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It's not really a limit. If you read and understand the federal definition in HR727 you would understand it actually a motor rating which is actually very nebulous. Most engineers understand this but few others do (especially the lawyers that tell others that it's a power limit). The federal...

Multi-mode capability was inevitably going to be necessity once one company realized that they are compliant to the federal definition in HR727 while everyone believes that an ebike has to be compliant to the 3-class regulations at the state level to be ridden legally. The fact is that an...

Funny I got assurance from the People for Bikes legal counsel that they never wanted to push ebikes in this direction but I told him that the class system would provide the path for the states to require licenses, registration, and insurance on at least Class 3 models just as happened in Europe. '

Bikes have a long history of being a "vehicle" that has use control traffic laws but does not require license, registration, or insurance requirements. I think if those "costs" get imposed on ebikes then they have a far lower appeal to get people out of cars because they simply will not replace...

I have to agree that lawyers are groomed to think differently. I remember being at a party years ago and I asked a lawyer an opinion on something. They said they could not give their opinion because it could impact their future employment potential as they could only have an opinion that agreed...

Given how steep the hill they were riding down was being on an analog bike would not make a difference - a bike going down that hill would likely hit 40mph without even pedaling. My guess on what happened is that the kid driving got scared of the speed they were going and pulled the front brake...

I do think we need to always remember that any bike or ebike (regardless of power or assist speed) can be ridden irresponsibly. This goes as well for automobiles as well but they don't share MUPs with pedestrians. I do worry that some will want to see ebikes neutered to the point that they are...

Have to be careful when comparing torque limit ratings as they sometimes state that the final drive ratio must be considered. In other words they are limiting the torque of the rider + motor via the final drive ratio. This is kind of tricky because they may need to do this because they have so...

What if you had to register and insure any ebike that assisted faster than 20mph (this is already the case in Europe for any ebike faster than 15mph)?

Those I debate on this forum seem to want to make your assist speed choice for you by taking away the choice to buy or ride anything but a class 1 ebike (it's not just speed they ??? it's also having a throttle on an ebike) and just riding it slower when encountering pedestrians on mixed use...

I think this echos the feelings of a lot of riders in bike lanes when sharing the road with cars....a bit higher assist speed can be much safer.

I think many potential riders interested in substituting for a car occasionally to frequently would see the commuting value of an assist speed above 20mph (I wonder why millions of speed dongle hacks were sold in Europe to defeat the 25kph assist cut offs on EU spec ebikes). I'm not suggesting...

So you are equating a bike being ridden down a hill to being dropped from a helicopter. Wow, that is logical.

I do believe that we can't expect to ride 80mph+ eMotorcycles on sidewalks but it seems rational to allow the assist speed to mimic what the top typical speed a bike is ridden and still be considered a bike. I believe there is adequate data that suggests that is upwards of 50kph/30mph. Bikes /...

It's funny that I have engaged in this assist speed debate for some time but it seems the same people are arguing for the 20mph assist limit. I wonder how many people buying an ebike if given the choice between a Class 1 or Class 3 (same exact bike otherwise at the same price) would pick the...

Then why did HR727 pass one vote short of congressional consensus if as you just claimed the vast majority support assist limits (it did not include an assist limit but I'm guessing you will argue it did or you'll claim that was before we understood the dangers of ebikes). Can't wait... By the...

This is so dependent on the aerodynamics it's not rational to take just one snapshot. I will argue that most riders can achieve upwards of 30mph on a road bike for a short period of time on a flat surface. What is it about having assist speeds above 20mph that is so frightening to some...

Here's a fact .... for over 12 years before 3-class started passing in some states, HR727 federal definition established what was a legal ebike to be sold in all 50 states and ridden legally as any other bike (it is still the sole regulatory standard for what is legal to sell and use in some...

It's not a straw man argument when some in this forum are arguing that it's just not safe for any ebike to assist past 20mph. Most of those saying that work in the auto industry - where do you think the European and 3-class legislation in the US came from. Many will say the Class definitions...

It does matter because most bike riders know when to slow down when encountering pedestrians. We don't have the same speed limit going thru a city as we do on the interstate but hey nice try if you are trying to protect the auto industry by keeping ebikes limited to just recreation speeds. If...