TLDR because their owners are more likely to use them.
Honestly, as long as people are using something other than their car, I’m happy no matter who wins this pissing contest. LOL
I bought an eFatbike to accompany my hardtail so that I can ride year around but turns out that riding an eBike is much more fun so I’ve barely used my hardtail since. Well last summer I snapped the derailleur hanger on the eBike and had to go back to riding my hardtail for over a week while I was waiting for the spare part to arrive. Few observations I made:
- Holy shit the hardtail is light. Felt like I could bunnyhop more than half a meter of the ground
- Uphills suuuucked. This is by far the biggest benefit of riding an ebike.
- I didn’t get immediately out of breath unlike I expected. Infact I didn’t notice any difference despite not riding the analog bike for a year. Cycling is the only aerobic excercise I do.
I don’t really care about how many minutes or kilometers I’ve traveled. I care more about the amount of exercise. I think I missed that part of the article.
My goal is to gat places. Exercise is a side benefit.
That’s fair but the title of the article is that e-bikes give more exercise, which seems to be misleading.
Misleading or counterintuitive? I would have expected manual bikes to give more exercise, but the explanation – that most people get more exercise overall because they’ll ride more often and go for longer rides – does make sense once you get past the headline.
If “more exercise” means spending more time doing any exercise, yes. The article doesn’t go any further than that.
Do ebikers burn more calories? Do they get better VO2Max? What’s the impact on their general fitness? Do they get stronger?
These are relevant metrics. How much time is spent sitting on a bike seat is not very much.
If you need that level of detail to understand the findings that the article discusses, I’d suggest you read the studies. In spite of some questionable writing, the author does link to them.
It’s just clickbait and a lie, when comparing to the statements in the sources they link.
Both sources are their own news, with both saying it’s less exercise on an e-bike. But by the concept of an e-bike, there is the possibility to ride more/longer/farther, which can lead - depending on the extra range - to more exercise, than a bike without motor.
