De restrict for off road use

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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Telford
Thanks for all ur advice,by off road i meant i wouldnt be riding it on the road , and yes private land is the land owned by a local guy who said its fine, kinda new to this but thanks for all your help
If you wanted to derestrift, you should have asked before you bought the bike. Some are easier than others.

If you're any good ar electronics, you can hack the speed signal with a frequency divider, and if you're good with electrical stuff, you can replace the controller and LCD, otherwise you'd have to try inviting the Wisper guys to a party with lots of free alcohol and unde-rage girls, then blackmail them for the unlock sequence the next day; however, I don't think it would work because they're wise to people trying those sort of things.
 
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saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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Blimey, 18mph. Absolute death machine.
Especially as up to 17.08 mph is allowed in the standard. I reckon that I could get the guy off in court if he used me as an expert witness. What the wheel spins up to with the wheel off the ground is not the same as the speed when riding because of the response time. Also, the display speed is not calibrated and unverified.

It reminds me of the time the police seized a pedicab trike and grounded the whole fleet. They used a current measuring clamp over the battery wires to determine that 48v times the 25 amps that they measured was around 1000w and 4 times what they thought was allowed. I wrote a nice letter for the guy's solicitor explaining the errors, which was presented to the police, who then apologised to the guy and gave him his trike back.
 
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Wisper Bikes

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Apr 11, 2007
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Sevenoaks Kent
Hi all, FYI, we would need to reprogram the controller on the Tailwind to derestrict it. Even opening the throttle takes a change to the software. Incidentally even if you own the land, if public have any access, that includes a footpath on the perimeter of a field, it’s not legal to use a derestricted ebike.

All the best, David
 

danielrlee

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May 27, 2012
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thelarkbox

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Aug 23, 2023
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oxon
Imho Nothing wrong in simply exploring taking ownership of something you have bought. It was the 1st thing i looked up on becoming an e-biker..

It turns out my bike is similar to op's in that a controller/display replacement would be a pita, and the dual voltage controllers which i find attractive are not available in the preferred form factor. - so it wasnt long before ebike #2 was in my hands.. and the deresricted performance was totally underwhelming (hub motor).

a few extra mph at the top end which needed time and the flat with the wind behind me to slowly creep up to 22-23mph, All in all it was just simpler to re-restrict and tootle along without having to keep an eye on the speed and if plod was about.
 

cyclebuddy

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Nov 2, 2016
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Beds & Norfolk
Absolutely pathetic! All that fuss for 1.5mph over the maximum allowed speed limit variance. No wonder respect for the police is at an all-time low.
Yes, but you need to draw a line in the sand somewhere. 1.5mph over the limit is as illegal as 28mph. A standard needs to be enforced however trivial it may seem; If even 1.5mph can land you in trouble with the law, maybe that clamp-down and publicity provides a warning to the Deliveroo/Uber-eats riders blatantly and excessively abusing the limits.

...and the deresricted performance was totally underwhelming (hub motor).
De-restricting to 18/20/23/28mph is frequently possible depending on the bike - a lot of Chinese tackle is made for a world-wide market where a simple key-press or two de-restricts to allow the higher limits legally permitted in those countries.

My Fiido folding does 18mph, my Bafang M400 bike does 28mph de-restricted. I'd agree, the legal risk/reward is questionable for 18mph, but at 28mph it's as thrilling as a Thorpe-Park roller-coaster ride, albeit a bit scary.

Where do you propose the Cops draw that line?
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
20,305
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Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
Yes, but you need to draw a line in the sand somewhere. 1.5mph over the limit is as illegal as 28mph.
I suspect it was typo in the article, 30mph instead of 30kph.
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,713
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Telford
I suspect it was typo in the article, 30mph instead of 30kph.
Post #3 has a photo of the LCD showing 30.2 km/ hr with the wheel off the ground and the throttle held fully down. Incidentally, no mention of the throttle being illegal!

I'm going to guess that when the police asked him about it, he admitted that he had released the speed limit in the settings. Rule 1: Never answer questions from the police.
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,713
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Telford
I was thinking about this hypothetically. You can adjust the speed reading incrementally with the KT controller. You could easily set it to read 15mph when the actual speed is 20 mph or vice versa. Or you could set the wheel size to something different on most Chinese controllers.
 
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cyclebuddy

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 2, 2016
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I was thinking about this hypothetically. You can adjust the speed reading incrementally with the KT controller. You could easily set it to read 15mph when the actual speed is 20 mph or vice versa. Or you could set the wheel size to something different on most Chinese controllers.
But the Police would need just cause... either they measured the rider at an above acceptable speed, strongly suspected that, was riding in a pedestrian only precinct/on pavement, or he was riding like a total lunatic and putting others at risk.

It'd be odd to just randomly stop someone who was otherwise (at least at face value) abiding by the law.
 
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saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,713
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Telford
But the Police would need just cause... either they measured the rider at an above acceptable speed, strongly suspected that, was riding in a pedestrian only precinct/on pavement, or he was riding like a total lunatic and putting others at risk.

It'd be odd to just randomly stop someone who was otherwise (at least at face value) abiding by the law.
He couldn't have been riding that fast because his motor only assisted to 18.7 mph - 1 mph above the legal maximum. There must be more to the story. Maybe his ex-girlfriend grassed on him.
 
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saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
6,713
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Telford
BTW, here's a test you can do with any legal ebike. It might surprise you:
Set the power to maximum;
put it in first gear;
lift the motor wheel off the ground, making sure it spins freely;
turn the pedals;
record the maximum speed you see on the LCD;
start panicking.
 

sjpt

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 8, 2018
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It'd be odd to just randomly stop someone who was otherwise (at least at face value) abiding by the law.
It said in the original article with the rider reported to officers from Police Scotland for having no licence or insurance.

It doesn't say who did the reporting (or why), but it wasn't a random stop. Maybe he'd been behaving much worse elsewhere earlier to get reported; the police couldn't to much about that (?more severe?) incident, but could charge on a technicality when they did actually have contact with the rider.

It's odd the complaint was having no licence or insurance, rather than riding recklessly. I can guess that most of the riders I see riding recklessly and illegally don't have licence or insurance, but if I were to make a complaint I couldn't make it on those grounds.

~~~
I noticed while looking at that article video of another rider riding on the M8, which is a particularly dangerous motorway as it weaves through Glasgow.
 
D

Deleted member 16246

Guest
Absolutely pathetic! All that fuss for 1.5mph over the maximum allowed speed limit variance. No wonder respect for the police is at an all-time low.
And as Saneagle pointed out, what it says on that display means nothing as far as an accurate calibrated measurement is concerned. My Brompton goes faster than 18 miles an hour and I am 73! Unless the rider was riding like an absolute loon, those cops need a serious talking to. I very much doubt that the CPS would prosecute anyone who refused a fixed penalty. Any solicitor would make mincemeat of the holes in the case (as presented here).
 
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D

Deleted member 16246

Guest
It said in the original article with the rider reported to officers from Police Scotland for having no licence or insurance.

It doesn't say who did the reporting (or why), but it wasn't a random stop. Maybe he'd been behaving much worse elsewhere earlier to get reported; the police couldn't to much about that (?more severe?) incident, but could charge on a technicality when they did actually have contact with the rider.

It's odd the complaint was having no licence or insurance, rather than riding recklessly. I can guess that most of the riders I see riding recklessly and illegally don't have licence or insurance, but if I were to make a complaint I couldn't make it on those grounds.

~~~
I noticed while looking at that article video of another rider riding on the M8, which is a particularly dangerous motorway as it weaves through Glasgow.
I suspect it means that he was reported by the police to whoever decides on whether to prosecute. I am unclear who that is in scotland - maybe the Procurator Fiscal.

Maybe they had good reason to stop the fellow if they were following him up hill in a vehicle with a calibrated speedo. A bit trivial in any case to be messing with the public uNLESS they are behaving badly and posing a danger because of their manner of riding. If he was riding dangerously, he was inviting attention.
 
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StuartsProjects

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May 9, 2021
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It said in the original article with the rider reported to officers from Police Scotland for having no licence or insurance.
Indeed, its possible of course that 'Police Scotland' found something about the bike that required the rider to have had a licence and insurance, so a serious offence maybe.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,297
3,210
Absolutely pathetic! All that fuss for 1.5mph over the maximum allowed speed limit variance. No wonder respect for the police is at an all-time low.
Could that extra 1.5mph have been explained away by built-in motor assist run on?

I was followed by a police car very closely for about a mile last year, wouldn't go away and I wouldn't speed up. Pretty sure it was measuring my speed.


Or you could set the wheel size to something different on most Chinese controllers.
The BBS01B's DPC18 allows wheel size down to a laughable 6", but I can't see how to sensibly install it on a Sinclair A-bike:


 
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