This guy has a good point. If you have an eBike with a throttle and you don’t even pedal it, it’s a motorcycle.
This guy has a good point. If you have an eBike with a throttle and you don't even pedal it, it's a motorcycle.
byu/computerworlds inbicycling
by computerworlds
22 Comments
Cause then they couldn’t sell them as bicycles
Most e-bikes aren’t like a jet ski though. It’s like a fishing dingy that still has a paddle.
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It’s wild how badly our lawmakers fumbled this one in the US. They were pretty good about creating the class 1, 2, and 3 system but then somehow electric mopeds just get a total pass?
Many of these e-bikes are just mopeds which we’ve had for decades with the gas engine swapped out for electric and changed the styling a bit. Plate and registration requirements vary by state but why wasn’t this enforced from the beginning?
I commute on a class 3 e-bike but it only puts our 350 watts of 1/2 horsepower. The extra 8mph does help on 25mph roads that don’t have bike infrastructure so I can keep up with traffic. It’s still not exactly safe and I’d much rather have dedicated bike infrastructure.
Hate those people, and they’re on the sidewalk too.
Where I live this good point is just the law.
Finally, sanity
The difference between a throttle and pedal assist is not a particularly meaningful distinction, and only loosely correlates to what one would actually care about.
A lot of cheaper e-bikes have handlebar throttles because it’s a simpler mechanism, and because they’re cheap they often actually have lower wattage than a fancy pedal-assist bike.
I don’t think we should be making laws based on vibes and aesthetics.
A hidden oar on a jet ski could be useful during a malfunction
Nobody has said otherwise, they’ve never been bikes
When I’m on my ebike and people ask me about ebikes (usually older people) I always try to steer them to middrive bikes without throttles. But I have talked to people who are interested in ebikes because they have some sort of physical issue that makes them difficult to pedal, and since that kind of thing seems like one of the reasons for ebikes to exist, plus I don’t think that low powered ~12mph electric kick scooters (which necessarily use throttles) should be banned, so I’m not sure it makes sense to use throttles as the defining feature for what should be allowed or banned rather than just setting the limit at 15mph or 20mph or whatever.
The people causing problems with ebikes are usually on class 3 or illegal emotos that are already banned on bike paths everywhere so I think it’s enough to simply enforce the existing rules rather than punishing people with class 2 ebikes by banning throttles when class 2 ebikes with throttles aren’t what are causing any of the problems in the first place.
Most of the ebikes I see around where I am are older people going slowly on bike paths so I really hope that backlash against people on illegal unregistered electric motorcycles doesn’t end up discouraging older people who wouldn’t bike otherwise from using ebikes.
It’s getting really out of control with children where I’m at. Who are these parents buying their 12 year old an electric moped that can go 30+ mph and then encouraging them to ride around areas that are only meant for pedestrians and slow moving bicycles.
I saw a mother the other day riding rented electric scooters with her obviously too young children on the waterfront where electric anything isn’t allowed. That means she had to setup two accounts for her obviously underage children and lied about their age (18+ here) so they could ride around without helmets in an area adults aren’t allowed to ride motorized vehicles.
What’s crazy now is I am seeing gas scooters on bike paths and sidewalks. The lack of enforcement on emotos has now led to people driving any two wheeled vehicle on sidewalks, paths, etc.
I love how this completely ignores people who can’t use pedal assist e-bikes but can use a throttle e-bike for getting around.
The meaningful distinction is in power, both acceleration and top speed, not the mechanism that controls that power.
Limit a throttle e-bike to 15-18 mph and limit its acceleration to what a normal cyclist can do on an acoustic bike and there is no difference between a throttle and pedal assist.
I don’t know why are we even discussing this.
I absolutely hate e-bikes. Where I live they are absolutely becoming a problem that needs to seriously be dealt with. Around here they are modified and upgraded they are doing closer to 60 not 35. They don’t follow any rules, insist on using bike lane / paths that are not rated for that speed and innocent people are getting hurt. F-ing menace.
Aaaand should be banned from bicycle lanes
E-bikes a re super fun. They combine the speed of a motorcycle and the lawlessness of a bicycle!
Also yeah motor+bicycle=motorcycle
yes, motorcycle is an *ebike*^(/s) >.< around and around and around they go, so, limit sensor defeat?
We should be spending this energy hating drivers.
It would be nice to redefine mopeds to cover higher power e-bikes so they aren’t banned outright, and don’t need to be defined as full motorcycles, but require more stringent sales practices or at least one hoop to jump through for purchase. Drop the pedal requirement on gas and electric too since you can just get pegals and pedals do nothing to make a vehicles slower or easier to control. Also go by power output at the wheel instead of engine displacement.
I’m always paranoid about conserving battery power I cant imagine just cruising every where on throttle only