Riding an electric bike drops heart and cancer risks, finds German study

[Kayakguy]

Yeah.... like skiing. IDK about the that, using gravity to go downhill thing, kinda contradicts the idea of exercise... but what do I know

But cross country skiing is an antidote to that gravity thing.

 

[harryS]

I've been sharing my ride time between a regular bike and my ebikes the last 12 weeks. Put on close to 1000 miles and 45% is unpowered. My average ride unpowered is under an hour, averaging 9.3 miles. I've not really gotten any stronger in that time but probably am in a little better bike condition.
.
I put 440 miles on the GT hybrid and 240 miles on the electrified Raleigh 10 speed this summer. The Raleigh seems to roll better. with its narrower tires. and it's probably not even 10 lbs heavier. Being a torque sensing TSDZ2 middrive, riding in PAS level 1 only uses on the order of 60W. I use half the watt-hours to cover the same miles as my other ebikes. It means I make up the difference.

I doubt that the GT hybrid even has 800 miles in the seven years I owned it, but I just noticed the rear tire (something called a Kenda Happy Time) is bald and flat. Getting Schwalbe Marathons. I hope they roll better.

 

[pmcdonald]

Some interesting nuggets in that study and loads of juicy demographics (num num num). The difference in % max HR between bikes and ebikes was surprisingly small. However, no great revelation in the conclusion that:

"we observed that e-bike use is associated with a lower probability of reaching WHO targets for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity than bicycle use."

Impact of electrically assisted bicycles on physical activity and traffic accident risk: a prospective observational study

Background Electrically assisted bicycles (e-bikes) have become increasingly popular and may facilitate active commuting and recreational cycling.Objective To evaluate the physical activity levels and usage characteristics of e-bikers and conventional cyclists under real-world conditions.Methods...

bmjopensem.bmj.com

Shocking. All I know is it's possible to get a damn good workout pinging off our bloody 25 km/h limit every ride

For many of us, it's not bike or ebike: it's ebike or car. I wouldn't ride my commute without a motor: too far, too hilly and too sweat-inducing 9 months of the year. Plus I'm not that into lycra and communal showers at work. In that light, ebiking only represents upsides.

I have a colleague who throttles all the way to work. I think it's fantastic: #onelesscar. Watching him throttle by only tells a fraction of the story - he then does an hour of intensive gym work at lunch most days, so he's way fitter then the rest of us. There's plenty of ways to get your endorphin fix. As the Good Book says, something something.. eye, splinter.. something something.. judgement bad, m'kay.

 

[Nvreloader]

All I know is,
without using any power, I am at 6.4 mph to 7.0 mph, (GPS)
with power (E-1 only), I am at 7.1 to 7.5 mph,
and I am moving over 300 #'s total weight around, for 40+ miles,
I am tired.
On the flat valley rides, most always in E-0, when I start getting into the hills,
it's E-1 settings.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I have great respect for anyone who trains. Hope the OP's article helps them reach their goals. Ebikes may or may not be their best bet, but make no mistake — there are valuable gains in well-being to be had nonetheless.

Like @m@ttRobertson, I've recently come off a medical adventure that ended up replacing a lot of muscle with even more fat in all the wrong places. Eleven months of ebiking later, that situation's been more than reversed: I'm now in my best physical shape in 25 years. Also much happier in general. No heart-rate monitor involved.

Quite sure that reversal wouldn't have happened without the e-part of ebike. For me, the key thing about a torque-sensing or more sophisticated ebike is the ability to dial in the right amount of exertion every step of the way — not just along a given ride, but also as I evolve as a returning rider.

I truly enjoy exertion and work up a sweat on every ride. But I enjoy exertion only to a point. The motor's ability to keep me on the right side of that point keeps me coming back for more. Which bodes well for future exercise — especially as I age beyond these 75 years.

 

[K PierreR]

Shocking. All I know is it's possible to get a damn good workout pinging off our bloody 25 km/h limit every ride

For many of us, it's not bike or ebike: it's ebike or car. I wouldn't ride my commute without a motor: too far, too hilly and too sweat-inducing 9 months of the year. Plus I'm not that into lycra and communal showers at work. In that light, ebiking only represents upsides.

I have a colleague who throttles all the way to work. I think it's fantastic: #onelesscar. Watching him throttle by only tells a fraction of the story - he then does an hour of intensive gym work at lunch most days, so he's way fitter then the rest of us. There's plenty of ways to get your endorphin fix. As the Good Book says, something something.. eye, splinter.. something something.. judgement bad, m'kay.

Watch it! You are right on the verge of saying that people have a responsibility for their own exercise instead of a nanny state determining that bicycles are for your exercise and should not have motors. It's blasphemy to think that bicycles are for basic transportation and can rightfully be throttled or ghost pedaled.

 

[Rexlion]

"Riding an electric bike drops heart and cancer risks..."​

Although I wholeheartedly agree that riding is good for our health in a general sense, I would caution that correlation does not prove causation. I doubt that the study tracked the many other factors which could affect the study's results: differences in diet, emotional outlook, presence or lack of stress-inducing circumstances, presence or lack of other exercise, etc. In particular, I am skeptical of the claim of ebike riding "very specifically dropping the risk of developing cancer by 30%."

 

[m@Robertson]

Like @m@ttRobertson, I've recently come off a medical adventure that ended up replacing a lot of muscle with even more fat in all the wrong places. Eleven months of ebiking later, that situation's been more than reversed: I'm now in my best physical shape in 25 years. Also much happier in general. No heart-rate monitor involved.

My last post in this thread in May of 2023 noted I was not losing weight but instead dropping waist sizes, and effectively replacing fat with muscle.

Since then I have lost 30 lbs. Was 265 and now 235, so I'm not exactly as I was when I was riding at a semi-pro level in my early 20's (135 lbs and 6'0" ... until I met and married a girl whose family ran a catering business).

Still ticking the weight down. The change has been spurred by a difference in what and how I eat, but if I don't ride, all I do is maintain the lower weight level. If I want to keep losing, I have to ride daily.

On my bike that has a throttle and two motors.

 

[Captain Slow]

I'd freely agree that riding an e-bike for exercise is better than no exercise at all.

But I'd also add the caveat that riding an acoustic bike for half an hour probably gives you more effective exercise than riding an e-bike for an hour or ninety minutes over the same terrain.

On heart rates and heart rate zones, absent some fairly extensive testing you are out to sea and have a hard time knowing what effective exercise actually means for your own body. In the literature and online "heart rate zones" are all defined in contradictory ways. On top of all that on a bicycle staying in one heart rate zone over varied terrain is pretty challenging at best and often impossible, and my own experience is that usually you are stuck either in too low a heart rate for effective conditioning or too damned high a heart rate. On top of that everybody is different.

Now if you hypothetically had an e-bike that also communicated with your heart rate monitor, and it adjusted your pedal assistance on the fly (possibly including negative assist) you might have something interesting. If you could also program the bike to provide interval training (e.g. 30 seconds at 80%HR, 30 seconds at 60%HR, repeat) then you'd have something really interesting.

I think it depends upon the individual. I agree with the comments regarding HR, and how much motor power one needs to allow them to ride for say an hour is dependent upon many factors.

I no longer own an ebike and I've done long rides of 100 km's plus on my conventional bike and some days I'm exhausted and it results in me not riding the next day. I suspect there's probably some level of motor assistance that would allow me to do that ride and while still tired, fresh enough that I can ride again the next day. That might have better health benefits.

If someone did a study, I would love to volunteer to participate.

 

[Kayakguy]

I no longer ride an ebike, but I still recommend ebikes to my friends. It's amazing how many conclude that there's no exercise benefits because there is a motor. I think I've swayed about a dozen people, but I still can't convince my wife to get an ebike. I'd love her to get one as we could ride together more often if she did.

Yeah, same here, as I've posted elsewhere in this forum. She has been riding her acoustic (Electra Townie) more, and says she is getting stronger, but I still can easily pass her on hills. I've backed off, not wanting to seem a nag; suggest you consider doing that too.