31/10/2022
13 reasons why an ebike could make you happier, healthier and better off:
1. Less stress on the heart
The motor helps smooth out the periods of harder exertion, but you’ll still get an aerobic workout from riding. Evidence from a Norwegian scientific paper backs this up.
2. Better mental health
Any form of cycling, or indeed any form of exercise, has big benefits for your mental health. You should sleep better too, thanks to the anxiety-busting effect of cycling, along with the exercise and fresh air.
3. An ebike is cheaper (and faster) than a car or other transport
You don’t need to tax an ebike to ride it. The cost per mile is also tiny relative to a car and for urban trips an ebike is often faster. While you still have to maintain an ebike, the costs of repairing one will be far lower than keeping a car running day to day.
4. Less sweat
You’ll ride cooler, as your effort level can be less thanks to the motor. If you’re commuting, that means you’ll arrive at work less hot than if you were riding a non-assisted bike.
5. Ebikes make it easier to get up hills
Many cyclists struggle on hills. The motor will provide assistance, with the amount dependent on the level of support you’ve selected. Once you’ve crested a climb, you’ll be fresher too, so you’re less likely to want to stop to recoup and more likely to press on.
6. An ebike will help you explore new places
An analysis of health and transport data from seven European cities found ebike riders took longer trips than cyclists without motors. Therefore, ebikers gained a similar amount of fitness gains to pedal-powered cyclists.
7. An ebike will improve your fitness
Despite what some may believe, you can ride an electric bike for fitness. You’ll still be turning the pedals and putting in a significant amount of the energy required to move yourself along. Studies have suggested that ebike riders’ hearts can be working at more than 90 per cent the level of riders of non-assisted bikes, but riders may perceive less effort. The exercise will strengthen your muscles and up the efficiency of your cardiovascular system, so you’ll be able to do more off the bike and feel fresher too.
8. An ebike will help you keep up with your mates
One of the major benefits of electric bikes cited by their users is the ability to keep pace with faster riders. It makes riding in a group more enjoyable, because less fit riders don’t feel they’re holding fitter ones back. It’s also good for family rides, where abilities may differ. That also makes them a social form of exercise, meaning you can chat with your friends as you ride.
9. Faster riding
An ebike will enable you to ride faster, regardless of your fitness level. That’s down to quicker acceleration and faster hill climbing.
10. Quick-start
An ebike motor will help you get up to speed from a standstill, cutting in to help you accelerate faster and with less effort. That means it’s easier and less stressful to keep in the traffic flow at junctions and lights.
11. Less muscle strain
Extra assistance means less strain on your muscles and joints, particularly since the motor will give you most support on hills and accelerations, when most effort is needed. That means you should need less recovery time and you’ll be fresher for another ride.
12. Easy to store
Even a non-folding electric hybrid bike will be a lot easier to find a space for than a car, if you live somewhere without off-street parking.
13. Ebikes are quiet
There’s usually a faint whirr as you accelerate or when climbing hills; the rest of the time, an ebike makes little noise, so there’s no noise pollution or atmospheric pollution.
-Author
-Paul Norman
Paul has been riding since he was a teenager and has been writing about bike tech for almost a decade. He was into gravel before it was even invented, riding a cyclocross bike across the South Downs and along muddy paths through the Chilterns. He dabbled in cross-country mountain biking too, before returning to drop bar bikes.
