E-Bike Vs Muscle Bikes: benefits and myths to dispel.

Usually the arguments in support of the muscular over the pedal-assisted bicycle are purely subjective, without support of statistical data.

But we are certain of one thing: that the e-bike is the perfect bike for those who "love Netflix, sofa and zero effort", is a thesis wrong.

A study commissioned by Shimano found that Italy is the third European country that most prefers pedaling on an e-bike.

This study involved 13,000 people in 11 European countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

The inhabitants of our beautiful country have shown a greater propensity to purchase an e-bike (30%) but also the one with the lowest level of e-bike penetration on the market (around the 3%).

The race for the perfect e-bike started due to a savings discussion fatigue (34%), Time (28%) e money (25%) and is mainly used for home-work travel.

The use of the e-bike for more sustainable mobility certainly has a great impact on everyone's health.

First of all, even with an e-bike you still have to pedal. E-bikes support pedaling up to 25 km/h and give a maximum power of 250 W.

Simply put, physical activity can be modulated and support is useful especially during restarts.

The data from multiple studies also tends to dispel the myth that "with an e-bike it's easy".

In a study by'International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity of 2017, for example, it was demonstrated that subjects who travel with an e-bike on their home-work journey show the same improvements at a cardiovascular level as those who use a traditional bike.

Again, in the document “E-Bikes in the Mainstream: Reviewing a Decade of Research”, promoted by the Danish Ministry of Transport, it was found that, given the significant weight of electric bikes, in sedentary subjects the use of the pedal-assisted bicycle leads to a faster adaptation of muscular strength compared to the use of muscular ones.

Finally, a study of theUniversity of Zurich brought out a truly curious fact: those who use an electric bicycle actually carry out more physical activity than those who use a muscular bicycle.

This is because those who own an e-bike are inclined to use it for more hours a week, also covering greater distances and, therefore, even if the pedaling effort is less, the overall exercise is more intense.

Another study entitled “ The Effect of cycling on cognitive function and well-being in older adults”, which is linked to the one just mentioned, also demonstrates that the subjects examined showed improvements in cognitive abilities compared to those who use muscle bikes.

Furthermore, it was found that those who pedaled on a pedal-assisted bike felt better and this is because, in 8 weeks, the subjects used their e-bike for 240 minutes more than those who used a traditional bike, with a positive impact greater on the health of individuals.

From this perspective, the e-bike is to be considered a great opportunity to get back into shape, to be happier and certainly, much healthier!