Quote:
Originally Posted by gettingby
I see people dressed in bicycle attire like Lance Armstrong would have on riding electric bikes. Some of these things go over 15 mph and the people riding them are slowly pedaling. I don’t see the heath benefits to them, am I missing something?
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I have a Trex electric mountain bike. I also have a non-e mountain bike. My attire: Clip in bike shoes, bike shorts, athletic wicking shirt, no gloves and of course a good helmet. Functionally, I dress like Lance A, but without the logo shirt. Many years ago, I raced Supercross in stadiums and Motocross outdoors. I was a very skilled rider. I learned to dress properly. Dress for the crash, and not the ride.
I can ride my non-e-bike at 15 MPH. If I ride my e-bike at the same level of expending energy, I get to 20 MPH. My usual ride is 1 hour, pushing hard and trying to stay at a constant 20 MPH. I get a very good cardio workout.
I ride in cart lanes and multimodal paths. I fit in nicely with golf carts. I am not a hinderance to them.
The value of the e-bike is that I get an assist for speed, but only to 20. It will not assist past that. It is a Class 1 bike. By definition, they only assist to 20 MPH, and there is no throttle. If I want 21 MPH, I have to pedal much harder than I am capable.
I think e-bikes in general are becoming a problem. There are other classes of bikes that allow throttle-controlled propulsion. I have been passed a few times by these. I am guessing their speeds were 30+. In some cases, they were hardly pedaling. These bikes are essentially an electric motorcycle, providing very little cardio value. In some cases riders were not wearing helmets. Generally speaking, they did not look very skilled at riding.