My first motorcycle was a 1988 Kawasaki EX500. I was 19 years old when I rolled it brand new off the dealer's floor for $3130 out the door.
It weighed 408 pounds fully wet, and had a 60 bhp engine that could reach a maximum speed of about 130 mph. It could go 0-60 mph in less than 4 seconds, quicker than a Porsche 911 Twin Turbo of its era.
A 2025 Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP makes 215 bhp, and can go over 200 mph.
And people think an #ebike should be regulated the same way? Preposterous.
There is no logical reason why an #ebike, which is a low-speed, ultra-lightweight vehicle, should be subject to the same laws as cars and trucks that weigh an order of magnitude more and can travel an order of magnitude faster and farther.
The size, mass, and velocity of motor vehicles is why they represent a danger to public safety, public health, and public order, and why they are rightfully regulated by the state.
@gcvsa in fact, tighter #ebike regulations may be a public safety risk! Why? Because e-bike riders get more exercise:
https://electrek.co/2024/02/20/why-electric-bikes-give-more-exercise/
In the same way bike helmet laws worsen public health because they deter #cycling , restricting e-bikes will tend to drive people back to sedentary, polluting, deadly cars.
Just finished riding my #ebike back from the dentist. #grateful to have one within biking distance. And for my winter gear. Even 35 degrees is COLD on a bike without gear.
This was my first e-bike ride in a while. My regular bike is in the shop and I had to pump up the tires and such something my wife's bike.
I remember reading a book about Apple and IBM. The book was from the 1990s, I think, and talked about how it's easier for a company at the low end of the market to expand upward, then it is for a company at the high end of the market to expand downward. Was it Guy Kawasaki?
What the personal transportation market needs is not Tesla or Rivian or BYD.
What we need is a #velomobile. An ultralight, 2+2, low speed, short range, affordable, climate-controlled, enclosed, all-weather cargo #ebike.
The fact is, #ebikes are statistically not a significant danger to public safety, public health, or public order that would justify this regulation.
It's just pure hate.
Even if we expanded #ebike regulations in the US to allow speeds up to 50 kmh (31 mph) and power up to 2 bhp (1500 W), without any requirement for functional pedals (or at the very least an exception available for disabled people)โas I believe we shouldโebikes still would not present a significant danger.
#Safety arguments regarding #ebikes are mostly, in my experience, thinly-veiled resentment by men who just hate the fact that an #ebike can go faster than they can without working up a sweat, because bicycling is a part of their identity, and masculinity is fragile.
So they want to classify them as motorcycles, force operator licensing, vehicle registration, and liability insurance requirements, and they don't care what the consequences are, because those consequences will never touch them.
I don't really care much what the UK & EU do concerning #ebike #regulation, except insofar as it gives false credence to arguments that the US should have similar #restrictions and it affects what the global market is able to profitably build, which affects supply in the US.
The built environment and social expectations of the US are very different to those of the UK or the EU. What seems sensible to them doesn't necessarily make sense for us.
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John E. Bartley, III (D) K7AAY
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