How effective are electric bikes?

[UrbanPuma]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me which muscles electric bikes work and whether there are any differences to riding a non-electric bike? What are the physical health benefits over short and long distances?

Also, is it possible to work core muscles riding in an upright seated position?

 

[flecc]

I don't think the riding position makes much difference to which muscles are used, only to the degree to which they might act. Assuming someone is grasping the handlebars and has the ball of the foot on the pedals, the whole muscle chain from the hands up through the arms, the shoulders and back, buttocks, and main leg muscles are all active to varying degrees. It's important that the saddle is not set too low since that loses mechanical advantage if the legs are considerably bent throughout the whole of the pedal rotation. Horizontal body positions with drop handlebars are primarily about wind resistance reduction.

There's no difference in these with electric assist bikes when they are pedalled, but they do reduce the muscle activity to differing degrees according the type of e-bike motor. Best for exercise are the Panasonic and Yamaha crank drive motors since their systems insist the rider puts in a fair degree of the required effort to get a proportion of help from the motor. The only way to get more help from the motor in any particular power mode is to add more personal effort.

Pedelec only with torque sensing hub motor bikes are slightly less effective for exercise. Those without torque sensing are much less effective, the motor doing more of the work, and throttle controlled e-bikes least effective of all since it's easy to be lazy and let the motor do most of the work, or even all of it in flatter terrain. How much each of these latter types affects the exercise gained is also dictated by how powerful the motor is.

Bikes that have a strict power assist cutoff at 15 mph tend to be better for exercise since there's more occasions when the rider is pedalling without assistance.
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[UrbanPuma]

Flecc,

With my bike being low powered, is it safe to assume that i will be getting some form of exercise if say, i was cycling in 2nd gear. What would the effects be...? I definately feel the increased flexibility but im wondering whether it would help stabalise kneecaps and help with balance and cordination as well as build muscle?

 

[flecc]

Balance, body flexibility and co-ordination are definitely helped every bit as much as with normal bikes, all forms of cycling being excellent for them. Healthy knee joints don't gain anything from cycling, on the contrary they often suffer long term damage, but the risks of that are very much lower with e-bikes, and that's especially true of low geared bikes like your's which tend to push you into using higher cadences which minimise any chance of damage.

Knee joints which have been severely damaged and suffer arthritis in consequence can tend to seize and lock up, and regular light pedalling of an aerobic nature helps to keep them free. This is where an e-bike can be a great help, enabling the pedalling but without the strain on the knee joints that would increase the existing damage.

Muscle building is a different matter, and the degree of gain there is entirely down to the way the e-bike makes you work, for which see my earlier post spelling out the best bike types for that. If you have a throttle you can of course use that to make you do more of the work by reducing the motor help. To get any large degree of muscle gain I think you'd need to first get as fit as possible on the e-bike, but then switch to an unpowered bike for at least some of the riding as some in this forum have done recently.
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[UrbanPuma]

Thats good but can it help stabalise unstable knees flecc?

 

[flecc]

As I don't know the nature of the instability and it's medical connection, I can't be definitive, nor am I qualified to express any absolute opinion.

However, if the leg muscles that keep the knee laterally stabilised are toned with regular exercise like cycling, that can only help.

If the problem is quite severe though, it would be best to seek medical advice on a physiotherapy or personal exercise expressly designed to strengthen those muscles. Equally, if muscle co-ordination is at the root of the problem, professional help should be sought.
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[Bikerbob]

I have a dodgy knee caused by years of playing sports. Cartlidges went years ago leading to quite severe arthritis. The knee is 'wobbly' and prone to becoming painfully inflamed. I find that cycling with my pedelec electric bike helps a lot. Firstly by helping to keep my weight down - a bit less weight makes a big difference to the strain on the knees. I think it has built up the muscles around the knee which helps. Just keeping the knee moving in a way that does not aggrivate it has to be a good thing. In my case, at least, the 'fore and aft' movement involved in cycling does no harm, it is lateral or twisting movement that causes problems. Swimming and most sports are out, but cycling is good.

 

[UrbanPuma]

Thanks for answering that particular question bikerbob, and to you flecc for the other queries.

 

[Sir_Bob]

My agattu has been effective in helping me loose 4 stones i never used to loose weight on my old nonelectric bike and quickly got tired my knees dont hert atall though so i cant comment on that

 

[Mattyduk]

I went back to a manual for a year cycling just 7 miles a day to work and back
(after a year on a synergie extreme)

It was really hard work initially, but eventually got used to it.

Then in November, using a very good excuse that my wife was pregnant with twins (and I needed to do more chores around the house) !! I got myself a Proconnect, and I'm definitely fresher when I get to work. In fact one day I brought my manual bike in to sell and it nearly killed me going up the hill !

So there's definitely a big difference for me. I'm still getting fit, just not as fit as I was on the manual

 

[Barnowl]

Knee problems really are a curse. You either stress them with painfull exercise (especially walking on hard surfaces) or put on loads of weight and make things even worse. I'm sure I've read somewhere that long term rest (rather than exercise) is the most effective therapy but fat chance of that .

I'm with Bikerbob and Flecc on this one. I've found my electric bike offers a very good compromise. Overall I feel my knees have improved rather than degenerated with e biking. I never seem to get any pain when cycling but walking on pavements and paths can be agony and fire them up for another sleepless night.

I do make a conscious effort though to keep my gearing low and my cycling at somewhere between 60 and 80 rpm.

 

[UrbanPuma]

Many people have reported loosing weight using their electric bike but has anyone noticed a difference in muscle tone in the calf and thighs since using their electric bike?

 

[Bikerbob]

Many people have reported loosing weight using their electric bike but has anyone noticed a difference in muscle tone in the calf and thighs since using their electric bike?

I can't say that I have studied my calf and thigh muscles in any sort of scientific way, but over time I have found that I cycle further up hills without even thinking of switching on the power when previously my legs would have been feeling the pain at a very early stage. I can only assume that my leg muscles have developed through regular cycling. I have always ridden without power as much as reasonably possible in the interest of fitness, and it seems logical that regularly working your muscles enough to feel them a bit will strengthen them.

 

[Sir_Bob]

I have said this before that my ebike has made me lost 4 stones it really is great i think that my calve muscles are much better but i cant really see much as they are very hiary

 

[IOM]

One hour unpowered cycling at 15mph, reportedly burns circa 900 calories. I ride my Salisbury hard, averaging close to 16mph over a 15 mile mixed terrain circuit. I certainly feel that I have put some effort in to achieve that and have lost approx 9 kilos since the start of the year.

 

[Blew it]

I have said this before that my ebike has made me lost 4 stones it really is great i think that my calve muscles are much better but i cant really see much as they are very hiary

Too much information Bob.....

....Oh! by the way..Welcome back!

 

[Alex728]

a fair few of the "serious" cycling magazines (the sort you would get if you owned a £2000 road bike, wore lyrcra and rode at 20-25mph normally on your own power) actually have adverts in the back for "discreet leg waxing for men"

My legs are equally hairy. I am in reasonable shape but not quite "Vladimir Putin" level of fitness (I am short and don't mind this but don't want to be "short and fat..."). Whilst I can do 25-30 miles on a normal bike but an e-bike makes me more likely to do this distance than just stay at home..

 

[Fecn]

My e-bike has been extremely effective at fixing my bad back. I spend most of my days sitting in front of a computer, and years of bad posture had caused my back to suffer. I got into e-biking after a friend gave me a couple of cheap Chinese ones last year and I discovered that cycling even short distances seemed to help my back a lot.... so I bought a decent bike (Kalkhoff) and have never for a single moment regretted my purchase.

I haven't really lost any weight (maybe a couple of pounds), but I'm certainly a lot fitter, and I never seem to get ill these days. - If I feel a hint of a sniffle coming on, I go for a nice long 20mile ride around all the steep hills here until I get all hot and healthy... Colds never seem to stick any more - I think I fry them with physical exercise.