Electric Bikes - Getting around the weight restriction in Alberta

If I put my batteries in a small trailer thus removing their weight from the bike could I beat the letter of the law though maybe not the spirit of the law? Maybe put the drive wheel on the trailer as well ( I have a brand new 16" goldenmotor wheel) making conversion from electric assist to straight pedal bike a very simple affair! If I build a small one wheel trailer, connected to the bike with a universal joint, it will lean into the turn with the bike thus minimizing fishtailing. It would be easy to build a inertia brake like u-haul once had on their trailers to help take care of the stopping. you could put as many batteries back there as you like! it could be built quite low to minimize the influence it had on the bike. What do you think?
Ed Service

The spirit of the law, I assume, is for safety, so if you're gonna set up something like that, I would just break the law and just put the batteries on the bike to make it safer.

Sure you would adamtki, and that's what I have done too. but there are commercially available pusher trailers for guys who want to quickly change their drive from one bike to another or just don't want to put a lot of extra weight on their bike. How satisfactory are they? I hope someone has done it to let us know how it worked out! I'm not sure that putting 30lbs of batteries up relatively high on a bike frame is safer than mounting them low in a trailer would be.
Ed

The problem with push trailers is possible jack-knife under certain conditions. I've eyeballed the idea with a Bob/Yak or one of those child tow-able bikes with seat/handlebars. Saw 'em for clearance at US Kmart for $22 - tempting!

Another problem is that 30lbs batteries might seem like a lot of weight but it's not nearly as much as you might think when it comes to keeping the drive wheel connected to the ground.

If you survive the learning curve it could be done. But if you screw up with too much power at the wrong time? Good luck...

The weight restriction here in Alberta is fairly easy to beat: it covers raw vehicular weight, which includes components, but does not include things which one is simply "carrying" on the bike. A removable battery which sits in a bag on your rack isn't a component - legally its cargo, so as long as your bicycle is under the 70lbs, all is well. Mounted battery boxes and internally housed batteries like those on scooter style e-bikes count as components, making these kinds of bikes over the limit.

Abneycat wrote : The weight restriction here in Alberta is fairly easy to beat: it covers raw vehicular weight, which includes components, but does not include things which one is simply "carrying" on the bike. A removable battery which sits in a bag on your rack isn't a component - legally its cargo, so as long as your bicycle is under the 70lbs, all is well. Mounted battery boxes and internally housed batteries like those on scooter style e-bikes count as components, making these kinds of bikes over the limit.


I didn't know that wrinkle! thanks a lot! takes a fat bike to be over 70lbs without batteries. Both my trikes would be well under even with a hubmotor. My batteries are internally housed now but I was thinking of putting them in saddlebags over the rear wheel anyway. I doubt I would ever be questioned about weight but I don't like running outside the law like a gangster either! I would like to put another 3 7ah batteries onto give me 14ah as I'm pulling too much current from my pack now on hills.

Ed Service

70 pounds? Did somebody in the NiMH or Li battery business write that law?

70 pounds? Did somebody in the NiMH or Li battery business write that law?

No. SOmebody with an eye towards safety wrote the law. Unlicensed operators, bike paths, lanes, and heavy, powered vehicle do not mix.

Guess we should keep all the fat buggers off bike paths too.....In the interest of safety of course?
Ed

It's one of the most absurd regulations ever conceived, It is a big joke, just like the people who passed it. It is also a blatently prejudice regulation and does nothing to enhance the safety of power assisted bikes.

Please tell me the difference between a 280 lbs person on a 70 lbs bike or a 200 lbs person on a 150lbs bike?

Not much, aside from the total weight being more the rider for the 280lb person (who has more control of his/her own centre of gravity and mass than that of the bicycle), making the 280/70 likely slightly more stable.

But, the 150lb bike is still 150lbs, rider weight is not some kind of strange connected variable.

No. SOmebody with an eye towards safety wrote the law. Unlicensed operators, bike paths, lanes, and heavy, powered vehicle do not mix.

Everyday another person is hurt or involved in an accident on a bicycle...eye for safety seems to be blind to certain events...