Yes, I do know the position in Law of 250w bikes. They're illegal. What they do in France and Germany is irrelevant. As Col said, if you have an accident on a 250w bike, regardless of whos fault it is, the other party could blame you for riding an illegal bike. If it goes to court, the judge will use the UK law as the basis for decision. The result would be the same on a 250w bike as a 500w one. The only difference is that the Police might decide to prosecute if you have a 500w one, as we have a sort of immunity against prosecution for 250w bikes, but that doesn't make them legal.
Forgive me but I had forgotten you are an expert on everything, not least, case law, precedent and probably the hierarchal structure of the court system.
It may suit your position to pontificate that all EAPCs with a motor rating in excess of 200w are illegal but you are making an assumption of what a magistrate might determine to be the applicable law.
Many would argue otherwise, particularly those solicitors aware,(as they would be) that several police forces run fleets of such 'illegal' EAPCS.
It is disingenuous of you to attempt, after encouraging so many readers of these pages to buy or build illegal machinery, to ameliorate your criminality by encompassing all those decent people riding 250w EAPCs, bought and sold in good faith as compliant.
Your comment about what they do in France and Germany being irrelevant is utter tosh. It's entirely relevant, not least because in Germany, a registration plate is required identifying those higher powered EAPCs as a special class only permitted for use where motorcycles and other higher-powered vehicles may be used. They are prohibited in many places.
You and your little band of acolytes just don't seem to 'get' the fact that, ignoring all other elements of EAPC regulation for a moment, the major reason you ride illegal machines is to allow you to go faster under power than the EAPC speed limit of 25kph. In so doing, you are using EAPCs as motorcycles but illegally. All those who have bought such powerful machines or adjusted machines in such ways that the speed limiting governance is no longer in place are committing several offences.
In short, you and your like-minded friends know the law but choose to break it whereas all those decent, law-abiding cyclists riding standard 250w bikes are in compliance by dint of the cut-off. Of course, I might be entirely wrong in my views but I'm comfortable with my position. You however, might wish to check your understanding and possibly, liability to prosecution including the potential for a conspiracy to commit offences charge.
It really is rather sad to behold grown men act in such a juvenile way. 'My bike's faster than yours and it goes up mountains without me even having to pedal.......and I've just though thought of another whizz. I'm going to jam a lolly stick in the frame so that the spokes will make a noise against it.......then I'll knock that old dear's door and run away!' Perhaps not surprisingly, those who belittle roadies in lycra also seem to emanate from that 'illegal' camp. Keyboard warriors!
At least the last two of those are no more than silly or naughty pranks, usually with little potential for serious harm to anyone, unlike the first! As soon as today's young scallywags realise that they can glean all they need to build a grossly over-powered, 30 mph+ ebike cheaply by reading these pages, (and it's ok 'cos all these old guys do it!) our days of freedom on compliant EAPCs will be numbered.
Tom
