UK driving licence categories and Electric bikes.
- Thread starter Tortus
- Start date
For me it's not about top speed (I start shiting it when bike goes much over 22mph even on a good road), but hills, 1500W breezes up any hill of any length at speed, I can draw 1800W from the KT controller going up Gardner St in west end (the really steep hill from Taggart credits)!
Why I love the rear hub, no fannying around with gears, just pedal in assist 5 and the hill has been destroyed...!
Only the Light Bee, L1e model, on this link
The rest are motorcycle class, not L1e-B mopeds.
I agree with @Ghost1951 a light ic motorcycle or scooter style Moped makes far more sense in every way, though you are only qualified for the 50cc Moped at present.
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I absolutely get that. As well as electric bikes, I also ride motorbikes - these days only 125, 250 and a 350. Bigger and they get too heavy to move around un-powered, now that I am 73, and they are pretty hard to pick up if they chance to fall over, which one did about eight months ago.
Point is though with your 1500 watt e-bike, if some policeman comes and takes a close look at your 'Bigyin'..... I don't know if you have a driving license - you very likely do, and what happens when you renew your car insurance. A fifty cc moped will have all the power your 1500 watt motor has and all you need do is shell out a few quid for car tax, insurance and maybe an mot. It's not a lot, and you have no more worry.
Better still - there are real small motorike bargains to be had if you've done your test. I've put this picture up a few times of my old Honda 250. ALWAYS walks through the mot and I paid £650 for it about four years ago. It had 12000 miles on it when I bought it, and driven the way I drive it and with regular oil changes it will last 100,000 miles. It does high 90s to the gallon and about 80mpg if you ride it hard.
It is in EVERY way better at speed than a bicycle and it has the torque and power to fly up any hill without even noticing it. It has good lights, good brakes and proper tyres for speed. I toddle around country lanes on it with the throttle almost closed.
Note - the discussion about mpg in the video is supported by the fact that on filling the bike, you can see it took 4.9 litres and you can see the trip meter is at 112.9 miles. I reset the trip every time I fill up. That comes out at 104.6mpg.
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Ignore the date on the bottom of the video. I was mucking about with a car dashcam in a home made chest harness and the dashcam gets its gps antenna connection from the car mount which if course was not there - hence the 2014 date at the bottom. it was last year at the end of August.
I do get the appeal of a petrol bike over an ebike I had a kawasaki 125 when I was a student (student loan). I sold it after about a week, I didn't have any accidents but did have a couple of close calls that were not my fault (morons pulling out in front of me), and they could've gone either way, so I sold it. Shortly after I got my mums old white mark 1 Golf when she bought a soft top beamer, happy days, loved that car and drove to Venice in it with gf despite getting mouthfuls of petrol regularly when the slow running jet got blocked.
Problem is though I ride bike a lot with my son and we go along local trails, parks etc, couldn't do that with petrol so that's the showstopper.
Cops are an issue, there are cops here that ride around on bikes (not seen any on ebikes yet but I know some do have them), have run in to them in Kelvingrove and Bank St near where I live but I got of bike and pushed it and didn't really get second glance. If I was with my son and got hassled then it's a fair cop and would be embarrassing but the bike is only out maybe 3/4 times a week for short journeys. I did have one cop on foot in Partick stick their hand up me but kept going, what they gonna do, so many avenues and alleyways where I live ;-) Cue Persuaders and Tony Christie...
Also been looking at downgrading the hub to something less conspicuous but not done much about it, it won't get that much use now we are in to winter as don't like riding in rain so will re-assess in Spring.
Problem is though I ride bike a lot with my son and we go along local trails, parks etc, couldn't do that with petrol so that's the showstopper.
Cops are an issue, there are cops here that ride around on bikes (not seen any on ebikes yet but I know some do have them), have run in to them in Kelvingrove and Bank St near where I live but I got of bike and pushed it and didn't really get second glance. If I was with my son and got hassled then it's a fair cop and would be embarrassing but the bike is only out maybe 3/4 times a week for short journeys. I did have one cop on foot in Partick stick their hand up me but kept going, what they gonna do, so many avenues and alleyways where I live ;-) Cue Persuaders and Tony Christie...
Also been looking at downgrading the hub to something less conspicuous but not done much about it, it won't get that much use now we are in to winter as don't like riding in rain so will re-assess in Spring.
If 15mph is good enough for you then what do you need new regulations for? Current legislation does not limit power delivered to motor at all.
You can use throttle when you pedal or even have full twist and go throttle if you go through single vehicle approval process, but in my opinion if motor is powerful enough throttle is not needed that much.
A 50cc moped will be a lot cheaper to buy and run, and probably better for the environment too. You can buy a new one for £1500 or get a nice used one for about £750. Tax and insurance are miniscule for adults with licences, and a gallon of fuel will last forever. In fact the cost of fuel will be less than the cost of replacement batteries for the SurRon over the same mileage.
This will cheer you up on a dreich Sunday, what's more fun than watching scum get knocked off their mopeds!
'Thieves' knocked off mopeds by police
Met Police officers are ramming into suspected moped thieves to knock them off their bikes.
www.bbc.co.uk
"A further 1,480 injured casualties were recorded, including 1,138 riders, 232 pedestrians and 50 cyclists."
4.64 times more pedestrians injured than cyclists. Keep death off the roads, ride on the pavement! I hardly ever see them on roads. Saw one of those dudes wheeling a beast escooter around Tesco the other day, security didn't stop him. Large battery protuding from the middle of the wider than usual platform, fat tyres, wheels larger than usual. Wished I could get away with pushing my bike around the shop like that, instead of having to fold it into a trolley. Sadly, my bike doesn't fold to transform into a trolley.
4.64 times more pedestrians injured than cyclists. Keep death off the roads, ride on the pavement! I hardly ever see them on roads. Saw one of those dudes wheeling a beast escooter around Tesco the other day, security didn't stop him. Large battery protuding from the middle of the wider than usual platform, fat tyres, wheels larger than usual. Wished I could get away with pushing my bike around the shop like that, instead of having to fold it into a trolley. Sadly, my bike doesn't fold to transform into a trolley.
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Private e-scooters are illegal in a lot of places, but little seems to be done to stop them being used.
So if a 'license' is required how likely is it that its enforced ?
So if a 'license' is required how likely is it that its enforced ?
They'll probably increase penalty power level to "Stun", and there'll be the occasional headline grabbing crackdown with photos - there aren't enough cops on the beat to do anything more. This bit of the article causes me to be hopeful they'll continue considering legalising throttles on ebikes:
"Ms Haigh added that e-scooters could be a “really effective part of an integrated transport strategy”, particularly by easing journeys for some people with accessibility needs."
Safer colliding with something when riding an ebike, at least you don't hit the side of a transit van face first. Bike wheel crumple zone. When colliding with the side of a bus riding a ballistic ninja death missile, the crumple zone is your face.
"Ms Haigh added that e-scooters could be a “really effective part of an integrated transport strategy”, particularly by easing journeys for some people with accessibility needs."
Safer colliding with something when riding an ebike, at least you don't hit the side of a transit van face first. Bike wheel crumple zone. When colliding with the side of a bus riding a ballistic ninja death missile, the crumple zone is your face.
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