Could E-bikes Be Better For You Than Normal Bikes?

It sounds odd that something that reduces your effort can actually increase your activity and therefore improve your fitness, but the truth is e-bikes can indeed do just that. The simple fact is that because it is easier it is more enjoyable and so you are much more likely to ride it and go somewhere. Most of us have bicycles at home and most of us don’t ride them much, or even at all. If you have a bike at home you quite likely know it doesn’t get used as much as it could… Because it’s too hot, too cold, too hard.

If you do go out for a good solid workout on your bike, riding fast, with some hills, then that’s excellent and you are likely to be a pretty fit person. But the truth is you can be a fit person also with more modest but regular exercise and that is what you are more likely to do when you have an e-bike because you don’t have to make such a big effort to get up the hills or ride along at a good 25 or 30mph to keep up with the traffic and you won’t arrive at the shops, school, uni or work all hot, sweaty and exhausted. And the same thing goes for those long tiring journeys home.

With an e-bike,  you put in as little, or as much, effort as you are comfortable with and that effort is boosted by the bike. The more you do, the more the bike helps. The less you do, the less the bike does. You will feel the real boost like a strong tailwind pushing you along and yes it does indeed encourage you to ride faster, go further and push the boundaries of what you (and the bike) are capable of.

Experts agree that modest regular exercise is the biggest and easiest improvement you can make to your health, and all agree that modest exercise is far, far better than none. Going to work, school, uni, or to shops on an e-bike on most days is just that…a gentle bike ride…and you are more likely to ride a bike if it is not too hard to do in theory making you fitter than and more active than what a normal bike can do?

After several years in the e-bike business, I have seen many people who are now getting around on their electric bikes, getting exercise, fresh air and staying fit and they often tell me that they would not be doing that if they had not got an e-bike. I even say that those who need to lose weight can lose weight riding an electric bicycle and do so more easily than trying to starve themselves on a fad diet that probably won’t work. Overweight or just less fit people are openly more encouraged to go for a ride on an e-bike than they ever would on a normal bicycle.

Physiotherapists agree that keeping the joints moving with as much effort as is comfortable will keep the joints going and improve circulation and is far better than staying immobile. If it is one leg that has a problem then the other one can get exercise with an e-bicycle.

So in summary e-bikes might well encourage some people to do more and get more exercise than they ever would on a normal bicycle. In fact, some people would not even start cycling if it wasn’t for owning an e-bike. So the short answer is Yes! E-bikes can be better for you than a normal bike, but it really does depend on who you are and the mindset you are in before trying one.