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.
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.