Originally Posted by
dugma78
Wow--crazy. I live in a rural area of Ulster County (in the Hudson Valley), and I'm considering an e-bike to replace a car. (The mileage and climbs to and from some of my regular errand spots can leave me spent for the day when I travel by regular bike, and I work a rather physical at-home job for which I need lots of energy.) I had heard that e-bikes were technically illegal in NYS, but I never had seen the language from the DMV. Has anyone actually been cited for riding an e-bike in NYS? Or is it too obscure a law?
The e-bike seems like the answer to my situation... Why am I not surprised that the incompetent NYS senate stands in my way?
Anyway, I'd appreciate to hear of anyone's brushes with the law--or lack thereof.
Thanks,
Doug
About 3 weeks ago an e-bike owner in NYC started a thread in the Endless Sphere forums asking how he could camouflage his hub motor because he had been stopped by NYC police over the weekend. He claimed that they threated to seize his bike, including his Ping LIFEPO4 battery pack. He didn't say whether he was ticketed. There had been a lot of complacency about the NY-wide e-bike ban, especially in NYC, because it didn't appear that police departments were enforcing it. News that an e-bike owner was actually stopped by police for violating the ban and threatened with seizure of the offending equipment got the attention of e-bike owners in NY. Write your officials in the NY Legislature, especially the Senate since it's version of the bill to over turn the ban on e-bikes has stalled, and urge them to vote to overturn the ban.