View Single Post
Old 07-28-14 | 03:45 PM
  #1  
wphamilton's Avatar
wphamilton
Senior Member
 
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,278
Likes: 342
From: Alpharetta, GA

Bikes: Nashbar Road

Is it a loophole?

What if I had an electric bike with 1000 watt motor, with tilt switches that drop the power to max out at below 20 mph for +/- 0.5°, and designed it for no human assist at and above 20 mph?

The GA code is:
The electric motor in an electric assisted bicycle shall:

A) Have a power output of not more than 1,000 watts;
(B) Be incapable of propelling the device at a speed of more than 20 miles per hour on level ground; and
(C) Be incapable of further increasing the speed of the device when human power alone is used to propel the device at or more than 20 miles per hour.


It doesn't explicitly prohibit speeds faster than 20 mph on downhills or uphills! If the power turns off at exactly level at 20 mph, it's clearly incapable of propelling the bike on level ground. And it only prohibits faster than 20 if human power alone is propelling it at 20. There are several ways to go faster than 20 and still comply with these three rules.

So do you think it would hold up to still classify it as an electric assisted bicycle?
wphamilton is offline  
Reply