It takes energy to make things rotate:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Rotational_energy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Rotational_energy</a><p>The wheels have a rather large diameter and go pretty quickly. Both diameter and angular velocity are quadratic terms. You could now do the math to see how much energy it takes to accelerate a bike to a given speed.<p>But you&#x27;re right, going uphill or at steady speed completely changes the picture.