From the video, most of them aren’t what i would call e-bikes, but e-motorbikes
I just wanted to clarify somethings about e-bikes for people who may have not operated one. There is little to no difference between throttle vs pedal assist. Most pedal assist engage the motor with little to no effort, so you can “pretend” to ride a bike while using the full power of the motor.
Regulating the speed/power output is only way to control the speeds these bikes can go. That being said, 20 mph/32 kph seems like a good “max speed”. Regular bikers* achieve this speed.
People are generally still incredibly dumb, don’t operate any vehicles safely, and a lot of infrastructure doesn’t have space for human power vehicles, pedestrians, and motored vehicles.
I don’t understand why this school district is banning/restricting ebikes, it seems that is something that a larger governing body should be responsible for (also maybe parents). The only thing that this ban has done is create an e-bike parking problem in the surrounding neighborhood (which will probably result in more parking restrictions for those neighborhoods).
This is something I don’t get about E-Bike regulation: it seems to target the wrong things.
In my country throttle-controlled bikes did qualify as e-bikes, now they don’t anymore. So the relevant distinction for an e-bike is that you have to control the throttle by moving your feet in a circular motion. Big whoop. It’s like regulating that a car is only a car if you have to spin the gas pedal with your feet instead of pressing it. It makes no difference.
The other thing they regulate is the power. But what does more power actually mean? All it means is that you get to the top speed a little quicker, that does nothing.
Because contrary to cars, e-bikes are required to have an electronic speed cut-off.
That’s the only thing that really matters in regards to regulation.
Over here the max speed for pedal assist is 25km/h, which is easily achieved by regular bikers. And regular bikers are not regulated in regards to power output or control scheme either.
That’s the problem though: ebikes are required to have speed and power cutoffs …but you can import a modkit or even an entire bike that exceeds those cutoffs with zero problem or oversight and just start riding it around. There’s no enforcement or consequences until a kid hits a parked car going 70km/h
This is a big problem, I just watched a 12-14 yo going 35 mph, keeping up with cars. Parents like to help kids go faster for some reason
Ebikes are a huge story here in LA. The amount of backlash against these bikes is insane, it’s being treated like the next opium addiction. The FUNNIEST thing is more pedestrians and kids are STILL killed by cars. However if you turned the news on it would seem that ebikes are killing kids and pedestrians in a record number.
Cheap personal transport that doesn’t need a licence and doesn’t burn gasoline? What sort of unamerican communism is this?
Another issue is unsupervised children than can actually explore their neighborhood! No! Kids don’t deserve freedom like that in the USA!!! IT’S TOO DANGEROUS STAY INDOORS AT ALL TIMES
Once they start using the DEI bike lanes, soon they’ll start thinking minorities deserve rights!
They might end up in the wrong neighborhood and see the effects of inequality first hand!
They banned them in my town recently. I’m conflicted. I like seeing kids outside and even more so using less gas, but they absolutely fly down the road and sidewalk. There’s a lot of nuance with e-bikes - max speeds, whether they are purely throttle assist, etc. The e-bikes around me really just seem like electric motorcycles.
A lot technically are electric motorbikes (or would be under UK law, where I live).
To be an ebike, it needs to have no more than 250W peak power, have a power assist speed limit of 25kph (15mph) and require pedaling for power assist.
If it goes outside any of these, it becomes a electric motorbike, and requires a numberplate, insurance etc.
These rules seem very reasonable to me. Though I can see an argument for a slightly higher power limit for electric cargo bikes (400/500W). They are also starting to be enforced more critically now.
I’ve no issues with electric dirt bikes, but they belong with the road traffic at that point, not on the cycling infrastructure.
They should ban the fast ones then, not all them
The issue, as I understand it, is that there are manufacturers that make electric bicycles that are artificially limited to a maximum speed limit but have a part that, if removed, would disable that limiter. The manufacturer will tell you that you should never, ever remove that part, that removing the part voids the warranty, that the manufacturer is not at fault for any injury or legal trouble you could get from riding a bike with no limiter, etc.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
I advocate treating them like motorcycles. Because they are. So, licensing, registration, training.
Though in my experience, that makes forum jockeys extremely angry. Like I’m in the pocket of Big DMV and getting a cut of their $10 fees or something.
Those that can go more than 25 kph should be classified as e-motorcycles. But those that are limited in speed are proper e-bikes and should remain accessible to children and have a low difficulty to buy and start using. In the Netherlands there is already a clear legal difference between the two and unlicensed e-motorbikes that can exceed 25kph are illegal, they need a license plate.
It’s so easy to hide a little switch to toggle “bike legal mode” on many models, in my experience that doesn’t really stop people, sadly.
It should be pretty easy to tell by the type of motor it has. An e-bike with a low-watt motor isn’t going to suddenly become a menace by flipping a fancy switch.
Likewise if a bike has a motor capable of pulling 35 mph or whatever, then it doesn’t matter if they can turn a governor on to keep it below 25 mph. It’s still got the more powerful motor and will be classified as such
Not really, a 250W (average, not peak!) motor can exceed 25km/h easily on flat ground, the only difference to a stronger motor would be the acceleration.
Disabling the electronic limit is the issue.
I live in a small town and was stepping out of a tiny office supplies shop when WOOSH a teen on an ebike went past at like 30kph right by the door. I walk fast and were I three steps further it would’ve been a full collision before either of us knew what was happening.
So they were riding on the sidewalk? That’s a completely different though valid issue and is better solved by proper infrastructure in my opinion.
Same. Just witnessed kid breaking his skull iyn my street in ebike collision. Not a thing I’ll endorse for kids.
I’m not in favor of this, but they are right that middle school kids should not be operating vehicles which can easily go 20+mph.
I don’t know what a good solution would be. Have kids register their e-bikes with the school and give them passes to park in an access-controlled area, allowing only models that don’t go so fast? Just a first thought.
yup. limit to the legit class 1 and 2 models only, the ones with speed and power output limiters.
if they don’t want them ‘driven’ on school property, just make that a requirement: pedal or push only while on school grounds… motors off. lock 'em up soon as you get there, don’t unlock 'em til you’re ready to leave. no hanging-out or loitering by the racks. register with the school office.
want kids to be safe: helmets required. offer safety classes… which really should be a thing at any school with a significant number of bicycle riders. one specifically for ebikes, including for parents of those kids so they know what those kinds of bikes are actually capable of and how they should be ridden.
Regular non-motorized bikes can go 20+ MPH on flat ground. Also good to point out that there’s a difference between e-bikes and e-motos. An e-bike is just pedal-assist, won’t go without pedaling and is generally speed throttled pretty low. An e-moto is for all intents and purposes an electric moped / motorcycle (Some of them have do-nothing pedals to disguise this fact) and should probably be kept away from children in most contexts. But nothing is wrong with any of these vehicles so long the jurisdiction has sensible licensing rules and public outreach concerning the last category. The rest of the vehicular laws are already there. Ultimately the problem of e-motos is one of governments having to get off their ass and formally recognize them.
It is not at all just e-motorcycles. Many e-bikes and e-scooters go that fast with the push of a little lever. I know, I have one. It is disingenuous (or uninformed) to compare that to being able to pedal hard on a regular bike.
This is a problem that will need solving one way or another, and your solution does not address this particular part of the problem.
That’s an e-moto. If you just push a throttle and don’t have to do any sort of ‘exercise’ movement to throttle them then it’s effectively an electric moped or motorcycle. The last category in my comment above. If it happens to also have pedals, they’re irrelevant as it has a throttle.
It’s also a lot heavier usually. Mine is about 60 lbs whereas my road bike is 15. One i can get up to 20 on my own, the other I’m trying realllll hard to push 13. I do think these are better to have them another car though.
