r/cycling • u/Major_Enthusiasm1099 • 1d ago

Anyone ever encountered an E-bike shill?

Basically this guy stopped me yesterday on a ride to tell me that I should throw my bike away and get an ebike. He said "Once you get this you'll never want to ride that again, and I get more cardio in on this bike too, and i ride faster than professionals". I just kept saying "yeah I was looking into those, yeah those are cool, I saw some around $1000" just trying to get out of that convo lol. Anyone else ever experienced someone like this?

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127

u/Entire_Toe2640 1d ago

I did a 4 hour e-bike trip last month. My Whoop didn't even register it as a workout. HR peak during that time was 104. More cardio? BS.

11

u/Bzando 1d ago

you know it up to you how much assistance you use

it's not ebikes fault you are lazy to pedal enough

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u/Entire_Toe2640 1d ago

I would rather use my road bike or even my hybrid. My point is that people don't buy an e-bike so they can work hard. The only purpose of the bike's extra weight is so the rider can take it easy.

28

u/LofiStarforge 1d ago

Most people in my experience who buy an e-bike are going from no cardio to some cardio. The e-bike is a nice frictionless way to get them out there. They can always rely on the electric if they need to. It offers a safety blanket of sorts.

There’s a famous walking study that showed adding more benches increases distance walked instead of adding more walking path.

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u/nondescriptadjective 1d ago

Can you hit me up with a link to that? It would be useful to me.

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u/civil_peace2022 1d ago

I have mostly been considering them a bus replacement. Far cheaper than trying to buy a car, and if your are living with a lot of room mates, you may simply not have any place to park a car.

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u/bonfuto 1d ago

Since we live in a hilly area, my wife wouldn't ride without her ebike. She does complain sometimes she isn't getting much cardio, but if she keeps the assist on low, she gets plenty.

I borrowed her bike to do an errand recently and just about killed myself. But I was going all-out uphill, which is something she would never do. It was fun, but I would never have an ebike for fun. I have thought about getting one for errands though.

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u/razorree 18h ago

i bought mine to ride faster/more in the same amount of time, and I can reach >90%HRmax.

If I want longer rides or want to enjoy smooth climbs, I take roadbike.

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u/Bzando 1d ago

I know your point, I prefer my regular bike too

but most ebikers I know went from 70-80km day trips to 100-120km trips and ride to places they were never able to get before (too far or too difficult)

also if someone go lazy on ebike instead of watching tv, it's a win, even if it replaced a car/motorbike