Illegal Bikes
- Thread starter lemmy
- Start date
Old Timer, do you have reading difficulties? Read my posts.
I explicitly say that I don't care what others do. I do NOT say what I do or don't do. You don't know whether I ride to the letter of the law or not.
Why would I be pleased when others come a cropper? What makes me smug?
I made a simple point, one point only, yet you seem unable to comprehend. I don't think it is a good idea to write about illegal bikes on an open forum like this because it makes it look as if everyone here holds the law in equal contempt.
If you ride motorcycles, there are forums for the bikers who do the 100mph wheelies on high streets, set up races and so on. But they are not public forums. That seems to me sensible.
It's perfectly easy to understand what I wrote and most people have done. I was interested to see whether any other people felt the same way as me. I can't see how you could miss my point so comprehensively, let alone why you need to try to be offensive or emotional.
I am not sure we live in a police state where anything that could be breaking the law is monitored. There are much bigger fish to fry in terms of monitoring, I could provide some examples but the list would be very long.
To me it is very simple - break the law and lose a possible insurance claim. If I fall under a lorry and die with a ebike that travels faster than 15mph +7% my family would loose my life insurances - it's just not worth it.
To me it is very simple - break the law and lose a possible insurance claim. If I fall under a lorry and die with a ebike that travels faster than 15mph +7% my family would loose my life insurances - it's just not worth it.
interesting...
best,
beeps
thanks for that tip, was not aware of this, have done several thousand miles on my SB, which has become almost silent, so the nylon has worn in nicely, but i ride with throttle only and although i alway 'kick off' before applying power, have been wondering about wear on the nylon gears over the long term, especially as i am about to install a new 36v 20ah batt to increase my distance, will check out the steel replacements, should add that i have been delighted with the SB, this really has been a worthwhile upgrade & one i would do again.Indeed but so far it works for meAlso there are replacement steel ones available for the SB motors but they apparently increase motor noise.
best,
beeps
Trouble with steel gears is the lubrication. They won't be anywhere near as tolerant as nylon is to running dry over time as the grease squeezes out and dries. Ground off iron filings aren't ideal within an electric motor!
Steel gears can demand more frequent hub opening up for greasing unless the ideal modern grease is chosen, plus they are very much more noisy as the Heinzmann versions in nylon or steel show.
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Steel gears can demand more frequent hub opening up for greasing unless the ideal modern grease is chosen, plus they are very much more noisy as the Heinzmann versions in nylon or steel show.
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Yes but you might not die if you are travelling quicker than the 16ish mph allowed. You are much less of a target at 20mph rather than 15 mph so it is all swings and roundabouts as it were.
Not too sure of the legal position there, rosjen. The fact that you have an off-road button fitted which lets your bike do 18mph-ish with assistance can't really be taken as proof that you were travelling at 18mph-ish with assistance when they retrieve you and bike from under the lorry.
No more than digging you out from under a lorry after your sports car got crushed (a sports car capable of 150mph) would in itself mean you had been driving over the speed limit.
Thus, I think your poor family are probably quite safe in their claim for your life insurance, which we all hope will never happen.
A.
The point is that if your bike turned out to have an off road button then it would prove that the bike was not an Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle but it was in fact an uninsured, unregistered, untaxed motorcycle that you were riding without a suitable helmet. The speed you were going at when the accident occurred wouldn't be an issue, it the fact that legally you shouldn't have been on the road in the first place that might cause insurers some problems.
Patrick
No aspects of the 1983, 1988 or 2003 legislation on electric assisted bikes have been court tested in mainland Britain as far as I know. I've seen a claim that there was a prosecution or two in one of the Channel Islands, but that has not been verified and in any case they have their own odd laws there as well.
I agree with Patrick though, the ways the laws are worded leaves no room for doubt about "off road" buttons. If an e-bike can exceed the legal assisted speed limit or has a motor rated at over 200 watts (British regs) or 250 watts (EU regs), either all the time or as a rider option, it is a motorcycle.
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There must be thousands of derestricted 50cc scooters on the road,apart from the fact they must outnumber illegal ebikes by 100-1, they are mainly ridden by youngsters and often in a manner that would attract maximum attention,buzzy loud sports exhausts often make them stand out even more ,does anybody know of any prosecutions for riding an illegally derestriced 50cc bike, or the voiding of insurance in an accident on one of these.
And not just those Paul. There's also the restricted power motorcycle class for certain ages which I don't remember. Those standard bikes, like the Honda CB500, but fitted with restrictors often have the owners removing the restrictor immediately to bring them back to normal full power specification. One trade man told me that he didn't think any of them are ever used with the restrictor in!
Never heard of a prosecution on either type for this offence, I think the police have enough youngsters using mopeds without licence/insurance etc to keep them busy.
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Never heard of a prosecution on either type for this offence, I think the police have enough youngsters using mopeds without licence/insurance etc to keep them busy.
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You're quite right Paul, I know of two instances of these derestricted machines which have been in collision with other vehicles. The fathers of both riders are friends of mine, and assured me there was no problem with the insurance claims.
One particular incident resulted in the machine being written off as beyond repair, the rider escaping with just a few bruises. The replacement machine, paid for by the insurance company, was already derestricted when the lad collected it from the shop.
Those last answers are interesting, and like most riders, I'll probably continue to take my chances.
But thinking back to when I bought the bike (a few months ago), I obviously DID read what it said on the website:
Max powered speed: 15.5mph - 18.5mph with off road option fitted and activated (OFF ROAD USE ONLY)
and assumed that as long as I didn't use it ON ROAD, I was fine.
I think if it had read: "It is illegal to have an 'off-road option' button fitted to your bike if you use it on the road, and under certain circumstances the authorities might seize and destroy your bike", I would have thought a bit harder about ordering the option!
A
But thinking back to when I bought the bike (a few months ago), I obviously DID read what it said on the website:
Max powered speed: 15.5mph - 18.5mph with off road option fitted and activated (OFF ROAD USE ONLY)
and assumed that as long as I didn't use it ON ROAD, I was fine.
I think if it had read: "It is illegal to have an 'off-road option' button fitted to your bike if you use it on the road, and under certain circumstances the authorities might seize and destroy your bike", I would have thought a bit harder about ordering the option!
A
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