Bike Vs. Ebike exercise value

As someone who would have cycled a lot 20yrs ago and would have been lost with out the use of a bike, ebikes have their uses and I can only hope as prices continue to fall as already mentioned in various posts it will open the minds of people. E-bikes are and will most likely always be in a separate category when compared to the purist of cycling and rightly so as this type of cycling is all about you & the bike. I truly believe if more people embraced the idea of using e-bikes around cities and not getting in the car for all their journeys there would be a lot less angry people. Some people cannot be helped but that's part of life, its a numbers game.

We live in a world that is faster paced and more connected than 30/40yrs ago and this has brought its own issues like people feeling more on edge and complaining of being stressed. I don't know the figures but I am sure GP's have seen huge increases in these areas. My kids often ask what was it like with no internet and reply great. I say to them I would love the tech we have today but the simpler pace of when I was in my 20's

I was given the below Trek bike today on demo loan and like a lot of e-bike first timers amazed at the fun it puts back into cycling. If you liked/like cycling I don't believe e-biking will be a fad and after a couple of weeks it will be gathering dust. I feel it will be the opposite and give you the incentive to get out more.

There must be some bean counter out there working for the Gov who could explain to them if the took the pain now and invested in more dedicated cycle routes and took a fast track approach (not like the BB roll out) it would save them 10's of millions each year on the health budget. Not just from peoples general fitness but there over all well being.

https://www.trekbikes.com/ie/en_IE/bikes/hybrid-bikes/electric-hybrid-bikes/conduit/conduit/p/17044/?colorCode=black

Yeah, e-bikes have extraordinary potential really.

I mean so many journeys are under 3km anyway:
https://irishcycle.com/2013/10/10/over-50-of-trips-a-day-in-ireland-are-less-than-3km/

Or under 8km:
https://irishcycle.com/2015/10/23/forget-electric-cars-or-public-transport-19th-century-technology-best-bet-to-reduce-transport-emissions-in-ireland/

But basically the vast majority of journeys are a single person going on a modest journey with a modest load. If they don't want to get into any kind of sweat, e-bikes are perfect for the vast majority of journeys, and the user as a bonus gets some valuable light exercise, apparently without even realising it.

I don't know; I break a bit of a sweat cycling for an hour, even at about 20km/h on a normal bike. And that journey would be easier and a bit shorter with a pedelec, I assume. Do that three or so times a day and it's a pretty big difference. (I see your point about 8km though.)

Pedelecs do seem to be selling briskly in quite a few places in Europe, and pretty well in Ireland. They seem to be mostly allowing older cyclists to continue and also consuming what was previously the step-through motorbike market.

I remember (perhaps incorrectly) Ian Walker tweeting about a 20km walk for pleasure he'd undertaken, and somebody had suggested to him it had been a waste, as he could have done it as a charity walk. People I know seem to feel an hour's walk pretty much falls into that category too.

I guess my take is that most people won't walk more than a few km to work (there are exceptions obviously), and some people will cycle that instead, because they know it's easier, but a surprising number of people seem to think cycling is harder than walking or running. I'm not sure why they think it would exist as a transport option were this true, but it does seem to be a thing. E.g.
https://twitter.com/bikesnobnyc/status/1059477165266345984

Maybe pedelecs won't turn the dial that much (they are more expensive and more attractive to thieves after all), but journeys that are faster and easier than unassisted cycling while still requiring no paperwork and allowing easy parking must have quite a lot of potential to win people over.

Lumen wrote: »

By harnessing subjective motivations you can convince people to do anything.

What else explains triathlon?

l-)

cletus wrote: »

So, I'm neither a triathlete, nor a cyclist(at least in the competitive sense). Could somebody explain the issues one group have with the other?

Apart from the ridiculousness of a sport which includes competitive costume changes, most triathletes really aren't that interested in bicycle racing, except as a means to add to their journey of tedious aspirational self-improvement.

Whereas competitive cycling is a pursuit where the participants have come to terms with the futility of it all (a futility grounded in the fact that as a competitive cyclist you're either losing or cheating) and decided to do it anyway, because it's exciting and beautiful and full of surprises.

cletus wrote: »

So, I'm neither a triathlete, nor a cyclist(at least in the competitive sense). Could somebody explain the issues one group have with the other?

Same here, cyclist but not competitive.

I'm pretty relaxed about "The rules" cyclist have around dress code but there had to be some line in the sand.

That and I'd rather be reasonable at one sport that sh1te at three while looking ridiculous

I've actually been avoiding driving through east cork for last month such are the number of lads in sporty wife beaters riding horrible bikes