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[Richard230]

You may have heard that California has passed a law restricting E-bikes to Class 1 models from now on. They can not have a throttle that allows them to be propelled without pedaling and can not exceed 20 mph. This has been the subject of a number of recent YouTube blogs. Here is a much more restrained discussion of the new California E-bike laws without the drama. Listening to this blog, it doesn't sound like all that big a deal, unless you are selling E-bikes, in which case it might cut into you sales somewhat.

Some of the other YouTube blogs seem say that the law is retroactive and if you own a Class 2 or Class 3 E-bike it is now illegal to ride it. Listening to this fellow reading from the DMV website, that doesn't appear to the the case:

 

[Specter]

So you have to pedal while the thing is running?  Curious how they are going to accomplish that.  Switches? an over running clutch type mechanism?  This will be interesting to see and easy to thwart.

If they make existing e bikes illegal that is going to cause a huge backlash I am thinking.  At that point why not just get a motorcycle?.. or are they trying to head that way, make people register them so they can DMV and collect taxes on them?

Kind of like the very first mopeds, had a friction roller on the wheel basically.

Aaron

[TheRan]

It's similar to the EU laws, just with a little higher top speed (20 vs 14ish) and there's also a 250W limit here.

So you have to pedal while the thing is running?  Curious how they are going to accomplish that.  Switches? an over running clutch type mechanism?  This will be interesting to see and easy to thwart.

It just can't have a throttle. All e-bikes have a cadence sensor, when you turn the pedals the motor kicks in, you stop and the motor stops.

[Richard230]

There are going to be a lot of existing E-bikes in California that do not meet these new requirements. Are they bicycles or mopeds? None of them have VIN numbers or meet any other motor vehicle equipment requirements. And you need to obtain a minimum of $30K liability insurance before you can register a vehicle with the DMV (good luck getting an insurance company to offer a policy for an E-bike). Since there are already millions of E-bikes rolling around California, I can't see the DMV having the slightest interest in trying to register Class 2 or Class 3 E-bikes. They can hardly keep up with registering and keeping track of the millions and millions of vehicles already being driven in this state.

These new E-bike law revisions were just the result of a few mothers in Marin County getting upset seeing children riding E-bikes around the neighborhood too fast. They got the ear of their local state legislators. These officials could hardly wait to save (with no obvious impact to the state's budget) the state's children from the dangers of E-bikes - that these mothers bought for their children before they realized how fast they could go. 

Plus, frankly the cops in this state have enough things to keep them occupied than chasing kids on electric bicycles in order to give them a $25 ticket. I really doubt any of these laws are going to be enforced, except on E-bike retailers, who will have their sales of E-bikes reduced substantially. So I guess there is that.

[Specter]

Richard, it's not up to the DMV to decide interest, or which laws get upheld or if they do it or not.  Their job is to just collect the MONEY from the new laws.

See, this is going to quickly turn into another cash grab.

Ohh for 100 bucks, you can get your E bike certified and a VIN issued to it, go to your DMV for details    cha CHING.
Oh for 20 dollars a year you can get your permit / tag whatever you want to call it to run it, goto your DMV for details  cha CHING.

Especially now after half the state burned down, ANYthing that can drag more money in, yah it's a good idea !!!

The bigger municipalities may not be interested in enforcing but smaller booger towns with Barney Fife as the town sherriff and mayor, yah they gonna love these tickets!!  Florida is known for having a few of these.  Waldo, Lawty as an example.

The worst part, other states seeing, oh hey CA did this, lets follow suit, it's FREE MONEY !!!!!    I've yet to see a politician turn away from a source of YOUR money to spend.

Aaron

[Richard230]

I can't see the city that I live in ever enforcing E-bike laws. They hardly enforce much of anything, other than speeding tickets, thefts and violent crimes. Plus, no cop wants to chase after kids on a fast E-bike and take a chance of the child being hurt during the chase. Much better to just look the other way. 

[Specter]

I agree with you Richard, as long as the kids are not being hooligans and tearing shit up, leave em be.  Most cops tend to think the same way, UNTIL the Karens start bichin and calling them in time and time again, then they have to do something     But on a slow day when the speeders are scarce, stand by bikers, barney's got your number !! heh.

Aaron

[TheRan]

The majority of them are either being ridden on the road or somewhere else they shouldn't be, tearing up other people's property. Hardly anyone is riding them on their own property or taking them to a motocross track (probably wouldn't be allowed at many of them). And most of those on the road are causing trouble and breaking laws, speeding, wheelies, running lights, mounting pavements, colliding with cars and peds. In this case you can't really let it slide for everyone for the sake of the few who ride sensibly and obey the law.

EDIT: By "them" I'm talking about things such as Surrons and the like, actual electric motorcycles. The bikes with pedals then sure, many of them are fine and could easily be modified to abide by this new law. I don't necessarily agree with the pedal assist only thing, but I get that it's intended to differentiate between assisted bicycles and motorcycles (the "them" I was referring to).

[Specter]

The pedals are the defining thing on them.  No pedals then it's a motorcycle.  pedals then it's a bike.  If they are riding a pedal-less vehicle then it's a motorcycle and yah, they don't belong there.

They were having this issue in florida with the bike trails, .. absolutely NO motorized vehicles on them.  Then comes the e bikes, basically, at least out here the cops were told, if they have pedals leave them alone.  I think they actually put speed limit signs on a few of them to take care of the idiots wanting to do 40 on a pedestrian walkway issue.  Oh and here in jax, the cops WILL hunt you down, tackle you and tase you and so will fwc if they catch you on those bike paths with an illegal vehicle and you think you are going to run.  The tickets a few hundred dollars too i am told, they take that very seriously.

aaron

[Richard230]

In my town, there are more older people riding E-bikes than kids, who are usually delivered to their schools via SUVs driven by their mothers. There are too many hills to pedal a push bike up around here. An E-bike really helps to get up the hills when you reach my age. 

Today, as I was riding my E-bike at 25 mph heading for the grocery store at the coast, while pedaling as fast as I could at the same time, I was passed by a fellow riding a fat tire surfboard-type thing at about 35 mph. I wonder how the DMV would classify that vehicle?   

[Specter]

I believe at 20 mph and over, you are supposed to have seat belts and it's an entire new classification on vehicles.  This is why EZgo's are governed to that speed.  Supposed to have lights and signals too I believe.  As for the e bikes, and those segways? and flappy board with wheel things, I really don't know how they are classified.  It's amazing how fast some of those really can get going, and equally as amazing that someone would actually want to be standing on one of those things, going that fast.  You come off at that speed and it's gonna hurt, and badly too !!

Ive seen those surfboard things at the track sometimes, it has a handle on it, presumable to steer with?  or to hold on with?  although steering you can do by leaning on it really, and yah they will fly !!  I see people screaming by on them and just cringe, you hit a bump or lean wrong or get thrown and man, you are going to be rolling head over heels, leaving chicklets along the way as you bounce.  What scares me more is, people got their crotch goblins running all over the place and pets too.  A dog runs in front of you, there really is no good way to stop fast on one of those thing w/o being thrown really.

Aaron

[Fred]

I recently rode my Zero into London which I haven't done in a few years. There's now a large area which has a 20mph speed limit enforced with lots of cameras. That was frustrating enough, but there are now also quite a few e-bikes that clearly have been modified and don't conform to the UK's "pedal assist up to 15mph" rules. With no number plate and hence no worry about tickets they we're happily speeding, jumping red lights, etc. I need my licence and don't know all the camera locations so I was having to stick to 20mph. Being overtaken by these clueless idiots was no fun at all.

[Richard230]

As usual, it is not the vehicle that is creates the problem, but the owner/driver/rider. However, the vehicle is the thing that the politicians end up to restricting in an effort to control the issue. All that really needs to be done is to let the police enforce the speed laws that are on the books. If someone is doing something unsafe they should be arrested, but trying to control things by requiring (in this case) E-bikes to not go over 20 mph on a public street, which in my area usually has a speed limit of 30 mph, really doesn't make any sense and is unsafe. Especially as many bicycle riders can pedal faster than that and often do. But apparently it feels good to legislators and regulators and many will be jumping on the "let's get those crazy E-bike riders" bandwagon now.

BTW, the big wheel electric surfboard that passed me the other day didn't have a handle to hold on to. It was just like standing on a surfboard on the ocean, except this was on pavement.

[TheRan]

They do have to be push started though, the throttle is less of a go switch and more of a keep going switch. I don't know if that's actually a legal requirement over there, and if it is it may only apply to publicly provided rental scooters, but that's what the law for scooters is here in the UK (and perhaps the rest of the EU). There's also a power limit just like with e-bikes (may even be the same 250W) and a speed limit.

[Richard230]

Whatever the laws are, you can bet that it will be very difficult for the cops to enforce them. How could anyone keep track of all of how the laws apply to each brand and model of vehicle? Around here they can't even keep up with cars and motorcycles with really loud mufflers, which clearly exceed the long established noise limits. I continue to believe that none of these E-bike laws will be enforced other than at the point of sale. But if you buy an E-bike in a state that doesn't restrict the sale of a high-power moped-type E-bikes and then haul it across your state border to your home, there is no way anyone is going to really care as long as you don't do stupid things while riding it.