Canada to restrict class 3 ebikes to 20mph

[goldconch]

With all due respect... dignifying that behavior with any level of justification is total bullshit. Not saying this about you personally, but as someone who has been an urban rider since his teen years, in oftentimes dense urban traffic, behavior like that in that video is just pure assholery. No excuse for it. You see them blazing thru pedestrians and the people are bitching at them for being unsafe and you can hear the rider shout back "I don't care!". That says it all about the kind of children play this game, and what they are worth.

That kind of behavior is pure garbage. Anyone who tries to say that sort of thing is normal and necessary in an urban environment is doing it wrong. And using a brakeless fixie is a personal style choice. It’s not a sign of nobility. "Everybody look at me I don't have brakes on my bike and I play bumpercars with cars. I'm stupid." We saw how smart that was in the beginning of the video when someone wasn't able to stop and broadsided a car.

Sure, all fair points. Note that I didn’t author the quoted article, and not an interested contestant. We also agree that the absence of brakes would make it harder to stop and/or make it home alive. Grasping window trim of moving highway cars similarly unadvisable for most of us. All of this points back to the nanny state thread where Canada appears to have adopted the position that speed capacity is more dangerous than rider competence. Not necessarily. In any case, those e-bikers wanting more juice can use the interwebs to search for instructions on how to manually override the controller p settings, making it just another day of routine rule busting in Canada.

 

[Johnny]

"...Monster Track mimics the perils bike messengers encounter on the job, like traffic, potholes and pedestrians, to name a few. Instead of a fixed route, racers are given a series of checkpoints. Knowledge of the city’s streets and the quickest routes is essential. And if that wasn’t enough, the bikes are brakeless."

It is baffling to see that putting lives in danger, breaking every traffic rule possible is considered as mimicking bike messengers' regular job definition. He recorded the crime and posted it on youtube and nothing happens, shhh.

 

[jimix]

Absolutely this. If you are going to mix with cars you have to be able to move with them or else.

If I am in the left turn lane either in front or behind another car, that is the time for me to use throttle so I am not the guy holding up the cars behind me who want to make the light. If I crawl forward on pedal assist I'm the most hated thing in the lane. I still pedal but throttle lets me match the speed of the car in front of me as it moves thru the intersection just as if I was another car or motorcycle. From there I peel off to the side of the road and lift throttle once I am out of the traffic stream.

The same goes for roadside and going straight thru an intersection. This is especially true if for example it is a 2-lane street (1 per each direction), there is no bike lane and worse still there are parked cars directly on the other side, meaning on a narrow street I have to be the first one thru or I'm literally meat. This has become an issue here in Monterey/Pacific Grove where such streets are the rule and speed limits are low in the 25-30 mph range, so I can get away with mixing with traffic.

Not sure what you mean by saying that using a throttle is faster than pedal assist. My class 3 pedal assist leaves every throttle bike I've ridden or raced in the dust and will legally assist up to 28mph vs 20mph limit for throttle bikes. The power you add via pedaling will be the same. If it's speed you want and also want to obey the law then class 3 pedal assist is as fast as you can get.

Edit: I am assuming US laws and have a bike with a German made motor, 250W, 90NM of power.

 

[goldconch]

Not sure what you mean by saying that using a throttle is faster than pedal assist.

@jimix Every e-bike and rider combo is slightly different, different chassis, and rider weights, different wheel and tyre combos, skill/style, appetite for danger, different ECU controller max power and assist settings, ECU comfort delays, etc. When every millisecond counts ie. crossing an open gap in traffic that will close again - one generally wants to commit the full power available to clear that collision zone asap. Waiting for the crank magnets to signal the ECU that there is peddling detected and then to phase-in power over a few crank cycles might be comfortable on a Sunday in the park, but it can be too slow at the cross street downtown. eg. Our household has an e-bike with pedal assist that comfortably spools-up PAS gradually over 5 seconds - too long. In those cases (which can be often in an urban environment) overriding with the thumb throttle wins every time. The thumb throttle allows instant torque acceleration to get well underway through the danger zones, before the foot that was on the curb has rejoined the pedals.

Note also that the max available battery power, the power assist onset, and level settings are often preset at factory at levels well-below the maximums, usually around 75-80% of what might be possible on tap. This is manufacturer set reserve capacity is intended to extend product longevity for widest possible variety of general consumer uses, topography, and rider scenarios - but mainly, to preserve the hub motor from burnout with heavy riders using thumb and/or PAS on long hills (those hub motors can get so hot that they risk catching on fire). It may also be to meet regional e-bike class compliance.

Nevertheless, if the rider doesn't have hills in their ride, lives in a temperate zone, and actually contributes with pedals more often than not, then the rider can probably opt to go into their controller settings mode and carefully crank up the parameters for max available power for thumb use, and tune the factory onset delay of full PAS...among other things. Whether the rider wants to exceed speed rating of the permissible class should be up to their assessment of risk. Manually arrowing power level 3 for 20 mph vs power 5 for 23mph+.

As m@Robertson suggests, max power capability doesn't need to necessarily translate into more dangerous. True also that there are e-bikes that have foot pegs instead of pedals, and briefcase-sized one wheels that can do 50mph. Those are different animals and maybe should be classed/licensed as motorcycles/mopeds and stay out of the municipal cycle lanes...but that's not my fight. Sorry for the lengthy Cliff Clavin.

 

[MikeyG]

Sure, all fair points. Note that I didn’t author the quoted article, and not an interested contestant. We also agree that the absence of brakes would make it harder to stop and/or make it home alive. Grasping window trim of moving highway cars similarly unadvisable for most of us. All of this points back to the nanny state thread where Canada appears to have adopted the position that speed capacity is more dangerous than rider competence. Not necessarily. In any case, those e-bikers wanting more juice can use the interwebs to search for instructions on how to manually override the controller p settings, making it just another day of routine rule busting in Canada.

Go into profile settings on Omni App, change your address to anywhere in USA, find the nearest Stromer bike shop and add location to profile, then phone Stromer USA, explain you reside in USA and request an update to derestict your motor.