DVSA take companies to Court for selling illegal bikes.

[flecc]

Well to me, it seems the process for adding a throttle is rather tidy.

And inexpensive due to using Single Vehicle Approval.

Even a few years ago Type Approval of an exact model to be approved in quantities costed at least £10,000 per model. Goodness knows what it would be now. That meant only model variants with high volume sales were viable for type approval.
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[guerney]

As promised.

From the MVSA (Motor Vehicle Standards Agency) logbook

250W LPM
250 Watt Low Powered Moped. This is a sub-group of Low Powered Moped that meets
the criteria laid down in the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle Regulations 1983 (SI
1983 No. 1168) as amended by SI 2015 No. 24. The requirements are that the vehicle:

Be fitted with pedals by means of which it is capable of being propelled.

Be fitted with no motor other than an electric motor, which has a maximum
continuous rated power, which does not exceed 250 watts and cannot propel
the vehicle when it is travelling at more than 15.5 mph. (Note: the official speed
is 25 km/h, MSVA will accept declarations up to and including 16 mph as per
low powered mopeds).

These vehicles will be required to meet the standards applied to Low Powered Mopeds
except where specified.

Go to https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/motorcycle-single-vehicle-approval

Fill in the forms and search for your most local service centre, and fill in the form. Call the centre pay your £55.00 and they will give you an appointment date and time to take your bike in. The test takes about 1 hour.

You will be issued with this certificate.

All the best, David

View attachment 48915

Thank you for taking the time to upload that very nice high resolution image, which I can now correct the geometry of in GIMP and print out (joking joking).

Mine is a Bafang 36V 250W BBS01B conversion of a Dahon folding bike, so would the "Make" be myself (in which case I'd enter Guerney X1B Ultra Fantastic) and Dahon Helios P8 for model, or should it be Bafang for make and BBS01b for model, or some combination of Bafang and Dahon? It has two big end-bar "Zefal Doback 2" mirrors, a Hornit 140db horn, front and rear reflectors, one very bright motorbike headlight and I might add another. Can it fail on headlights?

Also, will they measure actual motor power on a testbed? My kit arrived with the controller set to 15A, so I presume that's legal... or would I need to lower the amps?

If it fails the test, will my bike end up in bike prison? Might be a very tense hour...

I'm wondering if a valid certificate could somewhat mitigate being sued after an accident? Insurance company lawyers generally need at least 60% probability of success before commencing legal proceedings. I expect they can sue cyclists with legal pedelecs for damages.