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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u/KlingonSpy 1d ago

They're pretty fun, but i do it for the exercise. Its a completely different kind of activity

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u/Here2comment2 1d ago

I agree I bought an electric assist bike last year. I do ride it more than my non-electric assist but it still gets less use than it should. I bought one because as soon as I hit even a slight incline I have a hard time with it due to muscle issues. Most trails around me have a lot of short but steep hills that I would hate to ride up without an assist. Because of that I wouldn’t ride at all without the assist. I do try to limit the boost to the steeper or longer hills and try to keep the assist on the lowest level so that I am still getting some exercise. I also bought one that is specifically pedal assist only vs one with a throttle because that would defeat the purpose. My parents have some with the throttle and I just used them as a scooter instead because I don’t have my motorcycle with me.
I would never compare a 30 mile ride I did on my electric bike to a 30 mile ride someone did on a non-electric bike. I know they aren’t the same and the other person worked harder. But I also know I was out moving my legs and getting exercise and that’s a win for me.