most of the time. Hills are where she will increase the assistance.

Curious on the feedback on the rest of you who hopped on this deal.

I'm loving mine. 45 minute commutes to the office when the bus is 55 and the car 35 if traffic cooperates. Running my daughter up and down the hill to daycare on the Thule seat I bought for her. Just a great machine so far and the only modification I've made was the pedals - which is nutty for someone who is used to customizing things on his bikes. But the bike just came so well equipped.

Still figuring out the battery's real limits as I haven't run it through the floor yet, but with summer in May now there's lots of time to figure it out.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by greyshep

My wife has had some time on the Quest hub E bike that we bought on the boxing day sale thanks to this thread. So far she is loving it. It allows her to keep up with me as I typically like a faster pace and she doesnt give up when a steep hill comes upon us. It has made our rides much more enjoyable for both of us.

She says her heart rate still averaged around 135-140 on our most recent 20km ride so she thinks she is still getting some exercise benefit. She tries to keep the pedal assist at 1 most of the time. Hills are where she will increase the assistance.

Curious on the feedback on the rest of you who hopped on this deal.

I bought two from the same sale. One for me and my wife each . We both love them.

I take mine out a lot more often. They’re so fun to ride. I wish I bought more. My two older boys are 14 and 12. 14 year old borrows my wife’s and always asks to go on bike rides with me.

[chemgear]

Were those from the London Drugs deals that I saw? They looked neat but I didn't end up getting anything for myself.

Something I sorta regret lol.

[flylock shox]

Those are the ones. I was regretting not getting a second even today. Something the wife could have used or could have given to my brother. In retrospect it feels like they were just giving them away, but I suppose there was no telling the quality of them then.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Were those from the London Drugs deals that I saw? They looked neat but I didn't end up getting anything for myself.

Something I sorta regret lol.

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Those are the ones. I was regretting not getting a second even today. Something the wife could have used or could have given to my brother. In retrospect it feels like they were just giving them away, but I suppose there was no telling the quality of them then.

Hey! I'm back!

A bunch of e-bikes on sale down to $398 ($200 to $900) off. No idea about quality of these but I apologize in advance if I run you over if you ride these without obeying the rules of the road!

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hyper-2.../6000203692918

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hyper-e.../6000200869883

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hyper-u.../6000203692493

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hyper-r.../6000200869822


https://www.walmart.ca/en/browse/spo...er=CAqD7bLWUPI