BEYOND TWO WHEELS: IS IT WORTH BUYING AN ELECTRIC BICYCLE RATHER THAN A REGULAR ONE?

Electric bicycles are becoming popular nowadays. It depends on one’s choice whether they want to buy an e-bike or a regular one. Most of the children nowadays are attracted towards this technology where millennials still want to stick to the traditional bicycle. This article can be of interest to people who are unsure about whether to purchase an e-bike or not. I will try to cover all the aspects of e-bikes including speed range, regulations about e-bikes in many countries and many more. The guidelines mentioned in the article might be helpful to determine whether an e-bike is the correct choice for you or not.

Speed:

The speed of an electric bicycle ranges from 15.5 mph to 28 mph. This might sound a little slower, but you need zero weary efforts to put on to ride an e-bike. On the other hand, the speed of regular bikes depends on the rider, and it might go as high as 82.82 mph. Laughing out loud, here I made you confused but with higher speed you need to put on extreme efforts that might leave you sweaty. On a serious note, you cannot use an e-bike in cycling races as it won’t help you break land speed records.

Regulations on E-Bikes:

Let’s discuss some laws on riding and buying electric bicycles and regular ones around the globe. To be honest, there are no such regulations on regular bicycles. Regulations on e-bikes depend on the territories. For instance, if you live in the UK, you must reach 14 years of age in order to have your very own electric bicycle. The speed limit in the UK is 15.5 mph. Likewise, British Columbia, Ontario, Croatia, Spain and Sweden have regulations on riding an e-bike on reaching a specific digit of age that is 16. In Ireland, you will need a license, insurance and helmet to ride an e-bike. Australia and Latvia do not permit children to ride an e-bike. Asia leads the list for having most electric bikes registered in the world. 200M e-bikes are registered in China alone. Speed limit for an e-bike in China is 20-25 km/h. Rider must not exceed 400W power on an e-bike. Bikes must not weigh more than 55kg. Beijing asks its citizens to have a driver's license to purchase an e-bike. Japan has the similar speed limit like China and the bicyclist must not exceed 250W power. 

WORKOUT:

You might be thinking regular bikes would help you in burning more calories than electric bikes because all you need to do is sit on the e-bike and it would run on its own. Well, I had some similar misconceptions before. Regular bikes provide significantly better workout in terms of calories burned and effort expended than e-bikes. On the other hand, studies suggest e-cyclists get as much or slightly more total exercise as people who ride regular bikes.

Distance:

E-bikes are at a disadvantage for traveling long distances. The bicyclist cannot travel long distances while riding an e-bike as it has several issues such as the power limits. On the other hand, regular bikes are made for long distance travel and have some added features such as luggage racks and wider tires.

COST:

E-bikes used to be quite expensive when they entered the market but not anymore. The cost of electric bikes has decreased drastically in recent years with the wide demand around the globe. Regular bike on the other hand is quite cheaper than an e-bike. Although e-bikes are a bit costly than a regular bike but the difference between costs have come to a fall.

CONCLUSION:

If you are looking for less effort require personal transport, you go with the electric bicycles. For the people with no expense issues can also buy the new technology. If your country has no such strict regulations on e-bikes or if you are above the mentioned ages, you must buy an e-bike.