#1 They get you to places faster than the average speed of traffic
This might seem like an outrageous proposition at first, but upon some thought the average city dweller will know this to be true in their heart. Urban congestion has led to a state of affairs where traffic moves much slowly at peak hours, not to mention the roadblocks that we face so often. In such a scenario, the benefits of electric cycles are plenty. An e cycle will get you to your destination faster than a normal two wheeler or a car.
The battery powered cycle tops at 25 kmph, which means given a free road it can travel 4 km in approximately 10 minutes. If there is a roadblock approaching, you can easily man oeuvre it within the traffic, or bypass the main road via streets – a luxury that not even traditional two wheelers have. This is one of the greatest advantages of an electric bicycle.
If you are bold, you could even carry the cycle over your head through the traffic. (We would love to see the photographs if you do this).
If traffic has been a major headache (and the time spent there has been keeping you off the gym), a battery operated cycle is a perfect solution for you.
#2 Great way to mitigate the side effects of a sedentary lifestyle
At LightSpeed, we are huge proponents of an active lifestyle. Then why buy an electric bicycle instead of a regular one? Introducing a battery operated bicycle into your daily life means that you are blocking out certain times of the day for physical activity by default. The Pedal Boost gives you freedom over how much effort you want to exert. You can thus modulate your effort from low intensity to medium intensity (and in between) while you ride your bicycle.
High levels of Pedal Boost can help you travel to your destination with lesser effort (for days when you are just too tired) and yet get some low intensity physical activity at the same time. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, you can engage in physical activity without much disruption to your daily routine.
This one small, specific change in your lifestyle will cascade into bigger changes for your health. The regular physical activity from the electric cycle will boost your blood circulation, work your core muscles out, relieve you of stress, and release joy-giving endorphins in your body.
If you have been trying to give up a sedentary lifestyle and add some physical activity, an electric bicycle fits in your day much better than an infrequent jog or an elusive gym routine.
#3 Exercise for longer durations (high endurance, medium intensity work-out)
A single charge on a battery powered cycle will take you upwards of 30 km in distance covered. If you can cover this much distance in a single ride, you are building up high levels of endurance. On a normal bicycle, you would have to cover all 30+ km by yourself. This involves the possibility of exhausting yourself, or worse, not even daring to try long distance rides. After all, who wants to travel 10 km away, only to find out that the return journey is far beyond your capacity (for the time being)?
A battery operated bicycle has a Pedal Boost and Throttle mechanism which immediately solves this problem. You can rely on the Pedal Boost to take the exhaustion out of your pedalling. You even have the choice of making your own workout routine. For example, you could go all out at first, and then recover your strength with some high levels of assist. Or, you could choose to have a steady effort all the while with medium levels of assist. There are near-infinite ways that you can compose your journey.
All this while, you end up building endurance at the level of intensity that you prefer. The Pedal Boost gives you a peace of mind that you can aim for a high endurance work out without fearing muscle failure. Within a few such workouts, you would be able to build your capacity to have high endurance, medium intensity workouts. This is one of the many benefits of riding an electric bicycle.
#4 Increases metabolism and core muscle strength because it allows you to ride for longer
As we have mentioned earlier, the electric cycle allows you to ride for longer periods of time and train yourself for high endurance and medium intensity work outs. Slowly and steadily, such a workout adapts your body to metabolize food so that it can replenish the carbohydrates in your muscles. Your Resting Metabolism Rate increases.
Your muscles start building high endurance capacity, and push lactic acid release farther. Cycling involves most major muscle groups and it specifically trains your core muscles and your glutes.
All of this is made easier by an electric cycle which makes the learning curve for long distance cycling easier through its electric motor interventions.
#5 Ride to work without perspiring heavily
Riding a battery powered bicycle is a much smarter choice than riding with a conventional two wheeler – or heaven forbid – a four wheeler. Both of them have very high top speeds, but most of that range is irrelevant in heavy traffic during peak hours. A bicycle can help you mitigate that traffic, but it introduces another problem: the physical exertion that you put in during your ride can cause your body to heat up and you will sweat profusely.
Here is where an electric cycle gains the edge over a normal bicycle. Once you develop a good intuition for the most comfortable amount of physical effort, you will be able to use Pedal Boost and Throttle to help you carry the rest of the way. These technologies take the effort out of your biking when you don’t need to exert yourself. You arrive at your destination fresh with all the physical activity, happy that you have beaten the traffic and without a single trickle of sweat from the ride.
In this manner, a battery operated cycle becomes versatile in engaging your body at different levels. You can use it to break a serious sweat, or like we just mentioned – beat the traffic using it without any unwanted sweating. You can have your cake and eat it too.
#6 Long range battery to facilitate recreational rides
LightSpeed’s Glyd has a range of 35 km while Dryft has a range of 50 km. Most bicycle rides can be finished well within these distances. You can use this to your advantage and plan a ride to anywhere in this radius from your house.
It takes thinking and planning out of the equation. You can simply choose to go to a far off place. If your preferred destination is pretty close, you can go about exploring the vicinity of the place without any concern for the battery charge left.
Whether it is a ride on a hilly terrain, a river bank nearby, or just the cricket maidaan in your vicinity – you can visit all of them for a joy ride.
#7 Great for families to share and use
An electric bicycle falls in a unique product category, a multipurpose vehicle designed specifically so that anyone can use it, unlike sports cycles that are not marketed to women, or four wheelers that require specific training.
The electric cycle has many use cases, and it is not a specialized item aimed at a particular demographic. A conventional two wheeler might be unusable by many members of the family; a four wheeler poses a large entry barrier because of the skill involved. The battery powered cycle, however, has something in it for everyone.
The electric bicycle can be used for commuting, performing your chores around the city, or taking a stroll in the neighbourhood. It can be used by any member of the family, for any of these use cases. These are all the instances when you might use an e cycle over a conventional vehicle, not to mention all the other times when you can use it to get some exercise or explore the wilderness. An electric bicycle therefore increases the value of the investment made into it manifold; and is an ideal purchase for families.
#8 Improves blood circulation, and facilitates stress release
Regularly using your battery operated bicycle makes sure that your muscles get a consistent work out. This leads to an increase in the glucose uptake in your muscle cells so that they can get the energy for the effort. This results in a slew of body reactions which increases your metabolic rate, and also increases blood circulation to your muscles and throughout your body.
Regular exercise through your electric cycle also helps in managing the build-up of cortisol in your body. Cortisol is a stress hormone that builds up in your body with regular stretches of pressure cooker situations in life. Due to this relief in cortisol levels, your body experiences a natural form of relaxation. Add to this situation the wonderful release of pleasure giving endorphins and you will understand how valuable an electric cycle in your day is.
And keep in mind; you achieve all of this without getting out of your way to do exercise. It all happens within your normal routine.
#9 Saves productive time/ Easy on the pocket
A regular active lifestyle is sold to us as time spent in the gym or fitness freaks somehow finding time to jog and run at a nearby park. However, this is a huge entry barrier to those who have a packed routine. If you have a sedentary lifestyle and have such a routine, you might feel trapped in your situation.
In such a scenario, you will be able to use the battery powered bicycle to your advantage. Instead of taking a two wheeler or a four wheeler for your commute, get started with a battery powered bicycle. Use it for your daily chores. All the time that you are getting your daily dose of physical activity is coming from the time that you would otherwise spend on travelling. As we have maintained, you can use PedalBoost to ensure that whatever level of physical activity that you perform while you travel is within your control.
Remember also that your daily fitness routine now comes free of cost, as you don’t have to buy a gym membership. Since your battery powered bicycle actually saves you the cost of petrol, your savings are twofold.
#10 The satisfaction of doing your bit for the environment
Global warming might seem like a problem that’s completely out of our reach. It is overwhelming if you want to do something about it, and most of us do not really believe that we can be of much help in this problem. However, an individual has much more power than he or she imagines. Once you adopt an electric cycle as a means to commute and travel, you effectively remove one petrol guzzler from the roads. That’s a very significant change.
Once you adopt an electric bicycle, environmental benefits start to follow. Your extended circle will also consider purchasing one – and that is an indirect contribution in reducing the carbon emissions in your surrounding environment.
It gives you the satisfaction of having done your bit for the environment. Every time you choose to ride your electric cycle instead of your conventional vehicle, you are doing yourself a favour. Simultaneously, you are making the massive adoption of electric vehicles possible. That’s a significant contribution in changing the world for the better