From conventional to electrically-assisted cycling. A biographical approach to the adoption of the e-bike

Sales of electrically-assisted bicycles (e-bikes) have been rising in many European countries. Due to their electrical assistance, e-bikes could increase the number of people cycling and the potential uses of cycling. Existing research has not investigated the links between conventional cycling and e-bike use at the individual level. Using qualitative, retrospective data, this paper aims to determine how e-bike use fits into an existing cycling trajectory over the life course. E-bike users in the Swiss city of Lausanne (N = 24) are interviewed to compare their cycling trajectories. They fall into two main trajectories: “restorative” and “resilient”, which each represent different relationships to cycling and different reasons to adopt the e-bike over the life course. E-bikes might serve as both a way to restore an interrupted cycling practice, or to keep existing cyclists despite threats posed by changing personal and spatial contexts.