There's a lot of "ebikes" that are just electric dirtbikes with vestigial pedals. It's easy to modify them to put out way more power than they're sold with, too. There has to be some kind of grappling with this new category of things that can pretend to be a bicycle but still spin tires, rip past 30mph, etc. They need to either be hard limited or treated more like motorcycles than bicycles.
Those are already legally considered motorcycles and since they look exactly like motorcycles the law often ends up getting enforced (cops don't like unplated motorcycles). In fact I just saw one of them get impounded yesterday.
The ebikes I'm talking about don't look exactly like motorcycles, and to be clear, they have bicycle pedals and are considered e-bicycles. Glad to hear your local cops are enforcing it, either way.
Can you give me an example? I built my own ebike so I'm familiar with the componentry, going something like 40mph (ripping past 30mph) requires a serious battery and a very expensive motor. You can't just modify a normal legal ebike to go that fast, the motor will overheat and the battery won't last 20 minutes on a charge or long in general.
Also, nothing that can go past 28mph is considered an ebike in the US. The moment it goes any faster it's an unplated scooter/motorcycle
Just copying my reply to the other user here:
There's a lot of "ebikes" that are just electric dirtbikes with vestigial pedals. It's easy to modify them to put out way more power than they're sold with, too. There has to be some kind of grappling with this new category of things that can pretend to be a bicycle but still spin tires, rip past 30mph, etc. They need to either be hard limited or treated more like motorcycles than bicycles.
Those are already legally considered motorcycles and since they look exactly like motorcycles the law often ends up getting enforced (cops don't like unplated motorcycles). In fact I just saw one of them get impounded yesterday.
The ebikes I'm talking about don't look exactly like motorcycles, and to be clear, they have bicycle pedals and are considered e-bicycles. Glad to hear your local cops are enforcing it, either way.
Can you give me an example? I built my own ebike so I'm familiar with the componentry, going something like 40mph (ripping past 30mph) requires a serious battery and a very expensive motor. You can't just modify a normal legal ebike to go that fast, the motor will overheat and the battery won't last 20 minutes on a charge or long in general.
Also, nothing that can go past 28mph is considered an ebike in the US. The moment it goes any faster it's an unplated scooter/motorcycle
I don't have any specific examples because I'm not really into ebikes, I've just been passed by them hauling serious ass before