this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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Can't argue with the base premise. But here in Toronto it's the ebike wild West. Where no law is enforced.
Folks are ripping by in the bike lanes on 100lb electric mopeds with throttles and fold away pedals. I've seen bikes where the chain is rusted off but the "bike" happily zips past a grandma on dutch bike at 35kph.
Recently the transit commission finally banned ebikes on the subway because they were lighting trains on fire.
All I ask is that ebikes are limited to pedal assist and have a weight limit. But I think the genie is out of the bottle.
Anyway. I've got opinions.
Pedal assist and max speed that pedal assist works until (I want to say 18kph, but I might be wrong) is how it works in Japan and it seems to work fairly well. Anything bigger or with a throttle must have a plate and be registered as a moped.
That is roughly the rule in the UK but few people follow it and enforcement is minimal. Plus a lot of people just don't understand the laws on them in the first place.
It got to be such a problem in the big cities, especially with those rental scooter (as in kickboards or whatever, not actual motorbike-style vehicles), that they cracked down hard. A Chinese tourist even got arrested for using one of those powered suitcase things that exist for running afoul of the law (particularly because it was on a sidewalk).
I think no one disputes that we need a clear separation of electric bicycles and electric motorcycles and the presence of pedals ain’t enough.
Presumably once that’s sorted out, e-bikes can and should become the norm. They’re the “all ages and abilities” equalizer.
Not sure if that's even possible here.
It feels like every Uber Eats delivery person is on one of these things.
They are everywhere.
I imagine we could grandfather in existing vehicles somehow, maybe by distributing stickers for existing owners. I dunno.
But it would kill the gig economy here, I feel like the electric motorcycle problem might be here to stay.
I don’t think so. Sure first step is regularizing sales and not going after existing owners, and the ones already on the streets are a long term problem, but these things will eventually break down, they don’t last generations.
Or announce the law before it comes into effect, you have a certain amount of time to make your bike compliant, replace it or stop using it. Assuming you don't already have laws for it. UK already does and just doesn't really enforce them much.
I think we should just ban non-assist from the bike lanes and paths. I'm fine with them existing, just not fine with irresponsible people endangering others by cruising at car speeds in pedestrian zones.
In the UK they already are, but the problem is mainly with lacking enforcement and a large number of people driving them illegally.
wouldn't it make more sense to just put a proper enforced speed limit on bike paths and pedestrian areas?
Maybe? It depends on what the speed limit is and what enforcement looks like.
I can get up to 20mph (30+ kmh) on my non-assist bite, faster when going downhill, yet most people cruise at 10-15 mph. If we set it too low, it'll discourage use for regular transportation, like commuting, and if we set it too high, it doesn't solve the problem.
And for enforcement, there's no way police will be stationed there, and camera surveillance is difficult, so it's unlikely to happen.
I just see the whole thing as problematic, so either don't enforce anything or enforce vehicle types.
Yes, I'm sure they will hire hundreds of bike cops to enforce this, instead of just banning all ebikes.
People need to understand that the emoped crowd is actively harming this micro mobility movement by hiding behind the "ebikes" label. Anyone who gets real value out of responsible pedelec operation should be very upset about this.
Where are all these ebikes setting the trains in fire. Should be lots of stories about it if it's always happening.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10199944/e-bike-fire-ttc-subway-safety-concerns/
🤷
Listen it's not endemic.
But it has happens.
These motorcycle sized bikes on the subway are pretty obnoxious. They take up a ton of room
Does the weight limit include the rider? If not, then it doesn't really help/change anything. There's no difference between a 30lb bike ridden by a 300lb person and an 80lb bike ridden by a a 250lb person. It's still 330lbs total in a collision.
I'm personally pro-throttle, even though I rarely use it. Had to stop hard and went halfway over the bars injuring my leg; it was nice to be able to get home when I wasn't really able to pedal.
Why are your example humans a heavyweight boxer and a sumo wrestler? Wikipedia says the average North American human adult weighs 180lbs.
Worst case scenario. Those are common Max weight ratings for bikes.
My point being, should there be a maximum gross weight restriction? Does it apply to just the bike, or to the rider too, and what about the weight of cargo strapped to the bike? How about a bicycle built for two, does the weight limit double or is it still one bike?
I don't mean to argue against your point (I wouldn't know); I was just very tickled by the image of a huge beefy man on a tiny little bike.
Are bicycles built for two safe in the first place?
Like every other time I ride the major trail near me, I see an old couple in their 60s+ riding a bicycle built for two, and they don't seem to have any problems aside from getting started from a dead stop.
I would think they're fine as long as there aren't any shoddy welds. And there has to be good communication between the riders since front rider steers and rear rider has the brakes.
Tern and aventon max at 440lbs and iirc even Walmart tier mongoose makes a cargo bike that goes to like 400lbs
Yeah, might just be the client I'm using that let's me see deleted posts and reply to them.
Now consider half the population are women.