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> As it turned out, electric bicycle riders ended up slightly edging out pedal bike cyclists in terms of total exercise each week. There was no correction for

> As it turned out, electric bicycle riders ended up slightly edging out pedal bike cyclists in terms of total exercise each week. There was no correction for selection bias so you can’t make any assumptions. For example; it’s likely that e-bike riders are older and have more spare time. How much would a regular cyclist exercise with the same spare time?

edejong 7y ago
Article: "Users who reported any use of non-electric bicycle (including city bike, mountain bike or bike-sharing) but not e-bike were categorized as cyclists, those who did not report any bicycle use, as non-cyclists." Aha! So, we're comparing mountain bikers and bike-sharers with e-bikes (which belong in the category of electrified city bikes). That alone should raise some informed eyebrows.
- FridgeSeal 7y ago
  Kind of tells me they don’t understand how much effort and energy goes into mountain biking either. I can only going mountain biking on weekends, but it’s far from a low effort activity, I’d be willing to bet that I expend more energy and get more exercise than someone who trundles around the city on an e-bike.
edejong 7y ago
Another problematic bias from the article: "Respondents stating that they used an e-bike were categorized as e-bikers, independent of whether they also used a conventional bicycle." So, since belonging to a group of bicycle use (leisure, sports, commute) is additive in the amount of exercise one receives, the e-bike group is automatically larger than the non-e-bike group. How does this pass peer review?
- overkalix 7y ago
  Actually, even though the authors classified as e-bikers those that combine both modes of transportation, the sample they end up with is: - 365 e-bikers (2/3 of them from Antwerp and Zürich, only 20 from Barcelona, only 5 from London, only 18 from Örebro). - 7212 cyclists. - 1758 non-cyclists. There are other things far more eyebrow-raising than the skewed sample. > Categorical travel frequency data was converted into an average number of days per month. > Trip distance was derived by selecting the fastest route returned by the Google Maps API > Distances for multimodal trips were assigned to the main mode using the following hierarchy: public transport, car, e-bike, bicycle, walking > Physical activity from active travel modes was almost the same in e-bikers and cyclists (1735 vs. 1656 MET min/wk., respectively)
FridgeSeal 7y ago
To back up your point, in my city, most of the people riding e-bikes are food delivery people (Uber eats, Deliveroo etc), and I’m not sure it would be representative or correct to include them - most people don’t spend a large chunk of their day riding around in the same way.

edejong 7y ago

Article: "Users who reported any use of non-electric bicycle (including city bike, mountain bike or bike-sharing) but not e-bike were categorized as cyclists, those who did not report any bicycle use, as non-cyclists." Aha! So, we're comparing mountain bikers and bike-sharers with e-bikes (which belong in the category of electrified city bikes). That alone should raise some informed eyebrows.

FridgeSeal 7y ago
Kind of tells me they don’t understand how much effort and energy goes into mountain biking either. I can only going mountain biking on weekends, but it’s far from a low effort activity, I’d be willing to bet that I expend more energy and get more exercise than someone who trundles around the city on an e-bike.

edejong 7y ago

Another problematic bias from the article: "Respondents stating that they used an e-bike were categorized as e-bikers, independent of whether they also used a conventional bicycle." So, since belonging to a group of bicycle use (leisure, sports, commute) is additive in the amount of exercise one receives, the e-bike group is automatically larger than the non-e-bike group. How does this pass peer review?

overkalix 7y ago
Actually, even though the authors classified as e-bikers those that combine both modes of transportation, the sample they end up with is: - 365 e-bikers (2/3 of them from Antwerp and Zürich, only 20 from Barcelona, only 5 from London, only 18 from Örebro). - 7212 cyclists. - 1758 non-cyclists. There are other things far more eyebrow-raising than the skewed sample. > Categorical travel frequency data was converted into an average number of days per month. > Trip distance was derived by selecting the fastest route returned by the Google Maps API > Distances for multimodal trips were assigned to the main mode using the following hierarchy: public transport, car, e-bike, bicycle, walking > Physical activity from active travel modes was almost the same in e-bikers and cyclists (1735 vs. 1656 MET min/wk., respectively)

FridgeSeal 7y ago

To back up your point, in my city, most of the people riding e-bikes are food delivery people (Uber eats, Deliveroo etc), and I’m not sure it would be representative or correct to include them - most people don’t spend a large chunk of their day riding around in the same way.