Are E-Bikes Safe For Young Teenagers?

[PedalUma]

My hilly area with year-round cycling weather is crawling with ebikes, and school-related transportation could well be the #1 reason.

All for that. But some parents made very poor choices regarding the ebikes they bought their kids, and many if not most were ineffective at turning them into safe, courteous riders on public streets and bikeways.

Now that school districts and city governments have stepped in to fill the training void, I believe the school kids have become less dangerous to themselves and others.

Many parents have purchased bikes similar to Macfox that are junk. Then the parents do not safety check them and the kids have no brakes. On these mechanically actuated brakes the inboard side needs to be regularly tightened but that access is blocked by the hub-drive. The head sets fail within a couple of months and kids remove the brake cutouts so they can do wheelies.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

“Back in MY day, we did wheelies WITHOUT an electric motor!”

 

[PedalUma]

On an Eride Pro it is hard not to do a wheelie. The front end just wants to rise of the ground with 12kW of power on tap they accelerate faster than a Tesla. They are not for bicyclists but it would be fun to get kitted out.