If you were in any doubt that the assistance of an electric motor on your bike would leave you less out of breath, then you’re in luck… because Shimano have today released results of a study showing that e-bike riders perspire three times less than those who ride regular bikes, making them ideal for commuters who don’t want to arrive at the office a sweaty mess.
Cycling daily reduces obesity – unless it’s an e-bike
Conducted by the Sports Science Agency and commissioned by Shimano at an F1 testing facility, the study had six participants riding for 30 minutes at a time in a heat chamber set to 28ºC, firstly on a normal bike and then on a Shimano Steps e-bike. On average they produced three times less sweat (350ml) on the e-bike, had a heart rate that was 63BPM lower at the end of the test and maintained a core body temperature that was 0.9ºC lower than when riding the regular bike. Higher physiological stress and of course, huge sweat patches on clothing was noted while participants were riding the regular bike, compared to much lower stress levels and little to no sweat on clothes during the e-bike ride.
Sports Science Agency’s lead scientist Jack Wilson said of the study: “The main findings show that using an e-Bike as opposed to a regular bike, commuters can complete their ride to work without concerns regarding sweat and physiological strain. It’s fair to hypothesise that the benefits of exercise remain and that e-bikes may be a good introduction to those who feel they’re not sufficiently fit enough to attempt to cycle to work.”
While it may seem like a case of stating the obvious, the findings show just how much difference the extra assistance gives you; and for those looking for a commute with less exertion without taking the car, e-bikes will certainly get you to work feeling much less fatigued and free of damp patches on your shirt…
22 thoughts on “E-bikers sweat three times less than regular bike riders, finds Shimano study”
Seem like ?
Seem like ?
I prefer the English English,
I prefer the English English, which would be ‘ordinary’ or ‘normal’ bike. Then we could keep using ‘regular’ to mean the opposite of ‘irregular’. I think the battle is lost, though.
On topic, there’s some hope that e-bikes will bring about mass cycling – appealing to people who don’t want to do much exercise on a particular journey, or in general.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
With my embarrassed apologies for being a tedious & pedantic knob:
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny-farthing (My bold):
“Although the name “penny-farthing” is now the most common, it was probably not used until the machines were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is from 1891 in Bicycling News.[4] For most of their reign, they were simply known as “bicycles”. In the late 1890s, the name “ordinary” began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles”
An ‘Ordinary’
HarrogateSpa wrote:
I hope for this too. I read a piece of research recently (can’t remember where so can’t provide a link) that a good number of people who say that they’d love to cycle, but don’t because it’s dangerous/sweaty/theft-prone etc are, im reality, just lazy, and would be only too happy to swing a leg over an eBike.
Three times less is not 300%
Three times less is not 300% less.
Three times less means a third as much and therefore 33% or if you prefer, 67% less.
nnahler wrote:
Umm, ok.
Doesn’t mention such % in the article though
EDIT: I see roadcc have changed the title
If they give me £10k I’m
If they give me £10k I’m happy to finish off this vital bit of research. Do you sweat more or less on a bicycle or a motorbike? It’s clearly a vital question that needs to ba answered. At least it must be if they have to done a bit of research this pointless.
Wow, people who do less
Wow, people who do less exercise sweat less.
And are less fit.
And probably weigh more.
And probably have less life expectancy.
And so on (again, as the poster above said, it’s motorbike vs bike..at least in london where they are all derestricted within seconds of being bought and people barely pedal at 20mph plus)
Isn’t this called e-sweat?
Isn’t this called e-sweat?
James Walker wrote:
Battery acid.
In other news, sitting on
In other news, sitting on your arse watching telly and eating doughnuts makes you fatter and less happy…
Daveyraveygravey wrote:
I wanna see a graph for that (+ squirrels) and a peer reviewed paper before I’m even remotely swayed by your statement
can the ‘snobby’ roadies
can the ‘snobby’ roadies please step away from their keyboards…
I’m 61, with a heart condition. My e-bike is the only way I can still carry on cycling to and from work… plus we don’t have showers. If e-bikes dweren’t available, I’d be yet another car on the road…
Paul_C wrote:
No one is questioning the usefulness of an ebike, merely the usefulness of the study…
Great research.
Great research.
I’ve often wondered if the use of Di2 vs conventional gears would mean less sweaty fingers.
In other news, people who use
In other news, people who use a forklift truck to lift tractor tyres are found to sweat less than people who choose to lift them with their bare hands…
I guess the study wasn’t
I guess the study wasn’t really to show that Ebike riders sweat less (which nobody would be surprised at) but the degree to which they sweat less. As someone who sweats a lot when cycling, not having showers at work is one of the reasons why I don’t commute all the way from home, the difference an ebike makes would potentially make would make me consider one and moving from being a two car family to a single car family (or at least using my car less).
RobD wrote:
How fast do you cycle or more accurately at what intensity do you cycle going into work? You’d be surprised at the difference in sweatage if you ease off the pedals somewhat and in most built up areas it doesn’t cost you much time at all as you’re as likely to hit the anchors and other slower riders make up the time whilst you’re waiting at lights, junctions etc.
You find pretty much the same when you’re in a motor around town, it barely makes a difference if you’re trundling at 20-25mph and eventually you’ll catch up the gnomes doing 35-40mph.
Presumably, everyone working
Presumably, everyone working for the Sports Science Agency has a degree in stating the bleedin’ obvious. Would that be a BSc or a BA I wonder?
“E-bikers sweat three times
“E-bikers sweat three times less” … till they encounter stairs.
Just buy a moped.
Just buy a moped.
I went to work on my
I went to work on my motorbike today and arrived very refreshed. Seems ideal for commuters who don’t want to arrive a work in a sweaty mess. Some days I even use a car and listen to the radio and use climate control. Very refreshing indeed.