Road EBike rant.

The problem with raising the top speed of assistance on an eBike is that you are one step closer to introducing twist and go electric bikes. Without some form of regulation the streets become much more dangerous.

You can see it in most city centres where delivery riders have had their eBike converted to twist and go and yet they have had no formal training on their use in traffic. It's the same all round Europe with eScooters - kids and delivery guy flying around pavements and precincts.

When I am on my road bike and my wife is on her eBike I struggle to keep up with her, on average. I can generally stay with her on the flat but lose her on the hills., if she wants to horse on.

Leave it as it is, I say.

Twist and go are already out there and very popular

Don't have strong feelings about this but the idea that 20mph ebikes wouldn't trouble Strava times is comical.

Not that Strava leaderboards should (or do) factor into the debate.

I know ,anyone who tries to book 1 into my shop is told to go elsewhere.

Not really, highly unlikely you’d have access to any spare parts if the parts are Chinese, ECU, motor, battery etc, no diagnostics and liability for fixing an illegal bike, not least the owner said it was fine when the bike came in…. It’s so much easier to sell them a new bike which is legal with a stable supply of spare parts with training for the mechanics.

Wanting to ride something whisper quiet, fast ( compared to legal e bikes) and hid in plain sight with a low cost entry such as a bike is usually driven by dealing drugs or other illegal activity. If your doing something illegal the fact your bike is not legal really doesn’t come into the thinking of the individual,

e scooters were the mode of choice round here for aspiring dealers until the Chinese e bikes became quicker and more accessible .

I've never actually ridden an ebike, despite my partner having a mahoosive cargo ebike, which I should really try out at some point.

I kind of had a 20 mile commute previously, but they have now seen fit to remove the drying room, and as management are not precious, I can go to a much closer office should I want to, which does still have drying facilities.

This route would generally take me about 1hr25 - usually pretty similar in both directions, decent elevation, not on a fast bike, and weighed down with panniers containing laptop etc.

However, if I did still have that 20 mile commute, which is fairly hilly, an ebike that could max out at 15mph would not be of much use, it might cut 5-8 minutes off the commute time I reckon.

If they sold one that was limited to let's say 22.5mph or even 25mph, I'd be very interested in that, as it would likely cut my commute time to something around an hour, saving me an entire hour each and every time I went in and back, that would pay for itself (In extra time for me) in 3 years I suspect.

I understand the bit about irresponsible people riding them at speed on pavements etc, but then don't they do that already with DIY kits/hacked bikes, or simply illegal bikes/scooters?

I'd be happy to pay a nominal licence fee per year for an electric bike, something around the £35 I pay for my vehicle, and take out insurance, if it allowed me to travel at higher speeds - additionally, if they are worried about excessive speeds being ridden in places where they should not, I saw someone mention GPS could theoretically be used to reduce the max speed in certain areas, and then open it up on faster roads - most of the roads I commuted on were 60mph to be fair, with some 30s and 40s mixed in when going through towns.

If they genuinely want to get people out of cars and onto viable transport options that take up less space and use less energy, I can't see any other way than upping the max speed on these things.

The cynic in me thinks that whichever government happens to be in charge will of course not get anything like the tax coming in from e-bike sales versus 60k vehicles, so I can't see it happening personally.

I thought electric vehicles were free VED? You would presumably have additional costs though - insurance, MOT etc?

Also, you need a numberplate, which is probably not something that the unrestricted ebike riders I see in London are going to be keen on.

Electric vehicles are, but not from April 1 2025, the government realise there are enough vehicles out there now, and they are missing out on oodles of free cash.

Agreed on a point raised, I'd have no issue with insurance/numberplate but a full face helmet is a substantial step/requirement, and would put most people off I would suspect.

That's a valid point, it would be unlikely to replace the necessity for another vehicle, merely replace it for some of the lesser distance journeys - for me if one had a ~25mph limit, I'd entertain up to an hours worth of travelling be carried out on a bike rather than in a car.

Our road is jam packed with people who insist on one of those PCP schemes where they pay a massive amount but get a new car every 3 years....

I'm on a few motoring pages, and frequently you will see a post along the lines of 'I need to sell this now to get something new, as it's reached 90k miles'

I've asked a few times now, very politely, why they HAVE to get a new vehicle, how much more outlay will be required, and how many repairs that would cover on the original vehicle should they be required, that they know and are familiar with, but I never get any reply.

What about insurance, lights and mudguards? So you’ll need a lot more than you suggest to stat legal. Top speed is still limited though.

If I were going down the "e-bike as a means of transport" route (as opposed to for leisure/exercise purposes), I would be looking at one of these:

Me and the good lady rented a couple in Portugal a couple of years ago - an absolute hoot. On road, off road, uphill, downhill, facility for lights, indicators etc.- fantastic bits of kit!

A lot of london courier companies have started using 4 wheel electric bikes, not sure how practical it would be as a daily transport though, just finding somewhere to park it at each end would be a bit of a faff. They aren't cheap either.

https://vokbikes.com/uk/vok-bike-standard/

The Citroen Ami is classed as a quadricycle, just like the QBX Quadbike, so it's treated much the same as a 125cc motorbike or equivalent e-motorbike. We're not talking about fun vehicles, we're talking about practical alternatives to cars and bikes for commuting. The Ami is much better for that than the QBX, though I would favour an electric motorbike for it's ability to cut through the traffic.

Surely a quad bike is a bike only as much as an air fryer is a fryer.

And you've got to sit in the traffic queues too. Bikes are definitely a better solution for commuting. My preference is for a bicycle, but my commute is 11 miles and I am happy doing that without a motor. If it were much further I would go for the e-motorbike option over an e-bike despite the extra legislative faff. Or move jobs.