How Often And How Long Are Class 3 E-Bikes Traveling At More Than 20 MPH?

[Jim1348]

As the debates continue in many places about e-motos and Class 1, 2, and 3 e bikes it made me wonder:

How often and how long are Class 3 e-bikes traveling at more than 20 MPH?

My wife and I have a Gazelle Ultimate C380+. They are Class 3 e-bikes. Despite that, we are often pedaling under 20 MPH.

For those of you here with Class 3 e-bikes, what is your experience?

 

[stompandgo]

The speed limit on the rail trails close to me is 15mph. I routinely ride my Class 3 over 20mph to pass Class 1/2 bikes, and when the trail is open. I will slow to around 15mph, and often much less, around kids, families, and dogs.

 

[Biplaneguy]

I rarely go much over 21-22 mph on level ground. Downhill I'll go faster if appropriate, there's one hill near my house where I can reach 28 or more if I push it. On the mixed use trails around my home (mostly old woods roads) I'm rarely going more than 10-15.

 

[mschwett]

not very often.

takes around 300w to go 20mph on a typical large, heavy, flat bar, big tire class 3 ebike. say the rider provides 100, motor needs 200, battery needs 250. 500wh battery would last 2 hours, 40 miles of range.

takes 650w to go 28mph. same 100 from the rider, 550w from the motor, 700 from the battery. 500wh battery wouldn’t even last an hour, range 20 miles.

physics is a cold, hard mistress.

if you want to go fast on an actual bicycle, the answer is a road bike with drop bars, a low front end, an aero frame, smooth tires, and proper cycling clothing. now we’re down to 400 watts to go 28mph - still more than most e-road bikes are able to produce but with a strong rider this is possible.

on the other hand, if the question is “how often do e-motorcycles masquerading as bikes go >20mph while delivering uber eats or doordash,” the answer is often.

 

[stompandgo]

I ride my electric flat bar bike at 23-25mph on Eco, 120w max. I am not putting out 400w. 300w maybe, on the front.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

As the debates continue in many places about e-motos and Class 1, 2, and 3 e bikes it made me wonder:

How often and how long are Class 3 e-bikes traveling at more than 20 MPH?

My wife and I have a Gazelle Ultimate C380+. They are Class 3 e-bikes. Despite that, we are often pedaling under 20 MPH.

For those of you here with Class 3 e-bikes, what is your experience?

Short answer: I mostly ride my Class 3, 240W 38 lb Vado SL 1 under 20 mph. But I use assist above 20 mph often enough that I'm glad to have the option — most commonly on descents or when the zoomies strike.

Details: I obey bike speed limits and often go even slower. But I also enjoy speed when appropriate. Conditions permitting, cruising speed is generally ~15 mph on flattish ground, but 20-22 mph is fun now and then. The bike and I top out at an unsustainable 25 mph on the flat.

Happy to hit 30 mph or so on appropriate descents — and the sooner I get there, the longer I get to enjoy it. Accelerations like this use assist all the way to the Class 3 limit.

 

[speedub.nate]

In Eco I comfortably cruise at 22-23 with a favorable tailwind on flat ground, but I'm more likely to be in the 19-21 MPH range. If I increase assistance to the next level (Trail or Boost) I know my route time decreases by 10%, so I expect that my average speeds are probably 2 MPH higher.

If I find myself faster that, it's on a decline of some sort, and probably exceeding 28 MPH with gravity assist.

Like Stomp, when I am on a multi use path I'll back off to a reasonable speed suitable for mixing with peds, kids and dogs.

The takeaway for me is that 20 MPH limits on Class 1 is a constraining limit for practical use, but the 28 MPH limit on Class 3 just gives me flexibility in how I ride, it doesn't define what speed I ride at.

 

[opimax]

Me,3 batteries and 2 or 3 chargers depending on today’s bike choice go under 20 when taking off , up a large hill, too tired and mostly when something is wrong with my bikes. Otherwise 24-28+ . Yesterday was 113 miles avg 21 or so during riding time over an hour of resting and eating maybe more

ps slow down for peds and traffic but very little and I might be slightly optimistic on speed but not much

 

[6zfshdb]

On many of the trails I ride, I can't even do 20 MPH without being thrown off the bike.

 

[BEC111]

I’ve learned that sustained high speeds are a fun7of bile type. My Vado SL1 requires significant effort on my part to sustain speeds above 18 mph though I often can ride at around 20 in the right conditions, sustaining that speed requires no pedestrian or slow rider traffic on the train I usually ride. There is one stretch where I usually have a tail wind on a slight half mile descent where I’ve hit 30+ a few times and frequently reach 28 but that can’t be sustained and boy am I winded.

OTOH, I have a friend who is currently riding cross country on a Reiss & Meuller bike pulling a trailer and he frequently averages above 20 mph for 60-100 miles a day. Much more powerful motor. Younger guy. Fewer stops for intersections, pedestrians and slow cyclists I suppose.

 

[mrgold35]

Our paved walk/jog/bike trails just now put up a 20 mph speed limits signs. It is probably around a 40/60 mix to ebikes to pedal now. Starting to see more of those motorcycle looking ebikes, stand-up electric scooters, and electric uni-wheels at a greater % every month. It is usually the throttle ebikes bumping up to the 20 mph speed limits. I'm usually around 15-18 mph on those paved trails depending on how crowded. I still get the "on your left" from the Tour de France pedal bike riders.

The main problems I have with +20 mph ebikers are:
- reaction time
- sometimes they don't understand the "rules of the road", right away, or just being courteous to others
- usually see inexperience speed riders without protective gear (helmet, gloves, eye protection, etc...)
- some (e)bikes are not made for constant braking at 20-28 mph (needed to upgrade my brakes on my Radrover because of braking at 20 mph at almost every intersection work commuting).

 

[jabberwocky]

I'm pretty frequently above 20mph on my class 3, but not generally by a lot and not for all that long. On flat roads or modest downhills, with a good effort from my I'm usually cruising in the 20-23mph range. But my average speeds for rides are usually in the mid teens.

 

[Darth_Vado]

for me, the only time I am purposely reaching 28mph is for one block on my way home from work. Basically i am trying to make the light. If I turn on that block and see the light is red, i'll switch to "turbo" and start climbing through the gears. If the light is already green, i know i am likely not making that light so i back off. Also, it is an MUP, and i am usually the only there. I am mindful of others and if there are people using the MUP, i'll slow down.

Other than that, it's rare that i am above 20mph. Since i am near the beach, it's fairly flat around here, so i am usually pedaling unassisted at around 12-14mph

 

[Bicyclista]

When I first got into ebikes more than eleven years ago, I felt the need to to de-restrict my Class 1 Haibike mountain bike, and I got a dongle so I could go faster than 20mph. About a year or two ago, I took it in for service and removed the dongle, just in case it was the culprit of my motor not feeling right. It turned out to be faulty cadence sensor. But I never put the dongle back. I don't miss it, which means I am probably slowing down with age.

My Class 2 Gocycle GS can make it up to 20mph briefly, even with throttle, but it can usually manage 15mph on flat streets.

On my Class 3 Yuba cargo bike, I rarely go above 20mph. Downhill, for sure. I usually carry four cameras, two with long lenses, two with short lenses, plus a beefy lock and a couple of strong cables, extra tubes, tire pumps (electric & mechanical), tools, water & snacks.

 

[edobici_forza]

My average speed on paved road routes, that I ride near my house, ranges from 15-18mph. On these routes, here are a few intersections, and traffic signals before I reach the fun, good roads, I usually ride in 20-40% boost on my Creo 2 Class 3. My highest assist setting is set to 70%, which is only used on longer climbs. Depends on the day, and if I feel like pushing my speed, I will drop down to my 10t gear and crank it, so it is easy to go over 20mph. Riding my manual road bike on the same roads, I average 12-15mph, rarely go over 20mph on the flats, but easy to do, with a minus 2% grade.

I looked on my RWGPS activities and see that most of the speeds above 20mph are downhills. I still run out of gears on some hills with 44t, 10t combo on the Creo. This is on regular roads, not MUPs or trails.
Here is a visual of one of those rides, with 21 miles, 1200ft, all paved roads.

Speed plot: Black line, Blue line = 20mph, Dashed line = 28mph

 

[edobici_forza]

As the debates continue in many places about e-motos and Class 1, 2, and 3 e bikes it made me wonder:
...

I have been wondering about the current 3-Class eBike classification system too. I have seen some interesting new classification systems being bounced around.
Currently, there are variety of legitimate Class 3 ebikes, which, as we know, have a motor assist cut-off at 28mph while pedaling only. I feel that these factors are missing the discussion and definition of the current class system: Torque and the assist multiplier. I looked this up recently is understanding the power delta of a Class 3 eBike and a powerful throttle eMoto type of eBikes. I won’t go into that here. But...

A few mainstream Class 3 eBikes:

====

Lots of digging around, so many different sources, so some specs may be slightly inaccurate. But, my main point is: these specs show there is a wide variety of power ratings for eBikes with a Class 3 designation. Of course, ebikes that are only a few years old are less powerful than those above.

Damn, this forum tool does not like Tabs, it was nice and neat on my screen but all formatting was lost so. edited to insert a screenshot of what I see on my screen. HAHA

 

[speedub.nate]

Agreed the power and torque run the gamut but I think most importantly are settling on speeds and throttle vs. assist that will focus on minimizing injury and also protecting other trail users.

I recall one discussion or proposal (it may have been in a thread on this site, I really don't recall!) that would allow throttle but only to up to a lower speed, pedal assist only after that, which seemed practical.

However this shouldn't be a "gut call" not from us nor from our elected officials. It should be research based to come up with an effective implementation of e-mobility. The trouble is apparent to most of us on this forum: there are a diverse group of users, coming to ebikes with a widely varied skill set, and these bikes are being operated in a variety of environments and with everything from none to all of the safety gear. There's no easy one-size-fits-all answer to effective regulation.