Fitness and ebiking

[wojtek]

with the pursue for more and more powerful ebikes, I think it is easy to lose the fitness side of it.
Obviously some people use them as a car / motorcycle replacement, simply way of transportation and don't look for exercise there.

I however come from cycling background. it is very important to me that ebiking is all about sport and fitness, good workout but at higher speeds.

With BMC v2s motor, i am working out very hard. I like to think that it is same exercise as cycling but with higher speed. But with my heavier and more powerful eVK3 i feel like i am only helping to start and then just to maintain the speed that motor gives me for some time.

the crucial thing for me is the right gearing that can follow the speed of the motor- I am using both rohloff and high speed schlumpf crankset.
Also discipline is important i guess, to push myself as much as possible in spite of the possibility of being lazy and limit the workout to the wrist exersize!


I wonder how are your feelings about it?!

 

[Truelectric]

I considered myself an avid biker. Wife and I had a tandem we commuted 30 miles and had some killer hills. One hill took us 15 minutes to grind up. We rode the commute unassited for 3 years, but found that our aging bodies were starting to fail (back issues). We were on the downhill swing of riding and on the verge of stopping bike commuting because of the back pain. My cousin "FishmasterDan" introduced us to electric assist, and helped us convert our tandem. The nasty hill went from a 15 minute grueling monstor to a 5 minute walk in the park. Our biking problem solved! No longer did the 15 minute grind affect our backs/butts, and extended our riding 2 more years. We were able to maintain excellent physical activity, and have e-help when necessary. We did find however that the majic E-button started getting pushed more and more (like a drug) as the years progressed. We lost some of our biking ability, but, without the electric assist, we would have stopped all together. I do think however, if you wanted to be an avid hardcore biker with monstor legs, you need to stay away from electric assist. The body needs to be stressed in order to stay strong. But if the goal is to stay generally healthy with moderate effort and fun, E-bike is the way to go.

 

[Lock]

Different angle... In my hood many are buying "scooter-style" watt have about zero opportunity for exercise (personally I get plenty of opportunity for exercise and don't need to be exercising while commuting.) And the demographic for these scooter riders is quite different than the "traditional" bike community. Many would not consider a pedal bike as an option. The point is, many also own cars, and are leaving their cars parked at home now for many trips. EVery trip they make on two wheels insteada in four wheels makes our streets a little safer for the rest of us (pedestrians and cyclists.) Personally I am a fan of true hybrids (ya can pedal or kick) only `cause range anxiety goes away, batt packs last longer (cheaper $/km) and "exercise" in cooler months helps keep me warm. Actually there are a lot of advantage (pedal bike style vs scooter-style), but ya just can't educate most folks about this stuff...

Lock

 

[Kingfish]

I am most definitely getting a major workout. Riding an ebike is liberating and motivating because of the tremendous leveling effect over distance and ascent – all of the issues related to human-powered travel. Add in a modicum of comfort (full-suspension, Brooks seat, proper clothing…) and biking now becomes a rewarding athletic challenge. Granted we are electrically augmented, yet we can still contribute to the overall experience. And we are in control of our machine; we chose direction, path, and acceleration based upon technical merit; we can make it fun as well as thrilling!

My diet has completely been altered. My legs are more powerful. My chest is larger. Though most importantly, my blood pressure and cholesterol are well in check.

People, clients, and friends that engage with me see the differences over time; they say I look youthful and tanned (I wouldn’t know about the last part as I live in Seattle Metro where the sun hardly shines). Generally though my attitude is very bright when not countering idiot drivers.

It is a good thang and I am glad for it. KF

 

[kfong]

It's always a workout when I ride my BMC in the trails, but damn is it fun.

 

[spinningmagnets]

I ride more often when I have a motor. I've been riding since my Schwinn Stingray for Christmas back in 1968, and it seems I've always had at least one bike around. It sounds counter-intuitive, but I get more exercise with an E-bike. Without a motor, I often just take a car...

I am working on a longtail E-cargobike, so I can even get groceries on my way home from work!...

 

[REdiculous]

If I wanted the fitness I'd skip the motor and just ride a regular bike. With a motor it's more fun - no sweat and lots of go. 8)

 

[neptronix]

I am an avid biker and pedal about 98% of the time.
I can't imagine not pedaling. my pedal power makes the bike accelerate even faster and i am a speed junkie as much as everyone else is. I can increase the speed up a few mph at cruise by pedaling.. so i pedal like my ass is on fire the whole time.
Thus, i don't find it hard to find the discipline.

But the faster you go, the less your pedaling power makes an impact. And the faster you go, the more gearing is a problem..
Thank god for the 11t shimano and DNP freewheels..

 

[chrisvw]

It's always a choice. I'm another from a biker background, so have to make a decision each time whether to take the ebike or one of my other (pedal) bikes. I find I probably drop a little behind in the early spring when I otherwise would be pedaling only. The rest of the year, I believe I'm ahead with the ebike as I have eliminated my car commute which I would never have done with pedal only power. My rough swag is that I'm doing 3000 miles/year on the ebike. Probably 700 - 1000 would have otherwise been pedaled.

 

[dodjob]

this is a very interesting thread
I have started again to make sport last year with my first ebike build. I was a "lycra" for years and I love to pedal as much as I love to eat. My cruiser has a bafang 24V with a mini monster from Lyen, all this is juiced with a 36V battery. I drive between 37 and 40Km/h with 200 to 250W (depending on my fitness and motivation) on flat and get from the wonderfull mini-monster some daaamn good acceleration (800W from the ebike and the rest from my good legs )
My understanding of ebiking (at least for this ebike) is the following:
- an ebike is a bicycle, not a mopped I HAVE to pedal.
- I do have a throttle but I use it only to control the assistance, full power for acceleration and range when "launched"
- I have and will not use the motor without pedeling. (ok if I'm badly hurt I would... but exept this I won't)
The results are the following:
I'm now again a "sportsman"
I have lose about 14Kg in the last year, and I'm fitter as ever (I'm proudly weighting 73Kg)^^ Yeah this was only possible with accurate diet and other trainings for the rest of the body (I'm also a rower), but that's the point! With my ebike I have started to make sport at my rythm, without caring for anything or anyone. I have discovered a very pleasant way to mix sport, commuting and fun. In the past I would have reduce my speed (understand fun) looking to my pulse in order to keep the distance. Now I just use more power on the motor and keep my legs "cool".
I was today on a mountainbiking (no ebike) tour with friends. They all know that I'm an ebiker and of course they do joke about my ebikes...all the time. You should have seen their face when they could'nt follow me on hills ^^ At this point they were really more receptive to my "arguments" on ebiking. And for the records, going uphills without motors sucks hell
I know that not everybody aspire to be "real" sportsman with their ebike. But you know what? that's ebiking! Ebikes let us do things like we want, when we want, how we want Like would say my RATM friends: "freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!! yeaaaaaaaaahhh"
Few of my friends, looking at my "progress" have buy me the same setting and they enjoy, exactly like me, this way of ebiking.
So for me ,there is a place for fitness and ebiking, I'm a living proof from it
What? you think this all looking like an advertisment shit? Yeah it does look like it, but the best part is: It's totally true and all ebikers know it :wink:
I have now to get some sleep, because even If I have hardly humiliate my friends today (understand give everything I had and smile like a freshmen), I'm totally wasted and the "isotonische" beer(s) we had after that have succeed to get me really tired ^^ Daaamn that was a good day!
Gruß,
H.

 

[vanilla ice]

You get as a good a workout as you want on an ebike. What it does is add so much flexibility to your rides.

I'm surprised trainers don't use these things to pace their lycras.

 

[dogman dan]

That would be heresy. Nobody want to get visited by the spanish inquisiton. Took a few years for the owner of the LBS to stop looking at me like I maybe he should call the cops. He knows I wear out stuff fast! To this day, his customers still look at me like I'm satan.

Anyway, I have tried out so many configurations of ebikes, I find it just all depends on the setup. Whatever the tallest gear on the bike is, it's helpfull to have a top speed that is not so far off from that. More and you find your hand rolling back that throttle just a bit too far constantly. Don't get me wrong, you can ride any speed you choose, but if your top gear is 25 mph and the bike goes 30, you will find a tendency to coast a bit more than if the speeds match nice. To hypermile, you need to go even slower, and can, but you do have to think about it. For me anyway, if I don't focus on my speed, the bad right hand has it's own ideas.

On my commute, or any long haul ride, I love to pedal. Pick a speed, and pedal up 1-2 mph more and enjoy the endorphins, but skip the wanting to puke part.

On the other hand, on a tough dirt trail, just hanging onto the dirt bike and staying on the trail is quite a workout. On that bike, I tend to use nearly no pedaling at all, and ride standing up in a trials style stance. 45 min and I come back quite well exercised.

 

[kfong]

If it wasn't for ebikes my mountain bike would still be collecting dust hanging in the rafters. I enjoy the skillset needed to ride very technical single track, but not the grueling workout. I absolutely hate hills unless I'm going down them, like skiing . With ebikes hills are now fun and challenging, I built my trail bike with a low speed high torque V2 BMC motor, with a max speed of 20mph. I wanted to be able to put useful pedal power in and it keeps me honest. The reward is longer trail time the more effort I put into pedaling. Even in 90 deg weather I can go non stop and I pedal continuously in the trails. Why pay a health club when I can have way more fun trail riding? I would pay good money to ride down a mountain, with ebikes it's like going downhill the whole time. I'm so hooked that I want a backup bike when things break. My BMC is currently in repairs, and such good weather now

 

[joe tomten]

I can now ride the 15 mile roundtrip commute to work year around, and that I could never manage before electric.

But I am a cyclist at heart and always pedal w/ vigor. (me feels stupid otherwise)

And now with the longtail, weekend runs to the hardware store, and the feed store for 100lbs of chicken or goat feed are a total practicality.

We only have one car on the road now, where before we had to have two.

I'm thinner now, get 40 minutes of exercise in, every day and feel much better for it.

I've gotten to the point that when people made some comment like - "you'd get more exercise if you rode a real bike": I just say: " well how many times last month did you drive that 5000 lb vehicle to move yer carcass to work and home? Seems crazy to me."

 

[Metallover]

As part of my quest for abs this summer, I went on a 32 mile ride on my bike today. It was mostly on gravel with little motor assistance. With the motor's help, I was able to maintain about 20mph, even up hills. I really worked har and my legs are killing me right now!

When I approached a random town, in another state, I turned around the faced a fairly strong headwind,, which was no problem! The motor helped me out to keep up to my 20mph I can pedal efficiently at.

I am planning longer and longer rides for the summer now!

My bike is capable of 20 miles at well over 30mph, and I rarely pedal,, until now! I love the new aspect and challenge of biking for a good workout! I will do a whole lot of riding this summer!!

 

[rscamp]

You get as a good a workout as you want on an ebike. What it does is add so much flexibility to your rides.

I'm surprised trainers don't use these things to pace their lycras.

Unfortunately the assist would almost certainly need to be active above the legal limit. Restrictions, restrictions...

 

[snellemin]

My Ebike is my work commuter. I barely pedal in the morning and use about 3800mah when going nuts with the throttle. Stupid hot now and don't want to be sweaty at the office. However I use about 1800mah on my commute back home with me pedalling and the cruise set to 20mph or so. I consider that my afternoon cardio, instead of hitting the gym like some of my coworkers do. On weekends I bike along with my son with our regular bikes. So we still get good fresh air and excercise.

 

[REdiculous]

You get as a good a workout as you want on an ebike. What it does is add so much flexibility to your rides.

I'm surprised trainers don't use these things to pace their lycras.

Unfortunately the assist would almost certainly need to be active above the legal limit. Restrictions, restrictions...

No restrictions on private property / closed course. :wink:

 

[dogman dan]

They use cars now to pace training racers. But they used to use mopeds. Kinda funny when you think about it eh? All that metal and gas to carry a training coach and some food and water in air conditioned comfort.

Good on ya for discovering spinning metallover. Even faux pedaling is still good excercise, just the watts needed to flap the legs is improving your heart and lungs, blowing the city crap out of your sinuses etc. The key thing isn't how hard you pedal, but how long. 40 min is just about right, but more is fine too since you aren't straining so hard.

 

[JEB]

I started out just using the E-motor for the hills years ago, but now (74 next month) I peddle away from a stop, around parking lots, going on flat roads when I want to go slow, help the amps to be lower on steep hills. Going out for a ride almost every sunny day, my legs are still in good shape, but cannot put out the hp I could in years past.

 

[tomasdipagio]

For those on the fence, wondering if they could justify building an E bike for the sake of exercise, let me encourage you to take the next step and get started. I've got 400 miles on my Magic Pie Mountain Bike conversion and I get as much physical challenge, sometimes more, than I want. I regularly just SMOKE lycra going up some long steep grades and it's the best. I also realize that when riding along side busy roads, being passed by cars motivates me to push so much I have to talk myself down a little.

Just a physiological note, pedaling activates what's known as the skeletal mucle pump effect of circulation and cycling really gets your venous blood and your lymphatic circulation crankin' real good. If you a at all sedentary, middle-aged and/or over-weight, the benefits of moving your legs in pedaling are tremendous. Also, you'll notice that you're getting a sustained cardiovascular workout as well as tightening your abdominals as you maintain your posture and balance on the seat.

Keep riding. Take the long way to work. Breath and watch your calorie intake. You'll lose weight and feel lots better.

Lastly, there is an app for the iPhone called myfitnesspal that helps you set weight loss goals and tracks caloric intake. Coupled with an E Bike, look out! You'll starting looking real good to the ladies. (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Cheers all!

Tomas

 

[lcyclist]

Kill 2 birds with one stone, I would say!

I purposely fit a small 6AH, 36V worth of battery so I can exercise and have some e-bike fun at the same time on my 20 mile round trip commute to work. I gotta pedal; otherwise I won't make it.

Smaller batteries means a lighter setup and with a well maintained e-bike, it is a pleasure and look forward to riding everyday.

 

[docnjoj]

There are days when my arthritis gets bad enough so I need a cane to walk. My legs never hurt much on the trike even with 20 mile rides. Once I get off the trike I can barely walk but in an hour or 2 all is OK. I probably wouldn't ride at all if I didn't have the assist. The cardio and diabetes benefits are measurable and real.
otherDoc

 

[grifftek]

Im glad I found this thread! I have been riding my a2b metro since last newyears eve day. I have logged about 1200 miles and I never get a free ride, I always pedal for all im worht. I ride it mostly to commute to work but also ride it on weekends and evenings as well when I can. I have saved a lot on gas not driving to work as well.

I was extremely overweight a year ago and the bike has been one of the best tools for me. I have always loved to ride but when I got so heavy I just didnt do anything so I got even heavier. I have experienced all of the same reasons I have seen everyone else write here so I wont repeat them again. When I got the a2b I was really disapointed withthe 20mph limit, but have grown to appreciate the fine balance it provides withthe stock gearing, cranks etc. I could make it go faster, but then meaningful pedaling would be almost impossible without major re gearing.

Without going into all the details 2 years ago I was 460 plus (meaning I dont know how heavy I really was). September 15, 2010 I was 424 and now Im 274 and still loosing.

My quest right now is to find a ebike computer that can not only track all the typical ebike info but also track cadence, heart rate, and hopefully pedal torque so I can chart my efforts along with the assist info.

Regards

Bill

 

[rscamp]

Great! Good for you!

Now if that isn't a good reason to get an ebike I don't know what is!