With the moderator star I'm uncomfortable in entering in to a debate.
I won't throw them off the board.


What you consider the maximum weight of a "bicycle" to be.
The scooters having a weight north of two hundred pounds is something to consider when operating them around pedestrians.

That is true, however in our case here in Ontario we got "Lucky" and got lumped in with bicycles.

Do I think we on Scooter Style E-bikes should have access to MUP's? I can answer clearly NO.

I have no issue at all keeping my travel on the road, but I do use the bike lane on any street that has the lane. As most posted speeds in areas with a bike lane is 40 KMH.

The funny thing is out in BC, they seem to have found peace between all the classes of bikes.....everything seems to have settled.......but there again they have a 6 year lead over Ontario.

My scooter style e-bike weighs 132 lbs with the battery....without the 45 pound lead acid battery it weighs 87 lbs...I don't know of any scooter style e-bike in my neighbourhood that weighs north of 200 pounds. The heaviest is around 176 lbs with the battery. And yes, in BC, for over 6 years now the scooter style have operated in peace on the roads with other motorists and cyclists. There are over 10,000 e-bikes on the roads out there. They are a great alternative to driving and cycling that exists. One less car on the road should be a common goal, and instead Ontario cyclists (not all fortunately) are obsessed with having scooter style e-bikes abolished. ( licenced and insured same thing) If those people took the same energy and focused it on something positive, their lives would be that much richer. If bicycles just came onto the market today, they would face the same negative responses and there would be those (that don't bicycle) that would think they should be licenced and insured, because of their limited speed, their zig zagging behaviour with automobiles and pedestrians, and their all to common rolling stops. I agree 100% with Greywolf that the MUPs are not my concern, but bike lanes absolutely. Lets Share.

Unrestrict 2007 Gatto, anyone know how?
 

Hey all, been riding my gatto for a little more than a year now. Having lots of fun, but a lot of the time i ride both on provincial roads as well as i bring it to camp sites and race tracks (used for riding up and down the quarter mile mostly). If anyone can help me find out how to take off the limiter on my Gatto i'd be incredibly thankful.
cheers

What kind of bicycle is a Gatto?

http://www.voltcanada.com/pages/prod...reamRyder2.php

I read the stats on this one most recently and its weight stuck in my mind.

http://www.daymak.com/bikes-toronto/...kes/gatto.html

it's a cool bike, and i went to a dealer and he told me it was rather easy to take off, but of course wouldn't tell me how. haha.

I've never owned or looked at the inner workings of an e-scooter before. But I can venture a guess. Locate the controller and look for a connector that comes out of it, goes to a quick connect, and then just goes right back into the controller. It might be labeled hi speed/low speed or something like that. Disconnecting it is probably all they do when they sell in countries with speed restrictions. There's no much helpful in the user manual about the subject.

Good luck in whichever country you intend to ride it in.

I run my scooter with 20ah of lithium and it weighs in just under 150lbs. The weight argument is invalid for many reasons.

What's the difference between a 240lbs rider on a 50lbs bike or 140lbs rider on a 150lbs bike?
What's safer? 40 lbs of battery on a 30lbs bike or 60 lbs of battery on a 120lbs bike

Scooter Style bikes also get the argument that they take up more space in the bike lanes, My petals when folded are 22 inches wide, 28inches unfolded. My handle bar width is 26 inches. A standard bicycle handle bar width is around 24 to 26 inches. So the width argument is INVALID

I believe scooter style bikes should use MUP's respectfully and responsibly.

Allen. That is heavier than most of the ones that I have seen. The extra weight of course affects hill climbing and mximum range. My Veloteq Cougar RSV weighs 135 lbs. with the SLA Battery http://veloteq.com/veloteqgallery.com/cougar-xr8.htm I weigh 155 1bs. It is a zippy little bike for my weight. There are some nice bikes out on the market mixed in with some real bad ones. Make sure your chargers are CSA or equivalent approved and the less weight you are carrying around with you the better. I know someone who "beefed" up their bike and got nailed with a $5000.00 no insurance ticket. Once you tamper with your bike to make it go faster, it is no longer a "power assisted bicycle".

From a safety point of view, I'd rather be hit by 200 pounds of person instead of 200 pounds of bike. Even if it were 180 pounds of person on 20 pounds of metal, I'd prefer that over being hit by a 200 pound bike.

Also,

Consider if we limited the weight of anything legally called "bicycle" to 100 pounds. Now if a rider weighs 300 pounds, we'll be looking at 400 pounds.

What if the same rider can legally ride a 250 pound vehicle? We'd have 550 pounds, instead of 400.

Nobody wants to get hit by a 200 lb person, or a 200 lb bike, or a 200 pound person on a 200 lb mobility scooter on a sidewalk. The same danger exists if you are hit by a speeding car on scooter style e-bike, an open frame e-bike or a regular bike. My 135 lb scooter style is not a threat to pedestrians or other cyclists, no more than a bicylcle on a sidewalk is a threat to a small child. Automobiles are the threat to us all. There are thousands on the road here in Ontario and even more in BC, and collisions with pedestrians and other cylclists are certainly not common or heard about.

Wrong.

Digi Kid....LOL...You're a man of few words...I like your style....LOL

I remember a policeman looking at my bike and calling it a "moped" and when I corrected him with the differences between a moped and a "power assisted bike" he shrugged his shoulders and said "well it's the same thing". When it is for their convenience they go by the "letter of the law". The DOT changed the wording from "capable of" from "primarily" which gave rise to "power on demand", as well as "power assist". The word "bicycle" contains the root word "bi" referring to how many tires the vehicle has. Trike comes from the word "tri" referring to the three wheels that vehicle possesses. To keep the peace I don't refer to it as a bicycle, although it falls under the category of "power assisted bicycles" I refer to mine as a "power assisted bike" which seems to bother cyclists less...LOL (you gotta walk on eggshells with those people)

Dewdad:

it's a simple easy fix.....and for the life of me I have no idea why I never thought of using the word "Bike"
I am not one who likes to cause fuss, so I will always look for a way to be as in the middle as I can LOL
That is an awesome way disarm a bicycle purist!!!

Bill 126 gets Royal Assent....Ontario E-bikes are here to stay!!! ( Yes Scooter too)
 

Bill 126, which entrenches “power-assisted bicycles” (E-bikes) in to the Highway Traffic Act received Royal Assent!

Ontario has joined the with many now to allow People options, new ways to get out of Gas Burners and try a greener way of doing the daily trek!

That also means Scooter Style is a Valid option!!!!!

http://ebikernetwork.org/index.php?o...d=32&Itemid=45

Another important passage is added toughness to aid all bike riders!!!!! Greg's Law

http://therecord.blogs.com/take_the_...e-changes.html

I am glad Ontario has followed BC's example!!!!

The more options, the more chance to reduce Cars on the road!

And yet the bike union continues to oppose....they claim they don't want them banned, they just shouldn't be allowed on the bike paths..Let's see now, they go too slow to be in the car lanes, are not allowed on sidewalks, where exactly do they think they should ride them? In my travels on a bike lane I may see 6 cyclist in 10 km on my travels to work (and that's at rush hour)... and those 6 don't want to share this stretch with me....There are potholes everywhere and this is where they want to spend their negative energy....They certainly are not visionaries that's for sure. The same group probably opposed the Allen Expressway Extension...LOL...Why don't they see that with more riders and more demand there is mored tax paying dollars attributed. I would really like to know why a fit young person who can cycle at 20 km per hour has against a fit or unfit person "coasting" on an e-bike at 20 km per hour...Why do they care whether we are pedalling or not?...We are not in cars...that should be worth something...Why do they think it is their business?...Why I ask Why? The answer is simple...they don't play well with others. They also do not understand why they have been "unsuccesful" so far....Hmmmm Do you think it may be because they are not thinking clearly?
I would rather be spending time fighting for the same issues that the cyclists are fighting for, like better paths, more paths, cleaner streets, no broken glass and debris better awareness training for motorists..we should be on the same side...I just don't understand their thinking.
http://bikeunion.to/news/2009/04/17/...action-e-bikes

Legality of motor assisted bicycles
 

Right after ordering my $400 hub and $600 life4po ping battery, I found out that e-bikes are illegal to ride on the road in New York. I feel dumb and wish I had done my research first, as I definitely can't afford 200-750 dollar fines should I be cited.

Does anyone have any experience with riding eBikes DAILY in NYC?

Anyone have any run ins with the law elsewhere for having a non-certified vehicle?

If I do brave the law and try it anyway, I'll use front panniers to try to hide the hub, but at this point I am very concerned and may abandon my project.

I'm surprised that riding an e-bike on the road in NY is illegal! Is that just in the city or in the entire state? Doubly surprising since there appear to be a variety of e-bike dealers in NY. One would think they might be considered "dealers" in the negative sense - contributing to the delinquency of riders! I know that there's a move in Canada to ensure that they are legal to ride in the street (oddly opposed by a group of cyclists), and that each state has a take on the issue, but this seems pretty harsh.

http://www.veloteq.com/links_to_laws..._&_Regulations

Above is a link that may be helpful. I am sure someone in NYC is lobbying to have e-bikes legalized...You may want to join in...power in numbers....

1. Don't ride on the sidewalk, but I bet you know that already.
2. It's doubtful NYC police really know what an e-bike is well enough to know one by seeing it.

E-bikes have no legal status here in pennsylvania, meaning that on an e-bike you're just riding an un-registered moped. But the police aren't interested in lowly e-bike riders any more than they're interested in red-light-running cyclists, folks who use bike lanes as 15 minute parking spaces, or people who do "rolling stops".

just across the lake.... a few years back it was also illegal to ride an eBike in Toronto, before it was only legal in Vancouver, and other western state/provinces.

Now that it's become legal, we get tons of ebikes riders every day.

the only thing that annoys me, are the ebikes that are more like scooter motorcycles than an actual powered assist bike.

those guys riding the "electric motor cycle" (not ebike by my standards) also uses the bike lane, and it blocks the bike lane, because their bikes so fat and bulky, a bike lane normally fits 2 up to 3 bikes normally riding side by side.

The law was created, and then manufacturers worked within the parameters of those laws. There was no subterfuge to circumvent the regulations. Regardless of whether you like it or not is immaterial. I may not like the look of a certain bicycle or the cyclists attire, but to each their own. Handlebar to handlebar they are similar in width. More choices were needed to deter people out of their cars, and bicycles alone with or without a motor wasn't cutting it. There was originally a weight restriction in Texas of 100 pounds that was recently overturned with the help of the bicycle coalition. It seems to be only in Ontario that "cyclists unions" and individual "cyclists" do not want to share. Instead of working together for wider paths and more paths, they choose object to a great alternative to cars especially for short commutes. We were given 32 km per hour and a 500 watt motor, which I am happy with...Look what Texas has! 3000 watts! And people here are worried about 500 watts...amazing! Quit fighting the future...Your great grand parents probably objected to the car as well when they were riding around on horse and buggy. People who do not like change never change. For those wishing to fight an e-bike that looks like a scooter....find something important to fight for instead like wider paths, more paths and safer paths...one less car on the road should be the mutual goal, not "I don't like the look of your bike".




















BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current state law defines an electric bicycle, or E-bike, as having a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour without the application of human power. The law also states that an E-bike cannot exceed a weight of 100 pounds. The weight limitation prevents many of the heavier bicycles, which weigh more due to the larger battery necessary for longer sustained use, from being classified as an E-bike. As a result of not being classified as an E-bike, these emission-free modes of transportation are prohibited from being used on bicycle pathways and must be used on city streets.

H.B. 1687 expands the definition of an E-bike in order to promote the usage of this environmentally friendly mode of transportation. It is believed that the increase in motor watts and maximum speed in the definition will allow for future expansion of the E-bike industry while still maintaining limitations on E-bikes that will keep the bike paths safe.

H.B. 1687 changes the current definition of an electric bicycle by eliminating the weight limit of 100 pounds and replacing it with a motor power capacity limitation. The bill also increases the maximum speed allowed without human power from 20 miles per hour to under 30 miles per hour. The bill defines electric bicycle as having a motor with a maximum capacity of 3,000 watts and a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour without human power.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS

H.B. 1687 amends the Transportation Code to describe the electric motor in the definition of "electric bicycle" and remove the condition that the bicycle not exceed a weight of 100 pounds. The bill defines "electric bicycle" as a bicycle that is designed to be propelled by an electric motor with a power output of 3,000 watts or less, exclusively or in combination with the application of human power, and cannot attain a speed of more than 30, rather than 20, miles per hour without the application of human power.
EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.

Hybike ....?
 

I bought one in August of 08. I had previously added a motor to my Giant cruising bike. I rode that one for over 500 miles back and forth (8.5 miles one way to work).
My "inner child said: "BUY that BIKE!" I did and I am enjoying the ride very much.
The only problem so far has been with the taillight and brake light bulbs. Just replaced them tonight.
Any more questions? Feel free to let me know.