Don’t ride like a nutter on roads
It is, as I understand it, really not that simple.
Say for example you are not exceeding the speed limit on a normal road, and someone who has not checked up correctly that there is no traffic, steps out in front of you and gets injured.
Your bike will be taken for testing, for steering, brakes and if the power unit/controller is set up to allow higher speeds than the law allows, you are going to get DONE!
Which also leaves the door open for a lawyer representing the injured person, to claim that you might have been even exceeding the allowed limit by using that extra illegal power/speed, thereby causing the accident, as you were unable to stop in time. Its possible.
You are going to be in very hot water, unless you get an equally well schooled (or even better!) lawyer, to hopefully get that claim thrown out of court!
That will also be very expensive, as any e-bike that does not obey the law, nullifies its own insurance, as does illegal modifications do to any vehicle on the road!
Also, do you have the required license to ride such a modified bike?
I am assuming that you have insurance!
Apparently, many do not!
So if you are a believer in insurance, a good move I feel, you have to stay legal in all respects to "maintain" that insurance as being valid. Illegal mods nullify insurance, and any damages will come out of your pocket!
The only alternative that I see (there may be others of course), is to have the e-bike registered as a moped/motorcycle, pay insurance, road tax, get the bike MOTed, probably wear a better safety helmet, have a license, and not go off road where such bikes are banned.
You are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea!
Or you need to own one of each..... Both insured of course!
The simplest answer is of course to ride a fully legal e-bike, unmodified in any illegal way, then you can ride where your heart desires!
IMHO the laws are not yet fully clear or understood, even by the police, in both the UK and the EU, but gradually, with each and every new accident and incident, the knowledge and the laws will "harden up", most likely to the detriment of legal owners and riders.
Our job is to always stay legal, so that our present freedom is not simply wasted away by illegal riders.....
Some food for thought!
I wish you and all Pedelecers a great weekend.
Andy