They speed you uphill, and get you to work or the shops without sweat. Yet detractors still cry ‘cheat’. Here we test the latest e-bikes, and whiz past outdated macho attitudes to cycling

The idea of power-assisted cycling seems to exasperate some people. When I talk about e-bikes, I hear: “It’s cheating!” and “The point of cycling is exercise.” It’s not cheating because we are not racing, life is not a competition and neither is going to the shops. Nor does it mean you don’t exercise on an electric bike – you still have to pedal – it’s just that your pedalling can be assisted when the wind is against you or you need help up a hill. It feels like someone is giving you a push through the difficult bits. The motor can help you on the flat as well, but is legally required to cut out at 15.5mph, making an electric bike no more dangerous than an ordinary one. They are great for long, hilly, blowy jaunts and commutes, and allow people to choose this greener form of getting around over a car or public transport when it would not work for them, for whatever reason, to use an ordinary bicycle.

The legitimate reasons for using an electric bike are many. The first of these, for me, is because I want to, but there are others. Here are some quotes I’ve collected: “Since getting his electric bike my 80-year-old dad has been given a new lease of life”; “I live on the South Downs – I’d have to use my car far more often if I didn’t have one”; “All the rage here in hilly Oslo, especially for hauling kids and bulky goods”; “Perfect for cobbled, windy Edinburgh”; “As an ex-athlete with knackered knees, I need the electric bike for hills I could not otherwise do”; “On my e-bike I can keep up with my fitter friends so we can ride together”; “Good for the days I would’ve opted for the car because too tired to go on my regular bike”; “If we didn’t have one, we’d have to have two cars”; “I’ve got a walking disability and the electric bike means I can get out.”

My own, other, justification for it though is because it’s fun.

The more you pay for your e-bike, the longer your battery will last – a full charge will take you from 25 up to 70 miles, but it depends how you use it and in what conditions. Hills, winds and weight (yours and the bike’s) will impact on battery life.

Prices start from about £650 for a bog-standard commuter bike that will do about 25 miles on a six-hour charge, to a limited edition Blacktrail BT-01 which retails at over £60,000, and I suspect is mainly for posing on. However much you pay upfront, an e-bike is likely to be cheaper than running a car, more fun than public transport and less strenuous than ordinary pedal power.

Despite all this, the “cheating” jeer still hangs around, and many people feel too embarrassed to ride an e-bike with the battery in plain view. In my unscientific Twitter poll, 60% of people said they would be more likely to use an electric bike if no one could tell it was electric. They will like the Coboc One Soho (£3,199, 13.7kg) – a sleek single-speed model in satin aluminium.

The single-speed bike became popular in the 90s with New York couriers, then got picked up by hipsters in the rest of America and Europe. Like all things cool, there is an impracticality. New York may be flat but other places have hills. If you want the pared-down cool of a single-speed without ever breaking into a sweat, the Coboc One Soho is the bike for you. The battery is hidden in the frame, and the motor is discreet. It would suit any bun-loving-beardy wanting a bit more oomph as they make their way between pop-up coffee shops.

The motor seems silent on busier streets, although you can hear a faint hum on quiet ones. My main gripe is that I never felt comfortable . The lack of suspension made me feel like the Princess and her Pea every time a road was less than recently resurfaced.

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I did not enjoy the brown-taped handlebars being way lower than the hard Brooks saddle, but if you are used to this riding position, it won’t be so much of an issue. You might even begin to get a feeling of control once you are used to having your hands so close together – the brakes are jammed up right next to the headset.

When I bought my first electric bike, the salesman said most of his customers were like me – the late middle-aged. We still want the freedom of two wheels but often don’t have the joints or the puff to make the most of them. We tend, in this mature category, to be more concerned about what the bike feels like, how comfortable it is and how long we can manage to ride it before the battery or our own body, conks out, rather than how good the bike is for posing.

This beast is for thrills. Your rear end takes a bit of punishment – but it’s worth it for the excitement

The Bosch motor is in plain sight on my Raleigh Motus Step Through 10spd (£2,000, 24.3kg), and the battery is on the useful luggage rack. The sit-up-and-beg riding position makes signalling and looking at the view easier than the dropdown position of the Coboc. The motor is smooth and has 10 gears, and there are four types of electric help from an eco setting to full power. The suspension keeps me comfortable on all roads and paths including gravel. This is a great all-round e-bike.

But what if you want to go completely off-road? How about an electric mountain bike (eMTB) with a DayGlo yellow alloy frame, 3in fat tyres, front suspension – a Haibike Sduro HardSeven 7.0 (£2,800, 20.2kg)?

This beast is for thrills. “Hardtail” means no rear suspension, so your rear end takes a bit of punishment – but it’s worth it for the excitement. If you enjoy tearing over tree stumps and flying over jumps as you career downhill on a mountain bike, on this eMTB you will enjoy the same kicks on the ride up as well. Show it a twisty, rooty uphill trial, and it really comes into its own.

Layers of power-assist include eco, for keeping going all day; the standard, which I found to be an excellent register for the mud because it gives you just enough help without spinning the back wheel; then there’s high and superpower to get you to the top of rocky summits.

Going downhill is when any eMTB is not going to give you the same thrill as a standard MTB because it is heavier and therefore more difficult to control at speed, but the disc brakes are great and the fat tyres are gripped. You don’t get the same physical workout as with a normal bike – you get something entirely different. This is another way to have fun.

The GoCycle 3 (£3,500, 16kg) has been engineered from scratch. It doesn’t look like a bicycle as we know it – all the workings, electric or otherwise, are within its aerodynamic frame. Everything is different about it: how the wheels attach, how the gears and power-assist works – it isn’t trying to look like a normal bike, it is a reinvention. I had to learn a bit about it before I could ride it, as the clutter-free dashboard does not readily give up its secrets. However, once I learned to set the power ratios to suit me and got the hang of the automatic gearbox, I felt I was using a new form of transport altogether. It is comfortable, fast and fun, and stops on a sixpence.

In the low countries, cycling seems more civilised. Bike commuters wear their office gear to go to work rather than Lycra, and are more courteous than competitive towards other road users. They are also more likely to be separated from cars in dedicated lanesToo many of our UK commuters seem to think they are Bradley Wiggins and pedal as hard as they can. Perhaps this explains why so many people appear to resent the electric bike. Yes, cycling can be a sport but bicycles, primarily, are a mode of transport. Let’s stop confusing the two.

Over in the Netherlands, 2017 is the year of the e-bike. Sales there are increasing year on year and now account for 57% of all bicycle sales turnover. If we can leave our macho cycling attitudes at home with our cars, we too could join them in this healthier, happier future: one that includes both the bicycle and the e-bicycle as legitimate modes of transport.

Philippa Perry is a psychotherapist and author of How to Stay Sane. Thanks to East Central Cycles, London and Easy Pedal Bikes Eastbourne