BEBA UK Survey Results: Executive Summary

[JuicyBike]

Not over yet...

I am sad to see the DfT buckle under to European Union influence just to preserve their own markets from cheap far eastern imports.

All is not lost, by any means. The DofT will make their recommendation and then Parliament decides... So, assuming none of us have blown up Westminster in the meantime you can go all "democratic" and lobby your MP with your opinion.

Personally I will lobby mine by simply emailing a reasoned argument for what I see as the safety advantages of throttles and their help in widening participation in cycling. It really is very easy to influence and cajole an MP in the UK.

As I have a tory MP I will also draw attention to possible protectionism from the Europeans as I'm sure that will help wind him up... which is fun.

Should take 10 minutes tops.

 

[Jimod]

Fitting a throttle where you still need to turn the pedals would be pointless on my bike since as long as you turn the pedals, even very slowly, brings my motor in at full power anyway. Only bikes with torque sensors need a throttle if you still need to turn the pedals.

 

[jazper53]

Fitting a throttle where you still need to turn the pedals would be pointless on my bike since as long as you turn the pedals, even very slowly, brings my motor in at full power anyway. Only bikes with torque sensors need a throttle if you still need to turn the pedals.

The recommended changes seems to be a joke, rather than ban the throttle they will place restrictions to make them obsolete, it all seems very cynical, and clearly they were not understanding, or not listening what the full benefits the throttle can be to the less able bodied.

 

[Kudoscycles]

The recommended changes seems to be a joke, rather than ban the throttle they will place restrictions to make them obsolete, it all seems very cynical, and clearly they were not understanding, or not listening what the full benefits the throttle can be to the less able bodied.

Jazper,on a new thread I have proposed a solution that has,I think,most of the advantages of the throttle but within the regs.
I must say that if the police are as effective at controlling throttles as they are about stopping 350 watt illegal bikes,which are everywhere in West London I wouldn't worry too much. It will be so difficult to determine whether a bike was built prior to 2016,whether it was homebuilt and by then we will have all engineered ways round it. The government don't seem all that interested in EN15194,I just don't see them giving time to modifying an act that goes back to 1982,to rubber stamp EN15194 would be relativley easy,if they can be bothered,why should they make amendments to an old act which has already been superceded.
Dave
Kudoscycles

 

[Wisper Bikes]

After re-reading the conclusions the OP drew from the data collected in the survey, I'm further convinced that we can't really form any opinions with certainty. Only 355 participated and unless I'm very much mistaken, there's an awful lot more of the population riding around on ebikes than that figure might suggest to some.

What was interesting is that the %'s didn't really change between 100 and 200 results and the eventual 355 completed surveys, I think we can safely assume that even if we had reached 10,000 the results would have remained pretty well the same.

All the best

David

 

[Wisper Bikes]

It is important to understand that these are not yet "results". As I said in my first post, this is my personal view of the way the law will probably go.

We set out to try and encourage the DfT to see if a way could be found that in the UK riders could still have the choice of buying a bike with or without a full throttle fitted. In my opinion this will be the eventual outcome.

All the best

David

 

[Jimod]

It is important to understand that these are not yet "results". As I said in my first post, this is my personal view of the way the law will probably go.

We set out to try and encourage the DfT to see if a way could be found that in the UK riders could still have the choice of buying a bike with or without a full throttle fitted. In my opinion this will be the eventual outcome.

All the best

David

A lot of us, me included, will come on and moan about the throttle issue but don't worry, I think we all appreciate the effort your putting in. Keep up the good work.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Thanks Jim.

BEBA now under the Chairmanship of Mark from Hero Eco has worked very hard to get to this point, so your kind and encouraging comments are very welcome!

All the best

David

 

[flecc]

I see a lady on an old powabyke quite often,she never pedals,even when going slowly on the pavement,but what does she do when she comes to a hill?Maybe she never goes up hills?

Dave
Kudoscycles

The old Powabyke motor has a very high power peak of 700 watts gross at a quite low speed point, 7 mph. This gives it great hill slogging ability at around that speed, so anything up to 10% is ok without pedalling, and even steeper for lighter riders. In most areas there aren't many hills steeper.

I've got one throttle bike that can handle anything up to 12/14% with me on board and without pedalling, but I usually pedal anyway. The reason I use the throttle on that and another e-bike I owned is that the pedelec system was so poor, a common Chinese e-bike failing. They need good torque sensing, but until the adoption of the TMM sensor by some models, their torque sensors when fitted were mostly rubbish.