Does getting an e-bike mean you eventually give up "conventional" bikes??

[Nev]

I'm just having a spot of luncheon outside a pub in Central London and the amount of ebikes whizzing about is amazing.

It used to be the case you'd see one everyday or so but now it's easily 10 to 20 percent. True a lot of them are deliveroo riders but still the amount of ebikes compared to last year has grown massively.

A bike shop close to me told me that for the last few months they have been selling more pedelelecs than conventional bikes.

 

[Nev]

I'd like to do the road biking as a pure workout to increase fitness but use the KTM to go for blasts off road which have the emphasis on fun and enjoyment, not some gruelling workout like mountain biking used to be.

I think its perfectly possible to get to and maintain a decent level of cycling fitness just by using a pedelec, in particular if one uses a pulse monitor as Andy has mentioned in this thread. By making use of the monitor one can ensure that most of ones ridding is being done at a level that provides a good workout but does not become too punishing.

If one is looking for very high levels of cycling fitness then one is almost certainly going to have to use a conventional bike.

 

[shep]

I have gone the other way. Did just over 10,000 miles on a 26v Panasonic powered Kalkhoff Aggatu, now 5000 miles on a Cube Hardtail with a Bosch CX motor which i still have. However over the last 2 years i bought a Genesis Tour De Fer and Planet X Pro Carbon road bikes, and have been doing much more on the conventional bikes, including a recent trip from Biarritz to the UK on the Tour De Fer. Without E Bikes this never would have happened, i built good base fitness from the E Bikes, so that i can really enjoy the conventional bikes.

 

[shep]

I think you can build a superb level of cycle fitness with an E Bike, using my Bosch in Eco setting which is most of the time, is about the same as using a conventional lightweight bike like my Pro Carbon = 8kg. With the old Panasonic system the cadence you had to use was far too low, for comfort, used to hurt my knees, but no such problem with the Bosch, i use a cadence of about 80 to 85, in Eco good hard workout.