E-Bike question

mr_eddy

Got totally owned the other day by a dude on a e-road bike. Clearly a e-bike as he has a massive rear hub and it made a whirring noise!

I was going about 24mph and I reckon given how fast he came past me he was going min 30 mph probably closer to 35. He was wearing baggy shorts and a hoodie and did not appear to be trying that hard.

With regards to an e-bike I thought that you only got assistance up to 15 mph and anything above that would be from your own effort essentially meaning to get a 20kg e-Bike up 30+ MPH would be effectively the same as getting a normal bike of the same weight up to that speed.

Is this the case - Do legal e-bikes cut off beyond 15mph or do they still give assistance ?

I suspect he had bypassed the cut off or done something clearly what he was riding was not ''out the box' lol

fenix

In the uk and europe he's not legal. He needs insurance and plate and a motorbike helmet. He's a nob.

JesseD

I had this the other day on my commute, I was doing 25mph into a headwind and could not make considerable ground on a chap in a yellow hi-viz jacket who was some 500m ahead of me, when i finally caught him he was on an eBike which he admitted was de-restricted so could do up to around 25-30mph with assistance. Apparently you can buy bikes legally that do assist over 15mph, butthese are not to be ridden on cyclepaths or roads, they are such things as assisted mountain bikes which should only be used for offroading.

From reading up on this, any ebike that has assistance over 15mph should be taxed and insured as a motor vehicle, however I suspect actually proving it would be very difficult.

My concerns with ebikes capable of doing more than 15mph with assistance is this then means you have people with little or no bike handling experience doing up to 30mph on cycle paths, so i suspect its only a matter of time before we start hearing of big accidents/deaths etc.

fenix

So long as its only themselves they're injuring - but I suspect not.

E-Bikes powering along at 30mph are not a good mix with normal cycles.

mr_eddy

Thanks for the input - Just as a I thought then he was riding an illegal bike.

If he crashes and the police get involved he will be screwed in the same way as someone riding an un-insured motorbike - as well as riding on a cycle path.

Total plank !

robertpb

Bike with pedals and motor doing 30mph, that's a moped.

Alex99

'Not street legal'.

I've had that too. Bloke stood at the bottom of a hill, relaxed, leaning on what at first glance looked like an old steel MTB. A minute later on a climb he just ripped past me accompanied by an electrical screech. Bare minimum 1000 W, probably 2000.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://wing-ebikes.co.uk/?page_id=5160

Not for road use.

My one sadly has a middle-aged, not so fit, but improving motor.;)

motogull

I'm going to end up getting one. Its 'when' not 'if' I have a knee replacement, so I'll be unable to carry on as I am.

shimanobottombracket

Fenix wrote:

In the uk and europe he's not legal. He needs insurance and plate and a motorbike helmet. He's a doorknob.

Hes a "doorknob" for flouting a pedantic draconian law. Just because something is the "law" does not always automatically make people who choose not to do it "doorknobs". I'm not justifying theft or murder here, lets be clear about that. But a 15mph max speed limit on a road bike is hardly sensible. Most of us here regularly hit 30 or more for short time periods under our own power, or rather with some gravity assist. So why then, is bypassing an electronic restrictor bad and taking advantage of gravity not bad? Again I am not condoning furious cycling through crowded streets or blasts along busy cycle paths or walkway. I feel a 30mph push bike on a highway is a reasonable enough speed.

mrb123

ShimanoBottomBracket wrote:

Fenix wrote:

In the uk and europe he's not legal. He needs insurance and plate and a motorbike helmet. He's a doorknob.

Hes a "doorknob" for flouting a pedantic draconian law. Just because something is the "law" does not always automatically make people who choose not to do it "doorknobs". I'm not justifying theft or murder here, lets be clear about that. But a 15mph max speed limit on a road bike is hardly sensible. Most of us here regularly hit 30 or more for short time periods under our own power, or rather with some gravity assist. So why then, is bypassing an electronic restrictor bad and taking advantage of gravity not bad? Again I am not condoning furious cycling through crowded streets or blasts along busy cycle paths or walkway. I feel a 30mph push bike on a highway is a reasonable enough speed.

Is it the case that EBikes are supposed to be limited to 15mph in all circumstances or rather that the motor assistance cuts out at 15mph but you can go as fast as you want using your own power and/or with gravity assistance downhill?

fenix

No but he is a nob isn't he ? Yes push bikes can go faster than 15mph but with an unrestricted ebike 30mph is achievable by anyone in any circumstance. Have they the skills to go with it ? Probably not.

Are other road users expecting bike speeds like that on the flat or uphill ? No.

If he hits someone has he insurance ? No.

Is he allowed in bike lanes with that speed ? No.

I'd not like to share a lane with him.

If he wants to do 30mph he could just buy a fully legal electric moped.

fenix

MrB123 wrote:

ShimanoBottomBracket wrote:

Fenix wrote:

In the uk and europe he's not legal. He needs insurance and plate and a motorbike helmet. He's a doorknob.

Hes a "doorknob" for flouting a pedantic draconian law. Just because something is the "law" does not always automatically make people who choose not to do it "doorknobs". I'm not justifying theft or murder here, lets be clear about that. But a 15mph max speed limit on a road bike is hardly sensible. Most of us here regularly hit 30 or more for short time periods under our own power, or rather with some gravity assist. So why then, is bypassing an electronic restrictor bad and taking advantage of gravity not bad? Again I am not condoning furious cycling through crowded streets or blasts along busy cycle paths or walkway. I feel a 30mph push bike on a highway is a reasonable enough speed.

Is it the case that EBikes are supposed to be limited to 15mph in all circumstances or rather that the motor assistance cuts out at 15mph but you can go as fast as you want using your own power and/or with gravity assistance downhill?

Yes the power cuts out - so if you're downhill or strong you can happily exceed 15mph.

Thigh_burn

I've been in an e-bike shop and they told me it was easy to de-restrict the bikes, from the bike's app. It's a clear selling point. They didn't point out this is illegal.

neeb

It will be culturally quite interesting to see how the Daily Mail types respond to this trend. Will we see headlines condemning irresponsible/illegal motorised cyclists endangering old ladies crossing the road, or ones gloating over self-powered lycra fanatics being put in their place? Maybe the dilemma of whether to think of ebike riders as hated cyclists or as normal motorised road users will cause a "does not compute" type malfunction in the tiny Daily Mail reader brain.

Frank Wilson

The Strava leader boards will be totally rewritten!!

thegreatdivide

Frank Wilson wrote:

The Strava leader boards will be totally rewritten!!

Soon the sound of crushed egos will be deafening.

mfin

Whinging by nerdy over principled squares is what's needed.

Who cares if someone derestricts one? It will always happen, get over it.

The real issue is simply people riding things dangerously, and that's what needs to be addressed, that behavior, as you will never ever stop people derestricting, hacking, overvolting and modifying ebikes.

burnthesheep

I've seen the occasional douche 60 year old man riding his e-bike on the cycle path in the US these days also. One day I was with the wind a tad and doing intervals and had to hold 25mph+ on the flat for about 15min to get past and out of sight of a guy. Not a road e-bike, but one of the city cruiser grocery getter kinds. He was probably pedaling at 25rpm and doing about 23mph.

It's illegal here too, on bike paths. It would fall under as an "unlicensed moped" and not be legal anywhere except in the same lane as the cars go.

neeb

Actually it could be quite useful to have a lot of fat blokes with large aero footprints buzzing around at a constant 25-30mph - just jump on their wheel and stay there!