Actually, ebikes will get you much LESS exercise

[Merc]

The post is inaccurate that you get less exercise from an ebike merely because there is less physical exertion.

What you want to accomplish in terms of health depends on many factors.

For example diet is an important independent factor in one's health. Exercise is another. With exercise you can break it down further. Do you want to build stamina? Do you want to work on strength and muscle development? Do you want to lose weight?

Usually, most people want to lose weight. The most efficient way to lose weight when doing exercise is partaking in cardiovascular exercise such as walking, jogging, or cycling. However, if you want to lose weight fast and efficiently, it is important to maintain your maximum heart rate level at 60 to 70% for at least 30 minutes. Accordingly, taking into account what is your maximum heart rate dependent on your age (as you get older, the bpm lowers as well), you never want to run, jog, or cycle at full strength if you want to lose weight. Walking at a brisk pace, perhaps at a mildly elevated level, barely even getting a sweat, will result in greater and faster weight loss than jogging, running, or cycling. Therefore, ebikes are much better at losing weight than riding a regular bike.

I intend on buying an ebike by the end of the year. I'm 49, 5'8", 148 lbs and totally ripped. I plan on buying an ebike for fun, the environment, and exercise. The exercise aspect only for the light cardio I need since I never want my heart rate to go over 120 bpm. This "less physical effort" will maintain me at less than 12% body fat than riding a normal bike, while never feeling over exhausted or spent.

BTW, that's why @christob has lost 48 lbs. Shout out to @christob he's written a lot about his experience with the Cafe, one of the 2 bikes I'm considering.

 

[AlanDB]

It definitely is an individual thing. For me, I truly believe I have gotten more and better (more effective) exercise on my e-bike this summer than I did on my conventional bike last summer. I am riding more often, on longer and more difficult rides and have gained confidence knowing the assist will be there if and when I need it. Last summer I put about 185 to 200 miles on my conventional bike (no odometer, but I did keep a record of my rides). So far this summer I have ridden my ebike 380 miles and still have a couple of months of riding left before winter. One other thing I notice is that on the e-bike, I keep my cadence up, while on the conventional bike, I tended to prefer the higher gears. So I feel the exercise I get on the e-bike is more aerobic and a healthier type of exercise for an old guy like me. But a lot of it has to do with simple motivation. Let's face it, e-bike riding is just more fun.

 

[currypotter]

Before I got my e-bike, I would ride to work once or twice a week, due to the brutal hills. Now I ride every day and never dread the ride. If I am feeling energetic, the bike stays between ECO and TOUR assist. Having a rough morning or day, TURBO assist is their if need to make the ride enjoyable.

I'm not buying into the less sweat. I'm often a mess when I get to work. I am lucky, my company provides facilities for those wishing to push themselves. Now it is getting cold in the mornings, I really appreciate the hot shower when I get to work!

 

[Johnno]

Past 2 years commuting by car = no exercise, bought an e bike and not used car since for commuting = much more exercise.

 

[MadManMark]

It's not that complicated:

• If you would not have biked before but now do (or would have biked much less), you get more exercise by owning an ebike.
• If you would have biked nearly as much on a regular bike, then you get less exercise.

 

[christob]

I'm not buying into the less sweat. I'm often a mess when I get to work. I am lucky, my company provides facilities for those wishing to push themselves.

I agree -- I sweat buckets on half of my rides (though I've always sweat easily at my head/neck/face.)
I deliberately make the morning ride to work (at least now in summer heat and humidity) a more-boosted ride in order to minimize that; we have a shower here, but I just don't want the hassle of lugging / storing more clothes/duplicate toiletries/wardrobe, etc. I tend to arrive with maybe the tips of my hair at my neck damp, and sweat on my brow. If it was a really gross morning, I might have a few damp spots formed on my t-shirt.
But then going home I drop the boost and pedal much more -- also extending the commute home to about 3x the morning commute's distance. I get home with a soaked-through tshirt, a usually-wet outer shirt, often wet waistband on my shorts, helmet dripping sweat across my glasses, etc.
I've never sweat this much, actually!

 

[chriskmee]

I'm not buying into the less sweat. I'm often a mess when I get to work. I am lucky, my company provides facilities for those wishing to push themselves. Now it is getting cold in the mornings, I really appreciate the hot shower when I get to work!

If you aren't working as hard you should sweat less, right? In the mornings I let the bike do most of the work, and while I do still sweat a little, it's not nearly enough to warrant a shower. When I get to work I change clothes, fix my hair, apply a little extra deodorant, and I get to work. In the afternoons I work up a good sweat and take a shower right after I get home. I definitely sweat more in the afternoons when I use low or no assist than I do in the mornings with more assist.

It may depend on your bike and you, but I know that I sweat a lot less in the mornings with assist than in the afternoon with little or no assist.

 

[larry-new]

Hah! You jest, of course..tell it to my sweaty body after blasting my daily 20miles in 6/7th gear...

Not a commuter...just out to terrorize the locals.

 

[ebikemom]

Love this thread!!

 

[DDBB]

"you get more exercise on an dino bike than you do on an ebike".... .... .... Someone has a flair for the obvious

 

[larry-new]

Ahh, but the fun factor is no comparison...we of ebike persuasion don't have to look out the window...

 

[MetroDuck]

Just when I thought ebikes will get you as much exercise as normal bike (like ebike industry has been talking about), Shimano has been advertising how much easier and takes less physical effort to ride ebikes.

3x less sweat, 63bpm less heart rate, also due to less exercise, the core body temperature will be lowered by 0.9ºC

I know it's good for some people if you don't want to be exercising and sweating, but I kind of find it a bit disappointing..
Still doesn't change the fact that it is much healthier alternative compare to cars though. And for me, much cheaper than driving a car, paying for insurance, gas, maintenance, etc.

https://road.cc/content/news/247777...-less-regular-bike-riders-finds-shimano-study

Here is the problem with studies like that. They ignore the way things work in the real world.

Which bike gets me more exercise?

The Ebike that I ride for over 200 miles a month at an average heart beat of around 110-130 or the traditional road bike that has been hanging on my garage wall for the last 5 years until I found a new home for it last week?

 

[MadManMark]

I've was thinking about this during my ride in today, and would like to elaborate on my previous answer. Because I have the Radcity -- a fairly heavy bike with direct drive and 2.5" tires & maybe not the highest end components, and which I typically ride in PAS 1 outside of hills -- I think I may actually get *more* exercise now on flat and downhill parts of my commute, especially compared to when I ride in on a narrow tire road bike (I've biked this route on different conventional bikes over the years). It really only on the uphill parts of my up-down-up-down route that I lose the "workout" (and on a commute run, good riddance!)

On this route, for me, going from a conventional bike to an ebike is similar to going from interval training (bursts of intense workout with rests in between) to a "cardio" workout (a more steady workout, less heavy exertion but also fewer intervals of complete rest). So, both exercise, but different types. I suspect a similar answer applies to people in other situations -- for example, maybe some people are getting a less intense workout per mile traveled, but they are also going more miles?

 

[Mikey-]

(Forgive the audio)

 

[Deleted member 4210]

I had to decide if your post heading was click bait.


If you really can't figure out how to operate an ebike, then you probably should not be riding one, or spending your valuable time or money on one, particularly if your only goal in life is not to sweat.

But if you want to use your head just a wee bit more, and have your eyes opened ever so slightly, try reading this article at the below link, and comprehend how you can REALLY take advantage of an e-bike.

https://electricbikereport.com/electric-bike-cheating/

If you don't want sweat at all, then ride it like a moped and use throttle only.

But if you want to go further, go faster, use it for pleasure, see more scenery in a shorter period of time, and do some real commuting, there are millions on planet earth doing so on ebikes, and loving every minute of it.

Like everything in life its ALL ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE ! People who buy and ride ebikes have a completely new and refreshed attitude about biking again.

Another dirty little secret the regular bike industry doesn't want to EVER admit, is that more than 90% of ALL bikes sold in the US, never or rarely get used by adults after the first year or two. Anecdotally this is very easy to validate, as one only needs to go through your own neighborhood, see all the bikes hanging in the rafters and see if you can recall the last time you saw ANY of your neighbors riding a bike. I would say that easily less than 3% of our entire city of ~150,000 people rides bikes. Ebike customers report it differently. They ride VERY often, and find it motivating to get on an ebike. Thus they are getting way more exercise that regular bike owners. The few who do ride a regular bike, and religious about it, such as being in bike clubs, or doing group rides, or century rides, they certainly do get more exercise than they would with an ebike. But those are generally not the folks buying ebikes. They LOVE their regular bike, and LOVE their exercise. Its the people who are not riding regularly, or haven't road a bike in 20 or 30 years, that are now getting back into biking precisely because of all the advantages and barriers removed by ebikes.

 

[Hairball]

I challenge myself on my e-bike by keeping the battery bar down to 1 or 2 bars of the 6 battery use bars showing... It is easy in PAS 1 or 2, but after PAS 3 it gets challenging to keep the battery from being the dominant power...
After 15 or so miles of challenging myself, I enjoy using the battery to help me recover for the rest of the ride.

 

[christob]

But if you want to go further, go faster, use it for pleasure, see more scenery in a shorter period of time, and do some real commuting, there are millions on planet earth doing so on ebikes, and loving every minute of it.
...more than 90% of ALL bikes sold in the US, never or rarely get used by adults after the first year or two. Anecdotally this is very easy to validate, as one only needs to go through your own neighborhood, see all the bikes hanging in the rafters and see if you can recall the last time you saw ANY of your neighbors riding a bike. ... Ebike customers report it differently ... Its the people who are not riding regularly, or haven't road a bike in 20 or 30 years, that are now getting back into biking precisely because of all the advantages and barriers removed by ebikes.

Absolutely. I was one of those 90%... excitedly bought a traditional 10-speed back when I was in my early 20's. Maybe a Bianchi? Can't remember... I am positive I never accumulated 100 total miles on it, before it went in the storage locker and I promptly forgot I ever had a bike. (Every ride on it, since I wasn't in training then or even staying consistent -- just some would-be-fun rides -- had stretches of misery: the moderate to big hills I'd have to walk up, or getting my shoes stuck in the spiffy "over-toe straps" and then falling over, with the bike, at a stop on a busy intersection...Yay! Those miseries then lock into the brain: "Bike riding is just a pain." I finally pulled it out years later, tire rotted; sold it at a yard sale to clear room in the storage locker for other things.

Never rode another bike since that one (except a single-day, throttled ebike rental in California, back in '05 or '06?) until buying my ebike this March -- on which I've now accumulated 2,300 miles in 6 months.

 

[larry-new]

Been thirty years away from biking...before that, lived and breathed cycling. Toured, raced. A bit of burnout there.

Then came the ebike, and a help if I needed it, and all kinds of fun to be packing a bit of power...

My new biking is twenty fast ones, just about every day, with the odd extra extended trip. At least till my Brooks saddle gets here.
All solo...only one idiot to deal with that way!?

I started out using the battery sparingly, but lately have been exploring the higher speed available in the top gears with Pas 2/3.
Something darned satisfying about 20+mph into the wind, eh? Not to mention blowing past racers with fenders, rack, and 2.3 " tires...

The transformation of the Rad City into a road machine is slow but steady. The Ergon grips went on today, doubling my hand positions.

 

[elyhim]

I don't understand this test. Are they riding the same speed, the same times? I know riding my EMTB my heart rate is higher and consistent but riding my regular bike FEELS harder. On the EMTB I don't stop, don't slow I just turn cranks. On the road there is literally no difference from a regular bike to the ebike only ebike is moving faster and I stay at the edge of assist. It's tougher to get the heavier bike 4 mph over the assist rate than it is to get the regular road bike up to that speed itself.

 

[ebikemom]

The Ergon grips went on today, doubling my hand positions.

What does it mean to double your hand positions??