No.2423
Yeah they're common enough in my neck of the woods (australia). People ride normal pedal bicycles a lot. The e-bikes I'm familiar with are when someone mods their pedal bike to have a noisy motor on it. The city centre also has e-scooters that you pay for with an app and if you try to ride them without paying the brakes engage.
Make sure the bike basket is really securely attached if you get one for groceries. I had a kuso one that attached via friction and a wire and it wasn't good for more than a kilogram.
No.2424
>E-bike use was shown to increase the amount of physical activity.
Interesting but sensible take
No.2426
I don't bike enough to buy my own bike, but I do have a bike rental station near my apartment I use sometimes, and they've been gradually phasing out regular bikes for e-bikes that cost more to use. I try to grab a regular bike if possible since they're cheaper and if I'm biking in the first place I want the exercise, but the times I have used an e-bike they're very effortless to use, just a tiny pedal keeps you going for a while.
No.2427
These stupid things cause flame wars often online. Cyclists and motorcyclists seem to hate them with a passion
No.2428
>>2425Why does the baby have geisha makeup????
No.2429
>>2427two groups that are regularly patient and well balanced people!
No.2430
I rented one for a ride around the park once. Not great for exercise since there's basically no resistance, but way better than those scooters for leisurely going through a no driving area. If you do it often enough to build up cycling muscles, you're probably better off just using a normal one.
No.2431
I don't see the point, a normal bike would be better. Riding a bike is not that taxing.
No.2434
>>2423Nice. Yeah, one of the reasons I asked is that I saw in the part of town that's undergoing hipster-ization had a collection of e-bikes that you could rent sitting next to a street corner.
The e-bike type I'm after is one that can operate as a normal bike, but I could turn the electric part on on for assistance if I need it. Something like that must exist, right? Although a vespa would be cool, I'm more after a regular biking experience with the security of having power assistance if I need it when my body is being uncooperative like if I get a headache or stomach ache or drowsiness/etc.
No.2436
>>2435Why have a bike basket when you could just wear a bag?
No.2437
>>2435I guess that's the mentality, but how many people here actually bike for sport and exercise
No.2438
>>2436because your back gets sweaty
No.2440
>>2435I don't think it's that different. Even in suburbia kids and teens still use bikes as transport.
And are E bikes that popular in the east? Are they more popular than they are in the west? Outside of couriers that is, it's easy to justify why they would use them.
I don't view them as a form of exercise, I just think riding a bike isn't that hard and if you are using them to go from place to place you may as well get the most from it.
No.2636
>>2631>>2632Interesting. Nope, I need a lot more research. That stuff seems really expensive, though.
I don't know if it would be better to buy a regular bicycle and do the "conversion kit" thing or buy a bike that's electric from the start. But, yeah, more than anything I just need to do a bunch of research and I've been procrastinating about doing it.