5 ms·

I never understand those articles. I have been doing everything with a normal bike my whole life, including shopping and bringing the kids to school and kinderg

I never understand those articles. I have been doing everything with a normal bike my whole life, including shopping and bringing the kids to school and kindergarden, and I see no reason to let my body atrophy by pointlessly buying an expensive bike with a motor. Then I probably need to spend even more money and time on a bike machine in a fitness studio and more money on doctors after suffering from weight related illnesses. Those articles always assume that car is the god given default state. It's great for the elderly and for my colleague who is suffering from long covid but everyone else I know is doing perfectly fine with a bike without motor including my grandpa until he got around 85 years old.

dharmab 3y ago
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821930017X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821... > Physical activity gains from active travel are similar in e-bikers and cyclists. In my personal life I exert myself equally on both my pedal bike and ebike- but on the ebike I take longer trips or carry more stuff, like groceries.
cozzyd 3y ago
One reason I usually take the train to work over biking, even when it's nice out, is that the train gets me to work a bit faster, and I'm not going to be sweaty if it's hot out. An e-bike would for the same level of effort, get me to work a lot faster, I imagine, so I'm considering getting one.
lm28469 3y ago
Don't forget the base line is fat people who walk under 5000 steps a day (average westerner)
DoingIsLearning 3y ago
I have never riden an e-bike and like you I add an additional 55kg to my bicycle with two kids school round, having said that you are being pedantic in your idea of 'proper' cycling. Here are a few examples where e-bikes make a lot of sense: - Terrain, try a cycling commute in San Francisco US or Granada Spain. E-bikes bring the Netherlands to everywhere else that is not pancake flat. - Range increase, a lot of people will not leap into a cycling commute because it may not be a reasonable cycling distance for an everyday commute. E-bikes extend what is reasonable. - Sweat free commute, cyclist love their gear but most people can't be assed to put on spandex to get to work. An e-bike means that you can be wearing office clothes because you are not going to be breaking a sweat.
- Tijdreiziger 3y ago
  I have never ever heard of someone cycling to work in spandex (as a Dutch person). Spandex and fancy bikes are the territory of wielrenners (lit. ‘wheel-runners’), the rest of us use simple city bikes, and you’re not really going to break a sweat on those.
  - dharmab 3y ago
    American cycling culture is very different from Dutch cycling culture. To the point where me and many of my friends do not consider ourselves cyclists, despite: - Owning bicycles - Using bicycles for recreation and practical uses - Repairing our own bicycles Because we do not wear spandex or own racing/mountain bikes. See Casually Explained's video about this: https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k
    - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
      It’s unfortunate that English only has the one word meaning ‘cyclist’. It sounds like over here you would be an average fietser (as opposed to a wielrenner).
  - aidenn0 3y ago
    End up sharing a lane with a car that wants to go 48kph and you'll break a sweat on a city bike really fast.
    - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
      Problem exists in road design, not in bicycle.
      - aidenn0 3y ago
        I can change my bicycle, I can't change the road design
        3y ago
blakesterz 3y ago
For me it's the only thing I'm able to ride. I have arthritis and having a bike with a motor lets me ride more than 10 minutes. I would imagine for many older folks it means the same.
DuctTapeAI 3y ago
A year ago I would have agreed with you, but these days I love my electric mountain bike for a number of reasons. Biggest reason is it let's me choose how much effort to put in. On easy days I can do the same loop as harder days and just use a little more battery. If I'm running errands in the heat I don't have to be sweaty. It was also really useful when a friend crashed in the woods, enabling them to ride several miles back to the car (albeit slowly) without pedalling/walking.

dharmab 3y ago

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821930017X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821... > Physical activity gains from active travel are similar in e-bikers and cyclists. In my personal life I exert myself equally on both my pedal bike and ebike- but on the ebike I take longer trips or carry more stuff, like groceries.

cozzyd 3y ago

One reason I usually take the train to work over biking, even when it's nice out, is that the train gets me to work a bit faster, and I'm not going to be sweaty if it's hot out. An e-bike would for the same level of effort, get me to work a lot faster, I imagine, so I'm considering getting one.

lm28469 3y ago

Don't forget the base line is fat people who walk under 5000 steps a day (average westerner)

DoingIsLearning 3y ago

I have never riden an e-bike and like you I add an additional 55kg to my bicycle with two kids school round, having said that you are being pedantic in your idea of 'proper' cycling. Here are a few examples where e-bikes make a lot of sense: - Terrain, try a cycling commute in San Francisco US or Granada Spain. E-bikes bring the Netherlands to everywhere else that is not pancake flat. - Range increase, a lot of people will not leap into a cycling commute because it may not be a reasonable cycling distance for an everyday commute. E-bikes extend what is reasonable. - Sweat free commute, cyclist love their gear but most people can't be assed to put on spandex to get to work. An e-bike means that you can be wearing office clothes because you are not going to be breaking a sweat.

Tijdreiziger 3y ago
I have never ever heard of someone cycling to work in spandex (as a Dutch person). Spandex and fancy bikes are the territory of wielrenners (lit. ‘wheel-runners’), the rest of us use simple city bikes, and you’re not really going to break a sweat on those.
- dharmab 3y ago
  American cycling culture is very different from Dutch cycling culture. To the point where me and many of my friends do not consider ourselves cyclists, despite: - Owning bicycles - Using bicycles for recreation and practical uses - Repairing our own bicycles Because we do not wear spandex or own racing/mountain bikes. See Casually Explained's video about this: https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k https://youtu.be/5EE8m8mmq1k
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    It’s unfortunate that English only has the one word meaning ‘cyclist’. It sounds like over here you would be an average fietser (as opposed to a wielrenner).
- aidenn0 3y ago
  End up sharing a lane with a car that wants to go 48kph and you'll break a sweat on a city bike really fast.
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    Problem exists in road design, not in bicycle.
    - aidenn0 3y ago
      I can change my bicycle, I can't change the road design
      - 3y ago

blakesterz 3y ago

For me it's the only thing I'm able to ride. I have arthritis and having a bike with a motor lets me ride more than 10 minutes. I would imagine for many older folks it means the same.

DuctTapeAI 3y ago

A year ago I would have agreed with you, but these days I love my electric mountain bike for a number of reasons. Biggest reason is it let's me choose how much effort to put in. On easy days I can do the same loop as harder days and just use a little more battery. If I'm running errands in the heat I don't have to be sweaty. It was also really useful when a friend crashed in the woods, enabling them to ride several miles back to the car (albeit slowly) without pedalling/walking.