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Comment by amir734jj | Hacker News Reader

I live in a suburb of a cold midwest US city, electric cars are not popular here because of cold weather. People always drive large pick-ups or Harley in the summer. But electric bikes are very common here. All types of types of them, including the ones that have no paddle and the paddle assist ones. All are very common here. If I hadn't bought a expensive road bike recently I would have bought an electric bike already. My only problem with them is they are not "bikes" as in exercise, they are a means of commute.

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The identification of bikes with "exercise", as a separate thing from daily transport, a kind of mobile gym, seems specifically American. Most other places this is a subset of uses, and only bike nuts do that. Everyone else just uses bikes to get around.

And it's been reported that e-bikes with pedals help elders get more exercise, going to the grocery store or visiting their friends, than is the norm in older age groups.

So by all means, keep your mobile gymnasium bike. But consider gettng an e-bike, maybe with a carrier, basket, and saddle-bags, as well.

It’s not specifically American at all. Such a phenomenon can be found anywhere with a car culture. If you see someone cycling in the Arabian Peninsula for example, they are usually the lycra set. Ditto for white people in most of South Africa.

I refuse to use bike as daily transportation on the grounds that I'm neither a kid, who's too young to get a drivers license, nor an Asian immigrant working as Uber Eats delivery guy. Riding a bike, other than recreationally, is beneath my dignity.

I’m not sure if you’re being serious but if so this is the exact kind of social mind virus that needs eliminating for car-dependency to end

You at least gotta admire the candidness to say the quiet part out loud.

What I think is really funny about this take is it's the ultra rich CEO's that are taking their bikes to work. The hallmark of being actually rich is not having to worry about appearances any more. As far as social signaling goes cars occupy a space where you have more money than a college kid but not actually wealthy.

Yes, that explains why warm countries like Norway are electric car leaders: https://electrek.co/2023/10/20/cratering-motor-fuel-sales-in...

No possibility of bias in an article from "electrek.co".

Which is precisely the point for decarbonization.

The government should be providing a 500$ subsidy to e bikes for the next 10 years. Everyone should have one.

An e-bike with a kid trailer is really useful.

The mass economics of ebikes is a lot better thancars. An e-bike needs like 1-2kwhr. A car needs 100 kwhr.

If people use the ebikes, the environment impact improvements are maximized for current global cell production with ebikes.

> My only problem with them is they are not "bikes" as in exercise, they are a means of commute.

Have you tried one? They can be quite fun for exercising!

I am a biker for > 15 years. Mostly Mountainbike in the past, but more Road and Gravel recently. I initially also expected e-bikes to be more for commuting, and less for exercising. After my parents bought e-bikes and I took them for a spin I however think they are awesome for exercising too. On these bikes I usually have a higher average heart rate per hour than on the regular bike, and burn more calories. I think this happens because its just so much fun and motivating to get up a hill with > 20km/h.

But it might depend a bit on the terrain: If the terrain is mostly flat and the bike has a low speed limit (e.g. 25km/h in the EU), then the e-bike will feel more of a chore than the regular one. Also the e-bikes battery should be sized well enough that it can sustain a long exercise ride (which would be 3-4 hours for me).

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