Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.timleibrand
07-21-07, 02:22 PM
Isn't road biking just another way of cheating?
Running to work would be the best workout, wouldn't it? You're spending a lot of energy while making the commute as efficiently and quickly as your body will allow you to. Buying a cheap mountain bike on craigslist greatly increases the efficiency of your body, allowing you to get to work sooner and with less energy expended. This is less of a workout, and from the point of view of a purist runner it would be cheating. On the other hand, it has the obvious benefit of getting you to work quickly and cheaply, while still providing a workout.
Spending $800 - $1000 for an entry-level road bike increases your efficiency yet again. When I was younger and didn't have $800 to spend on a road bike, it certainly felt like spandexters were cheating. They spent loads of money on an ultralight carbon fiber bike in order to go faster - while spending the same amount of energy as I did on my heavy mountain bike. From a competitive standpoint, what's fair about that? But are they actually cheating? I'd say that it's just a different form of transportation. I didn't feel like my bike was cheating, even as I passed joggers on my way to school -and I doubt the spandexters felt they were cheating me when they road past me in a tuck.
I don't jog. I don't bike for the sole purpose of the exercise, although it is high up on my list of why I choose a bike over a motorcycle or scooter. For me, and for many others, biking is a cheap way to get to work. In America that's not the main point of bicycles, but in most countries it is. And ebikes make more economic sense than road bikes. This is a fairly new development: it's cheaper to buy a good ebike than an entry-level road bike. It's even cheaper to add an ebike kit to your mountain bike, if you're choosing between upgrading to a road bike or to an ebike for your commute. Many purist road bikers are in excellent physical shape, which is both a reason they choose cycling and a result of their choice. For this reason, you might still see arguments for commuting by road bike over ebiking. But dollar for dollar and with the same rider, an ebike will get you to work in less time.
An average cyclist will get a higher average speed with an ebike than a road bike, and he'll pay less to do so. Isn't that the whole point of commuting on a bicycle? An ebike is less physically demanding than a road bike. Isn't that the whole point of bicycling in general? Mile for mile or minute for minute, running is a better workout than a heavy bike, a heavy bike is a better workout than a road bike, and a road bike is a better workout than an ebike (at full throttle). That's what happens when your commute gets more efficient - your workout shortens. This also allows for longer commutes, which in my case makes all the difference in the world.
One thing I largely left out was the "fuel cost" of using an electric bicycle. To preempt the protests, it's a completely false argument. The cost of electricity is so low per mile that in most cases it would be more expensive for the commuter to replace the food calories.
To sum up my long-winded point, it's not about the workout for some of us. It's about transportation. Even road bikers would agree that's part of the allure. If they got the same workout but averaged 5 miles an hour, there just wouldn't be that many bikers around. As for me - I want to get to work in a reasonable amount of time without paying dearly for each mile, and I want to get some exercise. I'm going to ride an ebike and you're not going to even notice. The batteries are in my lunch box and the hub motor is only as large as the disc brake on my mountain bike. Enjoy your sweat and your shower, and I'll see you at the water cooler.
Running to work would be the best workout, wouldn't it? You're spending a lot of energy while making the commute as efficiently and quickly as your body will allow you to. Buying a cheap mountain bike on craigslist greatly increases the efficiency of your body, allowing you to get to work sooner and with less energy expended. This is less of a workout, and from the point of view of a purist runner it would be cheating. On the other hand, it has the obvious benefit of getting you to work quickly and cheaply, while still providing a workout.
Spending $800 - $1000 for an entry-level road bike increases your efficiency yet again. When I was younger and didn't have $800 to spend on a road bike, it certainly felt like spandexters were cheating. They spent loads of money on an ultralight carbon fiber bike in order to go faster - while spending the same amount of energy as I did on my heavy mountain bike. From a competitive standpoint, what's fair about that? But are they actually cheating? I'd say that it's just a different form of transportation. I didn't feel like my bike was cheating, even as I passed joggers on my way to school -and I doubt the spandexters felt they were cheating me when they road past me in a tuck.
I don't jog. I don't bike for the sole purpose of the exercise, although it is high up on my list of why I choose a bike over a motorcycle or scooter. For me, and for many others, biking is a cheap way to get to work. In America that's not the main point of bicycles, but in most countries it is. And ebikes make more economic sense than road bikes. This is a fairly new development: it's cheaper to buy a good ebike than an entry-level road bike. It's even cheaper to add an ebike kit to your mountain bike, if you're choosing between upgrading to a road bike or to an ebike for your commute. Many purist road bikers are in excellent physical shape, which is both a reason they choose cycling and a result of their choice. For this reason, you might still see arguments for commuting by road bike over ebiking. But dollar for dollar and with the same rider, an ebike will get you to work in less time.
An average cyclist will get a higher average speed with an ebike than a road bike, and he'll pay less to do so. Isn't that the whole point of commuting on a bicycle? An ebike is less physically demanding than a road bike. Isn't that the whole point of bicycling in general? Mile for mile or minute for minute, running is a better workout than a heavy bike, a heavy bike is a better workout than a road bike, and a road bike is a better workout than an ebike (at full throttle). That's what happens when your commute gets more efficient - your workout shortens. This also allows for longer commutes, which in my case makes all the difference in the world.
One thing I largely left out was the "fuel cost" of using an electric bicycle. To preempt the protests, it's a completely false argument. The cost of electricity is so low per mile that in most cases it would be more expensive for the commuter to replace the food calories.
To sum up my long-winded point, it's not about the workout for some of us. It's about transportation. Even road bikers would agree that's part of the allure. If they got the same workout but averaged 5 miles an hour, there just wouldn't be that many bikers around. As for me - I want to get to work in a reasonable amount of time without paying dearly for each mile, and I want to get some exercise. I'm going to ride an ebike and you're not going to even notice. The batteries are in my lunch box and the hub motor is only as large as the disc brake on my mountain bike. Enjoy your sweat and your shower, and I'll see you at the water cooler.