Whether they help fitness or not is not what concerns me so much as what they do to the environment. Shitloads of these bikes are out in use now or sitting on shop floors waiting to be sold. The batteries typically have a life span of 4 to 5 years then they get pitched in the bin. If a bike was sitting on the shop floor for a year or more the batteries still have diminished life. I guess people don't really care though, they just want to ride faster and easier so I digress.

Never mind the science, I'm 66, where I live is hilly and it won't be long before I have an e-bike. Anything that keeps me on the road all day will do for me. One thing is for sure it will keep me fitter than doing sod all.

I stopped XC regional competition 30 years ago, and mostly sport activities. I was a sprinter. When I decide to restart MTB in chilled mode, I was only able to ride 30-40km at moderate speed. No big change after 2 years of training. No muscular issue but my heart stayed too high for longer or faster ride. So boring and demotivating. I tested eMTB and this was a revelation. I just drop one zone of my cardio for the same muscular effort or recover easily after a bigger effort when I push in Z5. As a punchy rider, I tried some challenging climb. With around 800w natural peak plus 250w max motor assistance and a bit of skill, you can success some impressive spot. More climb = more downhill, so I started to love fast D- and I improved my skill to stay safe. Then I applied this new skill on flat for the fun. I started to love more technical skill on complex track than efficiency on faster one. No way to follow MTB riders with eMTB on flat track at the same level. I started to have more fun with enduro riders than with XC riders. So much fun even if this was so hard. Without the motor, I will not be able to discover enduro, to practice it, a lot, and to compete again, in chill mode. I continue regularly to ride my old analog competition bike sometimes but eMTB is more fun. Weight is an handicap sometimes. You're less agile and slower on flat track. I love MTB but I definitely prefer today eMTB. Anyway , I'm sure ebike will not replace regular one. Non sense for roadies and XC riders, my opinion. This is just not the same riding activity.

Nice video, Alex. Best of luck to those who use e-bikes. It's great if it encourages more people to ride and get healthy. Just as long as they don't take all my hard worked-for Strava KOMs on my road bike (old skool/manual/non-electric)!!

I've ridden bikes now for 65 years. This includes touring, commuting, racing cyclocross, velodrome, time trials, short track MTB, as well as extended MTB tours. Due to declining health, I plan to start riding an ebike and will be happy to do so. I have no doubt riding an ebike will allow me to maintain fitness as well as providing the huge psychological benefits of riding. The key is getting people out and about and enjoying the thrill of cycling.

I'm guessing most of the e-bike sales in Germany are modestly priced shopping bikes, not MTBs or road bikes.

I'm a mountain biker and I have 2 peddle bikes and an ebike. How I use it is for my weekday rides. All of the trails that I ride solo durring the week have extreme elevation gains. You might do 2k feet in a mile and a half of single track. I can do it on my regular bike but I am not going to do multiple laps. I bought a trail E-Hardtail. Its a Marin Nail Trail E2. I use it as a tool so that I can hammer a bunch of descents and progress my riding. Having a tool that allows you to session a whole trail, learn better lines, and just get more seat time over all will make you a better rider.

It's about the steps. Doing steps need effort and time. Effort can be painful. Time can be a boring thing. Most people don't like pain. Most people don't like boring things. They (we) want achievements without pain and they want it immediately. That's called convenience. The ebike provides this. Riding with one's own power is about so many wonderful and useful things: Learning about the bike, the technique of riding,. the breathing, how my body works (effort/ rest), planning a session, watching the weather and so on. I ride because I want to reach a personal aim, a step.. If I can make it I'm happy inside and out. No batterie in the world can bring me this joy. IMO ebikes are useful if you live in in a hilly area and just want to do the short trip to the supermarket or the post office without breaking to much sweat and without starting your car to cover a 3 -5 km distance. Or for commuting. But I see so many people younger than 60 (I'm 62) who - I dare to say - are untrained and/or overweight - sitting upright on an ebike clearly on a leisure trip. And then I think to myself ...

I bought one together with my brother from one and half mounth,(we already put 1200km) on it so he could go with me up in the mountains while I ride a normal bike even if he has not my level of training and it's really helping him to get fit...once or twice a week i use it too and it is very fun...you could go uphill even in some rocky tecnical trails because you have a better power delivery with the assistance of the electric motor and more traction, so you could have fun testing your skills on the trails by going uphill...I prefer using the lowest amount of assistance combined with the same amount of power by my legs I use on a normal bike, and this is a combination that allows to have nearly the same level of training of the normal bike, but I go anyway much faster uphill (where I usually climb at 7-8 km/h on normal bike, I go up to 13-14 km/h with the eco on the e-bike...And one important thing: A trained rider is able to get more range from the battery than a less trained one...more power you put with your legs more range you have and you are 30-40% faster than with a normal bike

Great discussion. I would love to see more people on any bike. Here in the USA along the beach bike paths in SoCal where I ride I do not see many but more now than before. However, I will not likely get one. At 64 years old I am still interested in improving having been riding now for more than 30 years. I just found your channel and am subscribing. I use XERT to keep track of things and ride only outside on the roads.

An ebike contributes enormously to my fitness. My wife rides it. I chase behind under my own power. There is a great advantage in this that you failed to mention. It enables us to ride together by evening up the discrepancy in power between us. We know another couple where roles are reversed. The ebike enables the guy to keep up with his wife.

Great video. I dont think non-ebikes will die out quite as quickly as in 6:30 because there will always be people who want to cycle for fitness.......but the rise of ebikes is astonishing!

If I ever get an E-bike, it will be for my girlfriend or dad who would ask me to cycle with me but they're not fit enough to even sustain a low average speed for one of my recovery rides.

In the city, I think the e-bike is better for commuting lifestyle such as replacing your car. Where I live in San Francisco, some of these hills really get steep at 30-40% gradient, which I would definitely not do to commute to work each day. The point is to use it for commuting, not own a car, and then to get fit in the process. If you want to buy a bike as a DAILY form of transportation, I think that e-bike is an excellent choice, which will provide you with daily exercise as well. Exercise is all about consistency and frequency, and e-bikes definitely encourage that. If I didn't buy an e-bike, my alternative would be a moped or motorcycle, in which case I would be getting 0 exercise. Of course biking provides more exercise than e-bike, but running provides more exercise than biking. So if you really want to be hardcore, then throw your bike away and get running!

Interesting look at the ebike (assisted) revolution. Brings to mind an earlier blurring of boundaries between cycling and motorcycling - the Solex moped. Remember them?? I see ebike advantages, but surely they won’t replace the human-powered mechanical bicycle as the most natural and efficient mode of transport...after the legs themselves?!

I know of a number of professional Mountain bikers who race on the EWS and World Cup down hill circuit who are big converts to the e-bike for training. Being able to practice descending skills on repeatably loops over a long period without the need for a chair lift or a van means more time for training. The extra weight of riding an e-bike in technical terrain has the potential to improve strength and condition for gravity based riders too.

Always with good material to show us, great video thanks.

Getting people out of cars and riding, even a little bit, greatly benefits everyone. Can be a great gateway to getting totally sedentary people off the couch and moving a bit. And reducing auto use for short trips. And getting out with others to enjoy the outdoors, so there is a social aspect as well. Weird side note: film is making a small comeback.

I got an eMTB to go through the hills in ballater and it’s amazing , no continually looking at watts and speed , just enjoying the hills, and they a have definitely improved my road bike cycling.

Recently retired, an eBike is giving me capacity to travel and explore and has certainly given my fitness a gentle boost. Easy to tone back the assistance as fitness develops.

As I said over a year ago on the EMBN channel I really think that having the restrictor set to 20mph in Europe makes a lot of sense. Just think about in London particularly so many roads are going towards 20mph speed limits, being able to keep up with traffic (when it's moving) would be safer. The speed would be fine when off road too. In terms of fitness, for a pro or quite fit person would they still get some benefits by just going out for longer then they would normally?

Half regret switching to carbon, 39x30 grannie gear & fat 25mm tyres, as I got lazy switching from an old bike with 42x21 bottom gear! Full suspension EMTBs are great for recovering from injuries or new riders, though I suspect you may just be collecting bikes?

The problem with e-bikes is that they're priced like motorcycles. And there's a LOT more engineering, design and manufacture going into a motorcycle than even a sophisticated e-bike. And motorcycles are already dual suspension, with comparable warranties, with more parts. The value equation doesn't add up.

In a nutshell (non-cargo) e-bikes will get more people out on the road, but fewer people will feel the need to get fit. Most people these days do not want to do the work.

Of course people get fitter riding e-bikes. The biggest step up for modern man's fitness is the difference between doing nothing and doing something. E-bikes are something = win.

Disc brake, carbon, e bikes are the future.

My g/f has health issues and due to e-bikes she still cycles. So that's a win no matter what.

This is the end of FFT :-(

Nice Helmet !!!

pay to win for softies and seniors

🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️

Not cheap, but they might be the future.

biking is not the best work-out known to man - at all. Cross-counrty-skiing is way better already.

@6:20 in Germany due to Covid19 people had more time for cycling and everybody owns an e-bike now. if you come to a bike shop with your roadbike now t you feel like a a second class customer (technically you are). they rather want so sell a 3000€ ebike but fixing your roadbike just cost them time with little profit and you will get rejected.