Around half to a third of the e-bikes I’ve seen are illegal even under Class 3’s limit of 28mph. I can catch and draft 28 on a road bike quite easily. I know exactly what low 30’s looks like too. I’ve failed to catch people even with a tailwind when they had to be doing nearly 40mph. For reference, the fastest I have continuously pedaled on flat ground, came from a red light changing as a city bus was getting up to speed slowly on a long stretch of Pacific Coast Highway I dropped in and held 55mph plus for several miles in that pocket. An e-bike draft is not so efficient, but catching is not a problem even just a little over 28mph.
I bet this regulation is due to the wheelies idiots playing chicken with others.
yeah this is a place where i think perhaps this regulation is a good thing. us americans treat all bicycles like children’s toys when they’re accessible road vehicles. further, an electric bike has far more in common with a harley davidson than a kid bike, and the injuries associated with them bear that out
The average street legal motorcycle is something like 500lbs. That’s a lot more mass than most e-bikes, the heaviest of which are perhaps in the 100lbs range and most are less. It’s fair to argue an ebike that can go 40mph is really a motorcycle and I’d agree with that, but most e-bikes aren’t that close to a motorcycle in my opinion.
That said, I agree that some enforced regulations are going to happen so hopefully they’ll be reasonable about it.
Around half to a third of the e-bikes I’ve seen are illegal even under Class 3’s limit of 28mph. I can catch and draft 28 on a road bike quite easily. I know exactly what low 30’s looks like too. I’ve failed to catch people even with a tailwind when they had to be doing nearly 40mph. For reference, the fastest I have continuously pedaled on flat ground, came from a red light changing as a city bus was getting up to speed slowly on a long stretch of Pacific Coast Highway I dropped in and held 55mph plus for several miles in that pocket. An e-bike draft is not so efficient, but catching is not a problem even just a little over 28mph.
I bet this regulation is due to the wheelies idiots playing chicken with others.
yeah this is a place where i think perhaps this regulation is a good thing. us americans treat all bicycles like children’s toys when they’re accessible road vehicles. further, an electric bike has far more in common with a harley davidson than a kid bike, and the injuries associated with them bear that out
The average street legal motorcycle is something like 500lbs. That’s a lot more mass than most e-bikes, the heaviest of which are perhaps in the 100lbs range and most are less. It’s fair to argue an ebike that can go 40mph is really a motorcycle and I’d agree with that, but most e-bikes aren’t that close to a motorcycle in my opinion.
That said, I agree that some enforced regulations are going to happen so hopefully they’ll be reasonable about it.
It’s not the weight of the bike that’s the issue; it’s the speed. Motorcycles are unlikely to kill or even injure anyone other than their operator.