Burton

An 'e-bike' that'll do 48kph is no longer an 'e-bike'. Its an electric motorcycle from a legal point of view. You can kid yourself all you want - eventually things catch up. In Montreal several classifications of electric bikes are no longer allowed on bicycle paths, and are still not allowed on some public roads.

In this country if you were stopped and the officer had reason to suspect your 'e-bike' was bending the rules - it could be seized and/or asked to pass an inspection. If based on the results they decided to make an example of you - good luck with that. But most people in Canada respect the rules and our roads here are reasonably safe as a result. Can't say I'd want to live in the States.

15rms

What ever happened to freedom?

FMB42

Sorry, but it seems that "freedom" is (not so) slowly being legislated out of existence for valid and, in some cases, invalid reasons.

The problem is that those who legislate are very often allowed to speak, think, do, act, and drive in ways that would usually place their subjects at risk of arrest and prosecution.

powell

Burton,
here in Calgary the same thing.
If you bought ebike 40km/h capable or if you modifed it does it matter , if you are caught on bikepath doing 40 km/h on racing carbon bicycle you are fined for speeding, but if they/bylaw/ stop you for speeding and they find out you are on ebike that is double offence.
definition of ebike is very clear here. max 32km/h, 500W ,that's it.
THE LAST THING that I want when I am on my Eplus doing in excess of 40km/h on a street is "attention" and admiration .
the most stupid thing I saw in one of those ebike videos when he passed a car on illigal vehicle namely 50mph emotorcycle/scooter with no plates.
Similarly in another parts of NAmerica, once people start talking it is only matter of time before crack down starts, example New York City.

Burton

Yup - and the law applied to cars isn't all that different. There are billboard sized signs along the autoroute outside Toronto that clearly state that driving in excess of 40kph over thecspeedlimit will result in a minimum $10,000 fine, seizure of vehicle and immediate roadside suspension of license. Good luck getting home!

And apparently there's always someone that thinks laws don'd apply to them - like that kid in BC that posted a video of himself doing 300kph on a crotch rocket on a public highway through traffic. Luckily his friends were smart enough to turn him in before he killed someone.

And now e-bikes. I have 3 myself. Amazingly the speed limit on the bike paths here is 20kph and the speed limit on everything except main arteries is 30kph. A stock e-bike will handle all that. Driving in 50kph zones also means driving in heavy traffic here and I'd rather not.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...her-hard-cases

So the 'need' for a 1,000W motor completely escapes me. I have one e-bike thats equipped to do house calls. It has a 500W HT motor and even loaded down with 50lbs of luggage, parts and tools - it'll climb the steepest holl in the city at 30kph. I did swap out the front fork for a RockShox Reba, but the motor, battery and controller are all dead stock.

https://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...4&d=1353438631

Thing is - fully loaded, I don't WANT to drive at full speed. Mostly out of respect for what I'm carrying. And that's not unreasonable anyway. The last BMW R100RS I had would do 200+kph. But the owner's manual was very specific - with rear luggage cases installed the top speed MUST BE kept below 100kph.

With all this talk about 'freedom' it seems that a few people forget very fast that their freedom stops at the point it starts to endanger other people's freedom. And that particular point isn't their's to decide - its already been established.

magic carpet

Just because Ebikes can't be made faster without breaking the law, doesn't mean they can't be made better.

As a new industry, Ebikes need a direction to evolve and the most basic response is 'let's make it faster'. That won't work.

I was around at the beginning of the sport of windsurfing. My Dad sold the original 'Windsurfer' when the booms were still made of wood. I competed in regattas throughout North America. We started a club in Toronto that would see 100 sailboarders show up for a Tuesday night race. Everyone had great big all-round boards that could be used regardless of wind speed. Enthusiasm was HUGE!

The best sailors in the world were using tiny 'sinker' boards in Hawaii, where there was always wind. People started buying shorter and shorter boards in a search for higher performance, but most of the time, there wasn't enough wind to make it worthwhile taking the board off the Bimmers roof rack. Tuesdays night racing ceased to be.

The dozens of manufacturers needed to sell product, but an 'all-round' board didn't need to be upgraded yearly, so they had to market 'sizzle' as opposed to reality, in order to survive.
Or so they thought.

Consequently, Windsurfing is being dropped from the next olympics.

An ebike must not exceed what the public perceives to be the top speed of a bicycle or they will not be categorized the same as bicycles. Presently in Canada that's 30kph.

I want to ride my Ebike like a bicycle and where a bicycle goes. I don't want to go faster. I've owned 6 cylinder motorcycles. I'm not looking for an adrenalin rush, I'm looking for pleasure!

Design an Ebike that integrates into the bicycle world, yet isn't constrained by the engineering principles of ultra-lightweight construction. Include all the options that make bicycles practical and functional and then off-set that extra weight with electrical assistance. A bicycle seat doesn't need to weigh 14 grams and cause impotency if the bikes motor pushes it along at the legal maximum anyways!

Build them light to maximize riders input to the human/electric hybrid balance, but not so light that strength is compromised and they shatter like carbon racing bikes.

Keep it honest, if it doesn't require pedalling, or goes faster than a cyclist can, it's not an ebike. Pedals inside the fairing of an electric motorcycle are an affront and anarchistic in spirit.

I respect the inventors and innovators on Endless Sphere, by all means, build fast electric bikes! I just wish they would leave the pedals off if they have no intention of using them.

powell

From myexperience 32km/h limited ebike takes a lot of motivation of exercise on ebike away
What I mean by limited?
I don't know how China brands are limitedbut my USA designed Tidal Force not only depower motor but also applies regen breaking over 31km/h
I had cyclists following me on downhill wondering why I break on perfect asphalt
What they didnt know was that software was telling my TF to applied ebreak
On non-restricted Eplus max speed depends entirely on me what is hudge motivation for me

350htrr

That would really piss me off, most of my rides are at least 32 KMs/Hr+ on the flats and having the re-gen come on without me wanting it to come on... Max speed depends on my effort with my BionX. Tho I take issue with the 32KM cut off (it's the only problem I have of the BionX that I can't get around)as 40KMs/Hr sounds better to me... I sure wish I could find a fix for that.

EDIT; So now I'm wondering, I am doing 45Km/Hr a cop sees that I am on an E-Bike and knows my max speed should be 32Km/Hr on an E-Bike...? Anyone get hassled yet for going too fast on an E-Bike?

powell

Cops are not really busy all the time
And they can pick up on everything they think is illegal
including my Eplus
So far it didn't happen
Far biggest concern for me is getting into accident with anybodyor anything and police is called
And all those legal issues
Incase of serious enough accident for sure my ebike would've been examined for sure
On other hand being able to keep up with 30mph traffic makes my ride so much safer