E-Bikes Can Provide a Good Workout (nytimes.com) 120
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Does riding an electric bike to work count as exercise, and not just a mode of transportation? It can, if you ride right, according to a pragmatic new study comparing the physiological effects of e-bikes and standard road bicycles during a simulated commute. The study, which involved riders new to e-cycling, found that most could complete their commutes faster and with less effort on e-bikes than standard bicycles, while elevating their breathing and heart rates enough to get a meaningful workout. But the benefits varied and depended, to some extent, on how people's bikes were adjusted and how they adjusted to the bikes. The findings have particular relevance at the moment, as pandemic restrictions loosen and offices reopen, and many of us consider options other than packed trains to move ourselves from our homes to elsewhere.
So, for the new study, which was published in March in the Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, decided to ask inexperienced cyclists to faux commute. To do so, they recruited 30 local men and women, aged 19 to 61, and invited them to the physiology lab to check their fitness levels, along with their current attitudes about e-bikes and commuting. Then, they equipped each volunteer with a standard road bike and an e-bike and asked them to commute on each bike at their preferred pace for three miles, a distance the scientists considered typical for bike commutes in America. The cyclists pedaled around a flat loop course, once on the road bikes and twice with the e-bike. On one of these rides, their bike was set to a low level of pedal assistance, and on the other, the oomph was upped until the motor sent more than 200 watts of power to the pedals. Throughout, the commuters wore timers, heart rate monitors and facial masks to measure their oxygen consumption.
Afterward, to no one's surprise, the scientists found that the motorized bikes were zippy. On e-bikes, at either assistance level, riders covered the three miles several minutes faster than on the standard bike -- about 11 or 12 minutes on an e-bike, on average, compared to about 14 minutes on a regular bike. They also reported that riding the e-bike felt easier. Even so, their heart rates and respiration generally rose enough for those commutes to qualify as moderate exercise, based on standard physiological benchmarks, the scientists decided, and should, over time, contribute to health and fitness. But the cyclists' results were not all uniform or constructive. A few riders' efforts, especially when they used the higher assistance setting on the e-bikes, were too physiologically mild to count as moderate exercise. Almost everyone also burned about 30 percent fewer calories while e-biking than road riding -- 344 to 422 calories, on average, on an e-bike, versus 505 calories on a regular bike -- which may be a consideration if someone is hoping to use bike commuting to help drop weight.
So, for the new study, which was published in March in the Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, decided to ask inexperienced cyclists to faux commute. To do so, they recruited 30 local men and women, aged 19 to 61, and invited them to the physiology lab to check their fitness levels, along with their current attitudes about e-bikes and commuting. Then, they equipped each volunteer with a standard road bike and an e-bike and asked them to commute on each bike at their preferred pace for three miles, a distance the scientists considered typical for bike commutes in America. The cyclists pedaled around a flat loop course, once on the road bikes and twice with the e-bike. On one of these rides, their bike was set to a low level of pedal assistance, and on the other, the oomph was upped until the motor sent more than 200 watts of power to the pedals. Throughout, the commuters wore timers, heart rate monitors and facial masks to measure their oxygen consumption.
Afterward, to no one's surprise, the scientists found that the motorized bikes were zippy. On e-bikes, at either assistance level, riders covered the three miles several minutes faster than on the standard bike -- about 11 or 12 minutes on an e-bike, on average, compared to about 14 minutes on a regular bike. They also reported that riding the e-bike felt easier. Even so, their heart rates and respiration generally rose enough for those commutes to qualify as moderate exercise, based on standard physiological benchmarks, the scientists decided, and should, over time, contribute to health and fitness. But the cyclists' results were not all uniform or constructive. A few riders' efforts, especially when they used the higher assistance setting on the e-bikes, were too physiologically mild to count as moderate exercise. Almost everyone also burned about 30 percent fewer calories while e-biking than road riding -- 344 to 422 calories, on average, on an e-bike, versus 505 calories on a regular bike -- which may be a consideration if someone is hoping to use bike commuting to help drop weight.
Well duh (Score:5, Insightful)
If you repeatedly encounter hills that are insurmountable at your present level of non-fitness in the case of most /. readers, you won't ride. Simple as that. If, however, you have some help (e.g., power assist from an e-bike, pie plate cluster, etc.) then you're more likely to keep riding.
Re:Well duh (Score:4, Insightful)
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I"m trying to find the use case for an e-bike.
I was thinking either ride a real bicycle, and if it is beyond that, get a motorcycle.
I just don't see the use really for the "in between" e-bike really.
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Exactly. Ebike isn't competing with bikes, it's competing with cars to get the person who's "on the bubble" onto the ebike, where you do get a good bit more exercise than driving a car.
My area is very hilly, and even on the cheap ebike, it's hard enough to ride up the giant hill by us that you need to to get anywhere that I don't ride them much. If I had a bike that made getting up the steep hill pretty easy, I'd take the bike all the time to the grocery store/etc (1.5 miles each way) vs driving. Like, I
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How do you load up a weeks worth of groceries on any bike?
Even for a single guy that would be a tough call I'd think.
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Racks + panniers.
Plus, one stop at a grocery store per week isn't necessarily a reasonable requirement. Sure, it makes sense if you are living in a car centric wasteland where the nearest grocery is 20 miles away, however, making more frequent stops means you can have fresher foods, and waste less.
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Well, I have limited time to do shopping during the week (a normal one).
I tent do spend time out side of work at the gym when I can, etc.
And well, I live in a normal US city where nothing is really close and you have to drive.
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It's not just exercise averse, it's risk averse. Bikes are dangerous, and the roads you take the bikes on are dangerous. Growing up, the rule was to take the bike on the sidewalk, but these days this is not allowed. I had a small motorcycle one, loud enough to hear, and the cars will still blind and oblivious to me. I have sections of my commute without bike lanes, and sometimes without even curbs (so bike in the dirt I guess). And cyclists aren't even staring in the bike lanes, or signaling their turn
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It's dangerous because we've made it so. Not to mention that your entire comment is just more us vs them, bikes are dangerous, cyclists are assholes rant.
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Regardless f the reason, that's just the way things are.
Hell, I've been hit on a very large, loud motorcycle. I fared ok, luckily....if it had been a bicycle, whew....would have been much worse.
The onus of safety on a bike or motorcycle, is upon the cyclist, they just can't see or hear you in cars most of the time.
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So here's the thing. As an older rider I had a RockHopper that I'd been riding, but even with the aforementioned "triple chainring" it would still screw with a knee that's had surgery due to too much skiing, volleyball, etc.. Especially on certain hills.
I replaced it with an e-bike and now--when needed--I can get a bit of help on those hills and not manage to kill my knee at the same time. An older friend had heart surgery and his e-bike lets him keep riding--without spiking his heart rate.
Also, that "flat
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But I'm not changing/limiting what I'm doing just because 'most people aren't cyclists' and I resent anyone telling me I should or have to.
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"Most people bought these things because they don't want to pedal a bike."
The vast majority of e-bikes sold are class 1. You can't NOT pedal them. Next most common are class 3. Also pedal-assist-only. There are class-2 e-bikes with a throttle that you don't have to pedal, but almost all of those are "fat tire" bikes designed for off-road, off-trail use. They also tend not to be sold in great numbers because class-2 bikes are actually illegal on most bike trails, bike lanes, etc., as those e-bikes are not cl
I have a low-power e-bike (Score:5, Interesting)
The motor only provides 100W. I programmed the Cycle Analyst to limit the power on purpose: it "takes off the edge" of extreme fatigue on long distance rides and tough climbs, but I still have to provide most of the base power. Also, when I commute in the winter and there's a lot of snow on the ground, I'm more likely to choose the bike over the car because I know it won't feel like a grind.
I recommend a low power setup: it helps just enough to smooth things out when you don't quite feel like pedalling so hard, and you don't need a big-ass battery or motor for decent range - keeping the bike more like a bike than a motorcycle.
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Does your bike recharge on the downhills?
If so, do you have any idea how efficient the recharger is?
Re: I have a low-power e-bike (Score:3)
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Re: I have a low-power e-bike (Score:2)
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It doesn't have regen because it's a mid-drive motor (the bike is a velomobile actually - not too easy to convert to e-assist). But it's very flat where I live now, so it wouldn't make sense anyway. It made more sense where I lived previously, which what a very hilly place, but I still had 200 km of range if I was careful, so the added complication wasn't worth it.
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Most e-bike motors have to be both simple and inexpensive, so you have a choice between having plenty of torque for a given power (geared motors) or regenerative braking (direct drive motors), but you can't have both. It's not physically impossible, it's just that there isn't anything on the market that gives you both. I've ridden a 250 watt direct drive ebike that couldn't climb a 5% grade at all, but the same bike with a 250 geared motor would have had no trouble. This is why high end e mountain bikes h
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Bikes are light, but I am fat, so *I* make it worth it to have regen.
I too want a 2WD cycle with a front hub motor and a mid motor.
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The bike is heavy to begin with. It's a velomobile with a P1.18 Pinion gearbox in addition to the derailleur, and reinforcements everywhere for heavy touring. The bike is 92 lbs empty, and 104 lbs with the motor and the battery. I don't mind, I've been hauling heavy recumbents and velomobiles for the past 25 years and I'm used to it.
Besides, the place I've relocated to is very flat with very long, uninterrupted roads, so the weight just doesn't matter here.
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My Gazelle weighs about 60 pounds, or about 40% heavier than a regular mountain bike. You can ride w/o assist, or just use the lowest setting that pretty much compensates for the extra weight.
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For reference, most recreational cyclists can generate about 250 W for an extended period of time with their legs. Professional cyclists can maintain about double that. You can spike to 1-2 kW for short bursts.
Do the math. (Score:5, Insightful)
If your commute is 15 minutes one way by car or 25 minutes by e-bike, then the e-bike gives you 50 minutes per day of exercise at the cost of only 20 minutes of your time.
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And the cost of having sweaty clothes when you get to work.
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Even better, find an employer that provides shower facilities.
Many do, including mine.
In Silicon Valley, showers are a popular amenity because so many employees live out of their vans.
Re:Do the math. (Score:4, Insightful)
Or inquire around. My employer doesn't provide shower facilities, but that's because there's a bike lockup and a shower facility in the (very limited) underground parking lot.
Surprisingly enough, if your workplace is next to many other workplaces, someone somewhere will have a shower facility that's generally open to people in the business park. There's often a gym or something nearby that often has shower facilities that can be used on a pay-per-use basis or membership.
The real surprise really is that there are probably more shower facilities for use by the public than you realize, it's just they're not well publicized because few people generally take an interest in it. Brand new buildings have it for their tenants and in public places, others have it in some corner of the basement. If you're friendly with the janitor or maintenance guy, they can probably show you where it is and it's probably just a well kept secret. It's often there because some mishap may happen and you just need to wash yourself off.
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Its no worse than walking to work if you are a just a bike rider instead of a cyclist.
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Cycling clothing is extremely effective at keeping you dry and cool. I sometimes go on 3+ hour rides in 95+F temperatures during which I will need to consume 3-4 liters of electrolyte solution to replace the fluids I sweat out. But I don't actually feel sweaty on the ride. At 15-20 mph the sweat just disappears; I don't even feel hot until I stop.
Now if you seldom ride, and then do it on a hot day in cotton street clothing, that's going to be uncomfortable. You're working harder to go slower, and in cloth
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Most of the people that disparage cyclists for their choice in clothing are the same kind that unironically do so while wearing jerseys of pro-football players with chicken wing eating as the closest they get to exercise.
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And it does make you look like a godawful dork, if that matters to you.
I don't care and I don't think it does make you look like a dork. I just don't want to smell my coworkers next to me.
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The point is, you won't.
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I do.
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Just to be clear: you have coworkers who commute on ebikes and are smelly in the office?
Re: Do the math. (Score:2)
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Typical summer humidity is 55-60%. That's low for Louisiana, but not for most of the world.
It actually is very easy to get dehydrated in these conditions, so I drink on a schedule. I start with 16 ounces of water with about 1/4 tsp of potassium chloride before the ride, drink one 22 fl ounce bottle of straight water then switch to a hydration pack with a dilute glucose-saline solution.
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No,, particularly not on an e-bike, and not if you do it right. Also, there are remedies for that, unless you have no concept of hygiene.
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And the cost of having sweaty clothes when you get to work.
Do you live in Texas where it's 35C during the summer? Or do you think commuting on a bicycle = riding the tour de France? Or do you have a medical condition which causes you to sweat profusely the moment you get off your arse?
What's the reason you sweat so much? And why does your work not have showers / a lockerroom?
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As someone who lives in the deep south, I ride my bike 2x times a day. I ride to work at 7am when the temps are still under 100 degrees and tolerable. I don't step outside until at least 5pm. Then I grit and bear it and ride home in the evening sauna. If prisoners can stay outside all day in the Texas summer heat, then I too can survive a 30 minute ride in the heat with a healthy dousing of water.
It's always cute seeing humans complain thinking their bodies are fragile and will fall apart at the first b
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In some countries road layout promotes the use of bikes.
I could drive to the city in 22min (involves a trip out to the ring highway so I can get access to a main road), or 20min by bicycle (involves a direct bikepath to the destination.
Likewise shopping. I can get to my nearest large shopping centre in 8min by bicycle and it takes me 8min by car. With the bicycle I can go through a park and through two dead end streets joined at the end only by a small bikelane.
In case anyone is wondering why in the Netherl
Get fit on your e-bike using this one weird trick (Score:5, Funny)
It's a little-known fact that riding an e-bike can actually give you a better workout than riding a traditional bike... the trick is just to never plug it in.
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you joke, but my e-bike weighs 42lbs (19kg). my old road bike clocked in at 9lbs and that was considered heavy. when i ride my ebike, i'm usually on a low pedal assist (disclaimer: i'm usually also pulling an additional 45lbs of toddler weight, but even then i rarely go above 2 out of 9 on the assist) so i reckon the motor shaves off about 10% of required input. that's still a solid amount of weight to move. then when you're at max speed (~15mph or 24kmh) the motor no longer matters and to go any faster
Re: Get fit on your e-bike using this one weird tr (Score:2)
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Surely you must mean 9 kg. UCI minimum weight, at 6.8 kg, is a hair under 15 lbs, there is no 9lb road bike that is considered heavy.
relative safety considered (Score:2)
Jeez, another tedious, exhaustive summary! Is this the trend for Slashdot in the new century?
I'm a motorcyclist who's thinking of an ebike. My observation is that bicycles of any kind do not have horns or turn signals or bright headlights. They are small, silent, nearly invisible and their movements are relatively unpredictable. Most motorcycles are bigger, more visible, noisy and they are allowed a full traffic lane.
The idea of an ebike is attractive for many reasons but for me, safety is very important. W
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Find your local bicycle advocacy group, look for local FB groups, or ask around at some LBS and you'll get plenty of info. Unfortunately slashdot comments wont be good at answering your questions, and especially because a lot of stuff is location specific.
Re:relative safety considered (Score:4, Insightful)
In the EU, e-bikes are limited to 25 km/h (15.5 mph) and 250w motors, which is already a very safe limit. There are very few non-e bicyclists who go faster than 25 km/h. And you have to actually pedal for the motor to help you, which is a big mental aid that this is a bicycle and not a scooter/moped, so people behave like bicyclists.
An e-bike that can go 30 mph (48 km/h)? That's absurd. EU scooters/mopeds are limited to 45 km/h (28 mph).
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The vast majority of the world is empty strait roads. The only people who use any real amounts of energy in personal transport are rural or moving between town centers. A low cost 60-100km/h electric bike or motorcycle replacing a ton of rolling steel train is a great deal.
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"Why does everything revolve around a tiny little European life ..."
As mentioned above, a Class-1 e-bike maxes out assist at 20MPH. A Class-3 bike can do 28MPH, but may not be legal on some trails.
If you want a motorcycle, buy one. If you want a bike you can actually (legally) ride on bike trails, then here in the US there are limits to the amount of power they can provide.
Re: relative safety considered (Score:2)
E-bike is a term used generically, but what you describe is a pedelec.
An actual e-bike is limited to 45,has to be insured,registered and cannot use cycle paths.
In Germany anyway!
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In the EU, e-bikes are limited to 25 km/h (15.5 mph) and 250w motors, which is already a very safe limit. [yadda yadda]
So you are suggesting that underpowered bikes are somehow safer than faster ones? Your explanation is missing. From what I've seen of chaotic EU cities, the big vehicles go wherever they want, whenever they want, and as fast as possible. How is this safe for a slow bicycle?
BTW, the fast bikes in the US are not legal on public streets, only offroad. It is not unthinkable that some buyers take them on the road.
My personal opinion is that for safety you can never have too much power, too much braking power, or
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If the bike comes with a light already installed, probably using a dynamo, it will not be very bright. However, you can install an after-market very bright headlight if you want. LEDs and rechargeable batteries solved that problem. There are several options on the market, some of which are so bright that are not even street legal (for using on trails and in forests/mountains). A lot of boxed sets also include a smaller red tail-light. I can also recommend using a headlamp, which can also be very bright, fol
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>I don't have a solution for your horn problem,
One of the treasures in my father's garage is the horn off of a scrapped coast guard cutter.
Just on lung power, it can be heard about three blocks away.
I've long fantasized about mounting it longitudinally, skewed slightly left, on a bicycle--to honk back at the morons who think it's funny to honk at bicycles . . .
More practically, there are compressed gas horns. Surely these could be mounted to the handlebars.
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Check your local regulations. A Class-1 e-bike maxes out assist at 20MPH. A Class-3 bike can do 28MPH, but may not be legal on some trails. Something that can do 30+MPH probably isn't legal to use on any trail or bike lane,
That said, they're fun, and it's nice to have a little extra "help" from time to time.
How hilly was the test zone? (Score:2)
I live in a very hilly area where the hills are steep enough that biking is actually less efficient than walking. It becomes 20 seconds of "weeee!!" then I have to ride my brakes hard so I don't become a meatcrayon. That wastes all my speed so I can't very far up the next hill. So I climb-off and push the bike up the hill. Then repeat. I am hoping that an e-bike would actually give me *more* exercise because I would be peddling up those hills instead of of pushing the bike. Then again, maybe pushing a
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Re: How hilly was the test zone? (Score:3)
And regular bikes (Score:2, Insightful)
provide a better workout. Seriously, if your out to burn calories, then burn them, don't let the bike hamper your effort to get exercise.
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The main nugget of this study, showing e-bikes provide workouts, is that like regular bikes, they aren't just exercise equipment, but have real practical utility as well.
And that means you can get good exercise while fulfilling practical purposes. Getting food, hauling kids, going places, you can get exercise while doing it. And where e-bikes really shine, in my opinion, is they can make trips much more predictable. You can still stick to a schedule even if one day you encounter a brutal headwind. Getting s
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e-bikes don't hamper anyone from getting exercise under any circumstances. Instead, they offer good exercise for a wider range of riders over a wider range of conditions. No one says you can't turn the motor off since you're such a badass.
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In my experience I see people that rude and with the emotor on all the time.
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It all depends, my e-bike is 'pedal assist' and only assists up to 15.5mph after that the assist cuts out. I get full exercise because I'm pushing hard most of the time, often riding 16-20mph or more. I know I get a good workout because I use a sports watch wirelessly linked to a heart rate monitor and can see what level of exertion I'm at. My E-bike is way more fun to ride than a regular bike and since I can peddle as hard as I like, workout level is more up to me.
Re: And regular bikes (Score:2)
provide a better workout. Seriously, if your out to burn calories, then burn them, don't let the bike hamper your effort to get exercise.
Tubby wakeboarder, prepare to drop your bike and run. Everyone else, bike or e-bike according to your own preference. Fall out. Tubby wakeboarder, run now.
You call that running? I want your calorie counter to blur like the clock in a bad time travel movie. If your momma wanted you to have wheels she'd have fucked an automobile. Run faster, NOW!
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I'm just saying I'm tired of people hammering on their ebike throttle. And I don't have to go around demeaning someones mother.
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The vast majority of e-bikes sold (class-1, class-3) do NOT HAVE A THROTTLE. They are peddle assist ONLY.
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I've never ridden an ebike and probably never will. Most of the people that I see that recreationally ride ebikes are not using a pedal assist when using the throttle
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Most people that I know in my area have commute times in the half hour range and bike for recreation
The Reality Is (Score:3)
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That's just your observational bias, because many ebikes are hard to recognize as being e-bikes when the rider is pedaling.
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That most ebike riders I see don't peddle. There is no workout.
You think that's bad, you should see car drivers. Not only do they pedal even less, but because they think they are so big they become even bigger self entitles arseholes. You don't need to do the equivalent of going to a gym to get exercise. Simply moving your legs a bit more than commuting entirely on your fat arse already has health benefits.
As for not peddling, what you're looking at is then not an e-bike. e-bikes don't move unless you peddle. The motor provides zero assistance unless the crank is being
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Quit smoking crack. When I am on my pedal bike, which I rode 25km on yesterday, I see ebike riders blow by NOT PEDALLING all the time.
You think that's bad. I saw a cyclist not pedalling while going down hill the other day. OMG! Congratulations on having a pedal bike. If you had an e-bike you'd know they don't have an accelerator, and actually have only assistance settings which apply to ... wait for it ... you pedalling.
As to your fucked up mentality about cars, I live in North America and unless you want to be trapped in one neighbourhood for your hole life like some fucking serf from the middle ages, you need a car.
Speaking of smoking crack are you even replying to the right post? What on earth makes you think I don't own a car? Where did I mention the type of fuel or pollution? Where did I talk about keep people in small areas. (Spe
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It really depends on the bike. ebikes with throttles are almost never pedaled. Pedal assist ebikes need to be pedaled to get any torque out of the motor.
Pedal assist ebikes are more expensive, though, so you're less likely to see them on the road (in a non-bikeshare area).
Flatten the hills, get a higher sustained power. (Score:2)
I race triathlons, but my home is surrounded by several blocks of steep hills. I don't mind riding away from home on my race bike, but returning to those hills can be impossible if I've worked too hard on the rest of the ride.
I would often put my bike in the car and drive to where I could start and end my ride on somewhat flatter terrain. Which is kind of a waste.
So I got an ebike. I keep the assist at the minimum ("eco"), mainly to compensate for the ebike weighing at least triple my race bike. I typic
More exercise than a car, less sweat than a bike. (Score:2)
I can ride in hot weather and not arrive all sweaty. I'm not talking about riding to work and showering there, I'm talking about wearing nice clothes and going out to a winery or a restaurant. I can park closer to my destination on busy days than I can when driving a car.
What oth
E-Bikes are the future of transport. (Score:2)
An E-Bike is roughly 1000x, three orders of magnitude, more energy efficient than a car per traveled length per person. And that's with an effective load of 100% vis-a-vis 30% for the average moving car. That's for ICE and electric cars.
The efficiency between those two modes of transport is so far appart that it has cars be some silly and patently absurd anachronism and waste.
Add in that bikes are fueled by grilled vegetable salad or fries or other food and cars are fuled by taking carbon out of the depths
I usually just stand (Score:2)
It's not the effort, it's the traffic (Score:2)
The problem wasn't hills (only took a couple months so I could climb them), it was a 1/2 mile stretch of traffic. Narrow road, 45 MPH traffic, no bike lane, no sidewalk. At least once a week some asshole got way too close to me.
Where I live now it's 2.5 miles to the gym. Perfect for cycling, right? Wrong. Given the situation I give it 6 months before I get hit by a car.
Works even on some motor-bikes (Score:2)
If you have to kick-start it 200 times before taking a it for a spin, you're out of breath.
Cycling is not as energy efficient as it appears (Score:2)
In modern agriculture takes about ten fossil fuel calories to produce one food calorie. This eats up much, but not all, of the energy advantage of cycling.
https://www.ecoliteracy.org/ar... [ecoliteracy.org]
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Fascinating example of unintended consequences.
However, the nuances also have nuances. Just to point out a couple of issues with the (generally pretty good) article you linked:
* Even if you use 10 cal of fossil fuel to produce 1 cal of food energy... it does not take the same number of calories of energy to move a bicycle that it does to move a car.
* The article has some useful tips about reducing the environmental impact of your diet (eat local, eat lower on the food chain)-- but it leaves out some very i
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" Free range cattle *are* certainly better from an ethical standpoint, but they appear to be worse for the environment, because they produce more greenhouse gases."
The issue is complex with a lot of "it depends", e.g. do you count the carbon cost of the feedlot cattle feed?
https://insideclimatenews.org/... [insideclimatenews.org]
Calories burned doesn't sound right (Score:2)
344 to 422 calories, on average, on an e-bike, versus 505 calories on a regular bike
This can't be for a 3 mile ride, otherwise I'd be built like a whippet. Are those aggregated caloric burn estimates? I would expect to ride 12 or 15 miles to burn 500 calories.
Re: Calories burned doesn't sound right (Score:2)
What we need is a HYBRID bike (Score:2)
The article is paywalled, but what would really be useful is not an e-bike that does all the work but a bike that, as it accepts energy input at a constant cranking effort, uses motor assist on uphills and does regenerative braking on downhills.
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You already have most of the things you're asking. Most e-bikes only provide assistance when peddling. A good many sense crank effort in addition to cadence and use that to bias assistance levels. (Makes the bike feel more "natural".)
They only thing most don't have is regenerative breaking, and that's because the majority of e-bikes produced are "mid-drive" and behave like normal bikes in that they have freewheel mechanisms so you can stop peddling and still coast. As such there's no good way to couple brea
I am a cyclist and here's what I see daily: (Score:2)
What I see where I live, where there is 32 miles of paved parkway for cyclists, since the whole pandemic thing hit? I see people on so-called 'e-bikes', rolling along sometimes as fast as I am, and they're not pedaling at all. They either bought an e-bike that int