Originally Posted by
xtrajack
Thank you for the link, it is a good place to start. I did notice one line that caught my attention:
No known federal regulations apply to the manufacture of homebuilt electric bicycles
To my poor uneducated mind that says at a Federal level; If I have guts enough to build it and ride it, I can. At the state level, perhaps not so much.
You're right, kits aren't regulated by the feds at this point. States, however, may well categorize an electric bike as a moped and require licensing and insurance if it can go above a certain speed. As more e-bike hobbyists import larger and faster motors, I worry that it will only take several serious accidents to flip pubic opinion against e-bikes and possibly spawn laws that more strictly regulate or outright ban their riding on public roads. I hope I'm wrong.