Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
JohnW
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Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by JohnW »

What are the legal speed restrictions on electric bikes?
I know that there is a "maximum speed" but I don't know the details.
Do different restrictions apply in different situations eg in public places - on cyclepaths - on bridleways - on traffic'd roads - on public footpaths??
Some badly behaved people are using electric bikes nowadays. On my local Greenway there are some electric riders who put the public in danger. I was overtaken this afternoon on a quiet, in fact empty, stretch by a chap who was rather insolent with his passing comment. It was very quiet and I wondered how fast he was going - I was doing 21 mph before I overtook him.
I had to slow down then because there were other people about.
In my ignorance, I'd thought that about 12.5 mph was legal maximum for them in public places.
Jdsk
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by Jdsk »

"Electric bikes and the law: What you need to know":
https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/elect ... -need-know

Jonathan
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bikes4two
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by bikes4two »

Pedal assistance from the motor should cease at 25km per hour but the bike, without motor assistance, can go as fast as the rider's fitness allows.
Without my stoker, every trip would only be half a journey
JohnW
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by JohnW »

Thanks Jonathan - to be honest,that info is freely available to members and I should really have availed myself of it.
It only seems to cover the bikes themselves and not behaviour.
simonhill
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by simonhill »

I doubt the police are particularly bothered with illegal ebikes. I'm seeing more and more variations of electric powered bikes that clearly don't conform to the ebike rules, but are being ridden as such (cyclepath, no plates, no helmet, etc).

Even ones that start off legal can be chipped. I know a small group who have top end MTBs, one recorded 48 mph on his. They ride off road and are little more than motor bikes masquerading as ebikes so able to use bridleways, etc.

There are also a growing number of escooters . The police just ignore. It's anarchy out there. (NB I'm in favour of legalising escooters.)
st599_uk
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by st599_uk »

Presumably they can still be subject to a stop for Wanton or Furious Cycling
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Nearholmer
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by Nearholmer »

Gradually becoming an endemic problem; I see more and more high powered e-bikes being used in obviously illegal ways, either being ridden on shared-use paths, which is what particularly p1sses me off, or on roads with no registration, indicators, helmet etc.

The high-powered e-bike lobby is quite vocal too, so a strong rearguard action will be needed to keep the blasted things off shared-use paths.

I’m all in favour of the legal version of e-bikes and of e-scooters on shared paths, but higher power should mean road, and road-legal.
rogerzilla
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by rogerzilla »

There are a couple round here with motorbike-width knobbly tyres and huge hub motors. The low-life use them to rip up grass in winter. They seem to do sbout 40mph.
simonhill
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by simonhill »

st599_uk wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 10:42am Presumably they can still be subject to a stop for Wanton or Furious Cycling
I think they would be classified as motor vehicles (mopeds?) and presumably fall under those laws. Anyone riding one risks at least points on a licence, even if they don't actually have one.
tenbikes
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by tenbikes »

The law is clear, but the problem, as always, is the person. Not the inanimate object.
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Mick F
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by Mick F »

The law is clear indeed.

I was in Plymouth city centre yesterday, and the middle of last week too.
Deliveroo riders on electric bikes NOT pedalling at all and also NOT pedalling whilst going UPHILL.

Me?
I was on Moulton last week, and on Mercian yesterday. Only assistance was my body, and I was overtaken UPHILL by a riders NOT pedalling at all.

It ain't "speed" but power.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Cugel
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by Cugel »

tenbikes wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 2:53pm The law is clear, but the problem, as always, is the person. Not the inanimate object.
No complex phenomenon has a single simple cause. In this instance there are some other causes of e-bike hooning besides the proximate one of e-bike hooner persons. One is the lack of policemen to enforce the law, as well as a lack of other sufficient elements of the end-to-end justice system. Another is the freedom of uncaring businesses to make and sell these things to anyone, without the supposed checks that they'll only be used on private property or whatever the excuse for making them at all is.

Of course, the modern way is to allow any and all freedumbs as long as they serve the making of a profit, especially by organisations happy to pass a bung (aka a "donation") to a political party, the supposed law-makers,

Mind, e-bikes driven not-legally on public roads is just one example of a probable vast number of other illegal and even more dangerous vehicles and their "drivers". How many cars go about in an unsafe condition with no insurance, excise duty, MOT etc.? Plenty of them (legal and illegal) are driven madly without a rozzer in sight to apprehend the dangerous loons. Manufacturers continue to sell cars that can do twice the maximum legal limit, using adverts suggesting that drivers should all go about as if they're in a stock car race.

Cugel
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tenbikes
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by tenbikes »

Mick F wrote: 11 Aug 2022, 3:10pm The law is clear indeed.

I was in Plymouth city centre yesterday, and the middle of last week too.
Deliveroo riders on electric bikes NOT pedalling at all and also NOT pedalling whilst going UPHILL.

Me?
I was on Moulton last week, and on Mercian yesterday. Only assistance was my body, and I was overtaken UPHILL by a riders NOT pedalling at all.

It ain't "speed" but power.
Although it probably doesn't apply to the above, there are 'grandad rights' applicable to non-pedalling throttles.
Which makes them irritating rather than illegal. Only a small number of ebikes will 'benefit' from this.
Nearholmer
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by Nearholmer »

The law permits ‘not pedalling’ e-bikes, provided they comply with speed and power limits. The provision was intended to benefit the disabled, but it does indeed mostly seem to benefit deliveroo riders, but, assuming they haven’t “hot-rodded” their bikes, does that really matter?
roberts8
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Re: Legal speed restrictions on electric bikes

Post by roberts8 »

Last week my friend was woken by two men stealing his catalytic converter on his drive. They waved to him and asked for a cup of tea, laughed and drove off. The police never even bothered to turn up so the chances of being interested in a fast ebike is nil, as with other crime lesser crimes.
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