Baseline characteristics of participants
| Characteristics | Total | E-bikers | Cyclists | P value |
| Participants, n | 1879 | 1250 | 629 | |
| Female, n (%) | 598 (31.8%) | 414 (33.1%) | 184 (29.3%) | |
| Male, n (%) | 1281 (68.2%) | 836 (66.9%) | 445 (70.7%) | 0.089 |
| Age, years | 52.3 (12.4) | 54.2 (11.4) | 48.3 (13.4) | <0.0001 |
| Body weight, kg | 83.0 (16.9) | 84.8 (17.4) | 79.4 (15.2) | <0.0001 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 26.4 (4.5) | 27.1 (4.6) | 25.0 (3.9) | <0.0001 |
| Resting heart rate, bpm | 60.0 (8.2) | 60.7 (8.1) | 58.7 (8.2) | <0.0001 |
| Employment | ||||
| Full-time, n (%) | 1118 (64.5%) | 703 (61.5%) | 415 (70.6%) | |
| Part-time, n (%) | 277 (16.0%) | 194 (17.0%) | 83 (14.1%) | |
| Unemployed, n (%) | 337 (19.5%) | 247 (21.6%) | 90 (15.3%) | 0.001 |
| Smoker | ||||
| Smoker, n (%) | 142 (7.6%) | 109 (8.8%) | 33 (5.2%) | |
| Non-smoker, n (%) | 1730 (92.4%) | 1134 (91.2%) | 596 (94.8%) | 0.007 |
| Comorbiditiesp | ||||
| Coronary heart disease, n (%) | 101 (5.4%) | 80 (6.4%) | 21 (3.4%) | 0.004 |
| Stroke, n (%) | 29 (1.5%) | 23 (1.8%) | 6 (1.0%) | 0.123 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 465 (24.7%) | 364 (29.1%) | 101 (16.2%) | <0.0001 |
| Diabetes mellitus type 2, n (%) | 68 (3.6%) | 58 (4.6%) | 10 (1.6%) | 0.001 |
| Asthma bronchiale/COPD, n (%) | 122 (6.5%) | 98 (7.8%) | 24 (3.8%) | 0.001 |
| Allergies, n (%) | 535 (28.5%) | 340 (27.2%) | 195 (31.2%) | 0.151 |
| Any other stated comorbidity, n (%) | 940 (50.0%) | 662 (53.0%) | 278 (44.5%) | 0.001 |
| Heart rate lowering drugs | ||||
| No, n (%) | 1493 (83.5%) | 940 (79.8%) | 553 (90.8%) | |
| Yes, n (%) | 294 (16.5%) | 328 (20.3%) | 56 (9.2%) | <0.0001 |
| Health-related quality of life | ||||
| SF-36, physical sum score, points | 52.1 (7.2) | 51.3 (7.6) | 53.6 (6.1) | <0.0001 |
| SF-36, mental sum score, points | 51.4 (8.2) | 51.4 (8.4) | 51.5 (7.7) | 0.755 |
| Physical activity level | ||||
| Total physical activity, MET-h/wk | 54.9 (56.9) | 54.8 (54.6) | 55.2 (61.1) | 0.880 |
| Leisure time activity, MET-h/wk | 20.3 (38.7) | 22.2 (43.9) | 16.8 (25.7) | 0.009 |
| Exercise activity, MET-h/wk | 13.3 (26.0) | 12.2 (21.6) | 15.4 (32.6) | 0.022 |
Differences between bike groups were analysed with Student's t-test for unpaired samples for continuous variables or the Χ2 test for categorical variables; data are n (%) or mean (SD).
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; MET, metabolic equivalent of task; SF-36, Short Form 36 questionnaire.