Hi everyone

[Phil Dryden]

i can see at some point these bikes will be registered to the buyer and some sort of tax and insurance will have to be paid as even if you buy a electric car over 40k you still have to pay road tax of £350 for the first 5 years.

Hi SW, I hope by "these bikes" you mean the dongled and 'over 250' bikes, and we don't ALL get swept up in admin and financial penalties.

 

[soundwave]

depends what point of law you are looking at tbh as it clearly states what is and is not road legal.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/electric-bike-guides/uk-electric-bike-law/

Derestriction, ‘off-road’ switches or modes and dongles

The Department of Transport say that electric bikes fitted with off-road switches or modes, that enable a bike’s motor to continue assisting to speeds beyond 15.5mph, do not comply with UK EAPC law. The term ‘off-road’ suggests that these bikes can be ridden on parkland, forests or other places away from main roads, which isn’t accurate. E-bikes with increased motor power (continuous rated power above 250w) or increased speed (with motor assistance not cutting out at 15.5mph) cannot be used legally as bicycles anywhere on land accessible by the public; when riding on private land you would need permission from the landowner.

so if you go buy that there are no road legal kits you can buy as you can change the settings regardless of speed and motor power the fact it can be changed makes it non road legal.

 

[Nealh]

As S/W has detailed most kits whether 250w or not, are technically illegal if they have an LCD as the speed setting can be changed willy nilly in a few seconds. Also the throttle can be configured to become illegal in use as well.

 

[EddiePJ]

Rather an unpleasant and unnecessary response to a new member

Hardly any surprise though given who has said it.

I wouldn't worry about it though, as it probably won't be long before he spits his dummy out again, and leaves the forum. He has quite a pattern of being rude and abusive to people, then storming off when people return the favour.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/what-is-the-main-purpose-of-pedelecs.31416/page-3#post-439574


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[Fat Rat]

Hi welcome to the site

 

[Zlatan]

Yes, welcome.

 

[jarob10]

Its also quite nice to get "Hands On" with different models.
(Well - some more than others)
Biggest problem we have is explaining to customers that we dont work on bikes that are not road legal.(Recently had to say no to a 1500W motor fitted to a rod-brake Hercules)

Couldn't you sidestep the issue by getting a suitably worded disclaimer for customers to sign?

 

[Andy McNish]

It seems I may not fit in with you bad boy e-bikers.

Still, for the morons that have no respect for the law, their safety or anybody elses - I couldnt care less.
One of my best mates is paralysed after being hit by a prat on a 1000 Watt bike that had no brakes. His wife and daughter may not share your views.

Have you any details/press reports? That would certainly have made the local press I would have thought?

A 1000 Watt bike rider using it off road is just like one one of the those prats with a quad bike. Excpet quieter I suppose.


BIkes exist in two very different environments.
First is off road - on cycle paths, river and canal banks, trails (or even pavements) etc.- where they are the fastest, heaviest and most dangerous thing on them - and where they absolutely should be restricted to a relatively slow speed.

But the second is on the road- where they are the slowest, lightest and by far the most vulnerable thing around.

It would make sense to let ebikes travel at 25-30mph on roads but to keep the existing limit for off road. The problem would be that such dual use bikes would lead to even more people breaking the limit on cycle paths/riverbanks etc. as a hardwired restriction is much harder to get around than a voluntary speed limit.

It does seem odd that we don't hardware or sofware limit car speeds but do limit bikes though -given how much more dangerous cars are.