A very thoughtful guy (owner?) at my LBS in Solana Beach, CA thinks that throttles will eventually be banned in California, as they already are in the EU. This LBS sells a wide range of mid-drive and rear hub drive bikes, and many if not most of the latter have throttles -- including quite a few in the 28 mph, 750W category. (These last don't fit into any California class as currently defined, but that's another post.)
Neither of us is anti-throttle. That's just where he thinks things are headed. I use mine both sparingly and responsibly and would hate to part with it (mainly for traffic safety and knee preservation reasons). But I'm beginning to think he's right.
Not saying that throttles are inherently bad, or that they should be banned. Simply that such a ban (a) would be relatively easy to enforce, and (b) would in one fell swoop take many irresponsible riders off our roadways, bikeways, MUPs, dedicated walkways, and countless other places where no bike should be ridden.
Like it or not, irresponsibly ridden ebikes are a real and growing threat to public safety in coastal San Diego County -- if only because (1) their numbers are exploding, and (2) they can easily go much faster than the typical rider could/would ever pedal, with or without a throttle. In fact, many if not most of the offending ebikes I see are ridden without pedaling. And like it or not, that's what the public sees, too.
I get the distinct feeling that most of these irresponsible riders wouldn't bike at all if they had to pedal. For officials charged with public safety, that has to be a tempting target. If the typical throttle weren't full-power only, might be a different story, but I kinda doubt it.
Sigh, this is why we can't have nice things.
