Encinitas City Council declares emergency for e-bikes, bicycles

[None]

Stop importing the Chinese cr*p...

Stop assuming everything Chinese is cr*p.
As if you don't own anything Chinese.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stop assuming everything Chinese is cr*p.

No, I didn't say that.
I said Chinese e-bikes are cr*p.

 

[TPEHAK]

Unfortunately all other e-bikes are crappier than some Chinese e-bikes.

 

[PatriciaK]

No, I didn't say that.
I said Chinese e-bikes are cr*p.

The bikes may not all be crap, but a whole lot of their batteries certainly are...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The bikes may not all be crap, but a whole lot of their batteries certainly are...

I could watch this video on YouTube:

The British guy from Global Cycling Network bought the cheapest e-bike available in the UK on Amazon that met the British legal criteria: no throttle, 15.5 mph speed restriction. He actually liked the e-bike (except the hopeless suspension fork). He expressed his anxiety against a potential battery fire. To my surprise, a close up revealed the battery was manufactured in... Poland. I don't think Europe is happy with uncertified Chinese batteries.

That GCN guy beat a traditional super-climber cyclist on a 25% grade ascent! (but not on the whole route).

 

[None]

From article in my previous post:
The importance of the issue has arisen partly due to an actual increase in e-bike fires,
but also largely due to a media frenzy that has blown the issue out of proportion.
While e-bike fires do occur in the US, they represent one of the lowest risks of all forms of transportation.
Many more cyclists are killed by cars than people who are killed by e-bike batteries occasionally catching fire.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

None of that would be surprising. Humans are extremely bad at rationally evaluating risk. Even people whose job is to evaluate risks often aren't very good at it.

 

[Taylor57]

None of that would be surprising. Humans are extremely bad at rationally evaluating risk. Even people whose job is to evaluate risks often aren't very good at it.

Aint that the truth. As an insurance professional, even the actuaries fail often!

 

[Rexlion]

None of that would be surprising. Humans are extremely bad at rationally evaluating risk. Even people whose job is to evaluate risks often aren't very good at it.

Yep. Every one of us has a 100% probability of taking a dirt nap at some point, but hardly anyone prepares for it.

 

[None]

Watch out: New Jersey bill to require all e-bike riders to register, get insurance

Watch out: New Jersey bill to require all e-bike riders to register, get insurance

It’s been a rough week for anyone who enjoys the freedom of riding e-bikes without undue state-applied hassle and burden....

electrek.co

 

[Chargeride]

A Guardian letter to the editor.

Reckless ebike users put all of us at risk
Kevin Lloyd is angered by the sheer impunity that radiates from users and calls for regulation

Fri 14 Aug 2026 16.20 BST
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There may be something in the argument identified by Andy Beckett that increased use of ebikes reflects broader changes in urban areas, including the cost of housing (Lime bikes hurtling around the city: is this the revenge of a priced-out generation?, 8 August). Yet none of that excuses the sheer impunity that radiates from ebike users, worsened by the design of city bikes which encourage the rider to sit back as if on a magic steed from which to survey their kingdom.

Their irresponsibility imposes externalities on other road users and pedestrians: riding through red lights and across junctions with no heed to other traffic, wearing headphones (but seemingly never helmets), being on the phone or apparently scrolling while riding, carelessly weaving just to maintain a conversation, riding far too fast on paths shared with pedestrians, dropping bikes like litter. As for riding home after drinking in the pub – seriously?

As a helmet-wearing cyclist, it is maddening to dodge people who seem barely familiar with a bike, let alone being in traffic. The behaviour needs to change. In the first instance, that must be through regulation and for riders and suppliers to be liable for the consequences of their actions, which sadly are sometimes serious.
Kevin Lloyd
Highbury, London

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

The behaviour needs to change. In the first instance, that must be through regulation and for riders and suppliers to be liable for the consequences of their actions, which sadly are sometimes serious.

That's the crux of it — genuine accountability, not least for the suppliers of street-illegal machines.

It's clear that all too many folks the world over operate on a simple ethic: What's right is what you can get away with. To keep it clean, I'll call them "yahoos" for short.

Put any kind of power into the yahoos' hands — electrical, military, political, religious — and you can be sure that they'll make problems for everyone else sooner or later. Because in their minds, they have only rights — no responsibilities attached.

The only effective counter to that is to whittle away at the things they can reasonably expect to get away with. That's finally sunk in here in California, where ebike adoption's been very high.

Statewide and local ebike regulation here has increasingly turned (a) to the supply side of the problem, (b) to getting existing e-motos and other street-illegal machines off public infrastructure, (c) to making enforcement on the ground easier and more likely to stick, (d) to holding parents accountable for their kids' irresponsible behavior in public, and (e) to get kids trained up for responsible ebiking (since their parents have utterly failed at it).

Meanwhile, the regulators here generally seem committed to preserving legal ebiking on public infrastructure. And to that end, they've been shoring up the 3-class definition of what constitutes a legal ebike in California to make it more enforceable. Not perfect, but a decent place to start against an unprecedented problem that can no longer be ignored — thanks largely to the yahoos.

Keep in mind that the goal of any legal ebike definition is to identify machines that ARE and ARE NOT reasonably safe to let loose on public infrastructure without licenses, registration, and insurance (all of which are ultimately accountability measures).