Author Lloyd Alter
E-bikers use their bikes more, go longer distances, and often substitute it for driving or transit.
Fans of electric bikes often say they are riding further than they used to on “analog” bikes, to use a retronym coined by Andrea Learned. I have written about my own Gazelle: “I am using it more often than I used my regular bike, and I am going longer distances. I suspect that, because of that, I am probably getting as much exercise as I did on my bike.” But it was all apocryphal, until now.
A new study, with a mouthful of a title, “Physical activity of electric bicycle users compared to conventional bicycle users and non-cyclists: Insights based on health and transport data from an online survey in seven European cities,” finds that in fact it is true: e-bikers take longer trips and get pretty much the same physical activity gains as analog cyclists.