Mastodawn

A rant about electric bicycles:

* For e-bikes to be viable car replacements they need cargo-carrying and hill-climb capacity. The practicality test for an e-bike is to carry four bags of grocieries, or a child.

* The 250W and 20km/h limit for unlicensed bicycles is *far* too low. Human cyclists comfortably exceed this in both power and speed leading to e-bikes holding up traffic. When. I ride the bikeways, human-powered traffic cruises at around 35 km/h.

* The "you must pedal or the motor stops" requirement is some Calvinist bullshit.

* The perl-clutching "but the children" scare in the news about "unlicensed motorbikes" HAS to be some kind of car-industry astroturfing. From what I can see on the bikeways, commuter e-bikes and scooters are HOT items and anyone with a head can see a dent in vehicle sales coming. Users LOVE this emerging mobility sector.

* I work in an industrial area with zero public transport service. I observe large numbers of workers riding scooters in the direction of the nearest train station.

* If governments *really* want to stick to the 250w 25km/h bullshit for "bicycles" then we need URGENT legislation to create a vehicle class for say 1000W 45km/h vehicles. The Australia post electric delivery tricycles are a worked example of the practicality of this class; I don't hear *anyone* having a meltdown about "dangerous monster tricycles on our footpaths".

#MicroMobility #ebikes #solarpunk

ETA: absurd panic-fueled legislation from the fossil-fuel captured Literal Nazi Party: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/queensland-ebike-escooter-ban-children-licence-reforms/106487910

E-bike and e-scooter riders to require a licence in Qld under proposed laws

A raft of new rules around the use of e-mobility devices will be ushered in after the Queensland government accepted the recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry.

Show thread

Polly Kraisus 13h ago

@Unixbigot is the law already voted in? Can you link to some good write-ups about it?
We ride two ebikes in Meanjin, one cargo, the other single, both shop-bought as is, both pedal-assist to 27 K/h. Does that mean we'll have to get some kind of licence for them??

Show thread

Suzannah

@stragu @Unixbigot I was directed to this site as one of the campaigns going.
https://space4cyclingbne.com/

Writing to state MP is one of the actions they recommend.

I almost ran over some kid riding their illegal ebike on the road yesterday, but kids being dumb isn't a reason to ruin it for everyone else.

Space for Cycling Brisbane

Making a better Brisbane for everyone

Space for Cycling Brisbane

Show thread

00Pete 9h ago

Its not so much the power of the bikes (which is aproblem in the worng situations), its more the underage, unlicenced and stupid behaviour by both kids, and some adults. Kids are usually the worst because they have no experience and think they're invincible. There needs to be more policing ansd consequence for illegal bikes, and behaviour, including underage kids riding essentially electric motorcycles.

Show thread

Franchesca 5h ago

@PeteDiscrete fatbikes going too fast is a problem here in The Netherlands, especially 12yo kids who think they are invincible riding double. One kid ended up in a coma with his lower jaw gone last year as he hit the back of a truck(kid behind walked away). They need to class these things in terms of momentum, with age limits relative to how much damage your momentum can do to yourself and other cyclists (we have separation from cars usually, or cars are “guests” for access only)