Alaskan
Well-Known Member
There are inconsiderate knuckleheads riding around on mixed use trails riding acoustic bikes. Set speed limits and enforce them. There aren't different roads for cars with V8 engines versus 4 bangers.
New E-Bike for aussie to commute to work around 60km round trip
- Thread starter roguex
- Start date
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
That is true Alaskan ,but they are slower knuckleheads ( :
Exactly my thoughts, set speed limits. Any car these days is capable of going 130mph it is the law that prevents them from doing so not artificial limits to the vehicle.
I am not saying it should be unregulated, I think power limit is a better option and 28mph should be the standard.
Some ebike manufacturers are simply price discriminating by selling mid range bicycles for really high prices just because they can do 28mph, they are acting as if supporting 28mph is a big thing and requires additional, more expensive hardware yet i reality it is just a simple firmware difference.
From a mtb riders perspective, I'm glad Australia went with the 25 k limit - there has been wider acceptance of emtb use on public trails , the law has accepted 25 k ebikes as regular bikes so there is no grey zone for petty pen pushers to create a whole new legal mess. More importantly, I can ride the same trails at a similar speed to the rest of my family without electric motorbikes blasting past. Next week, there are a group of adv motorbike riders taking a mixed fleet of bicycles up to mt buller and doing the epic trail - 45 km or heaven with 1 km elevation, 2 km descent . A MIXED fleet - everything from a super fit woman on her xc oldbike to an adrenaline junky woman on her carbon turbo levo, plus a few old guys who are worried their levos won't have the range. Those old guys are talking about leaving their bikes in legal mode , which should keep the group reasonably together. That is a success story IMHO
BUT - I'd love to be able to adjust the speed transition on my bike to an even gentler transition from hero to zero. There has been times where I've hit the pedals hard in full boost uphill to clear an obstacle and had the assist cut out at the worst possible moment. That's dangerous imho , and although I'm learning to predict it I'd prefer more than the 3 km speed range where the power tapers off. I'm VERY glad I didn't buy a bosch with the brick wall effect!
BUT - I'd love to be able to adjust the speed transition on my bike to an even gentler transition from hero to zero. There has been times where I've hit the pedals hard in full boost uphill to clear an obstacle and had the assist cut out at the worst possible moment. That's dangerous imho , and although I'm learning to predict it I'd prefer more than the 3 km speed range where the power tapers off. I'm VERY glad I didn't buy a bosch with the brick wall effect!
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
BUT - I'd love to be able to adjust the speed transition on my bike to an even gentler transition from hero to zero. There has been times where I've hit the pedals hard in full boost uphill to clear an obstacle and had the assist cut out at the worst possible moment. That's dangerous imho , and although I'm learning to predict it I'd prefer more than the 3 km speed range where the power tapers off. I'm VERY glad I didn't buy a bosch with the brick wall effect![/QUOTE]. I dont quite understand "brickwall effect" ? Does this mean your motor cuts out when you are climbing because you stopped pedaling?
Motorbike might be your best option, it'll be safer and probably cheaper. I've never been followed by the police in Melbourne on my E-bike and in the morning the police are always driving around, but if I wanted to go fast then I'd be on my carbon bike.
My question is for the countries that have 28mph bikes. Do they have issues with hoons and knuckleheads causing accidents or being a nuisance? I think if it's shown that speed pedelecs are not a problem and safe then it really should be adopted. I saw a change.org petition for Australia to introduce speed pedelecs, but it's since been closed and I'm not sure what happened with it.
Alaskan
Well-Known Member
I just have not seen any manifestations of this problem here in the Pacific Northwest USA. I ride a Bosch speed pedelec but keep my speed under 25kmph/15mph on mixed use trails. I reserve the speed capability of my bike for paved roads. Frankly just about all of the bikes I see going too fast on trails are acoustic road bikes ridden by people in spandex clown suits.
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The assist from the motor cuts out at 25 kph , and with the Australian bosch equipped bikes it's a very abrupt cut off. One moment you are accelerating up a steep hill @24.9 km/ hr with pedal power plus 300% assistance, then suddenly you lose all that assistance and it feels like hitting a brick wall - or at least a deep sandy patch.
On the giant pro ( yamaha) and specialized ( brose) , there is a more gentle reduction in assistance between 25 and 27 kph. It's still unpleasant if you are busy planning the route and not concentrating on speed - but at least it doesn't feel like ypu are about to tear an achiles tendon!
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
That is interesting. Here in Canada we have a 30 km bike law I believe ,but we have not noticed that effect on either of our Bosch cx bikes.
E-Wheels
Well-Known Member
Hi roguex,
Can I ask which LBS had the CCS, as when I contacted Juiced they informed me they do not ship to Australia
nelzea
New Member
Pleased to see a mention of Merida here! I have a Merida eBig and it's awesome, such a stable and fun bike. Although - I do have one with the 25kph limit. I am really good at cruising along at 25.9kph now 
But when I go over that, it just cuts out. This is not such a problem for me as I only ever hit that limit on the flat and I can keep it going unless there is a strong headwind. But I have a very short commute (just 4.5km).
This year's NZ models are limited to 32kph - I think that's much more reasonable. I'd be tempted by the new ones if I didn't love my existing bike so much, even with the low speed limit.
But when I go over that, it just cuts out. This is not such a problem for me as I only ever hit that limit on the flat and I can keep it going unless there is a strong headwind. But I have a very short commute (just 4.5km).This year's NZ models are limited to 32kph - I think that's much more reasonable. I'd be tempted by the new ones if I didn't love my existing bike so much, even with the low speed limit.
Cargocycles list them. I'm surprised that juiced said they don't ship to Australia as Cargocycles are listed on their site. They even have a .au domain
http://juicedbikes.com.au/where-to-buy/
Maybe this isn't actually juiced and just a local distributor?
Pleased to see a mention of Merida here! I have a Merida eBig and it's awesome, such a stable and fun bike. Although - I do have one with the 25kph limit. I am really good at cruising along at 25.9kph now
This year's NZ models are limited to 32kph - I think that's much more reasonable. I'd be tempted by the new ones if I didn't love my existing bike so much, even with the low speed limit.
Yeah the NZ model of the giant quick e is listed as 45kph yet the aus one is 25kph and I'm pretty sure they are identical :-( NZ just does things better than AUS, better government, better internet, better ebikes etc
To be honest if my commute was under 6km I wouldn't care and could ride a non-ebike. But as i'm 27-30km one way I start to sweat at around the 10km mark, and anything beyond that starts to increase my fatigue which I don't want to have at the start of a 9-10 hour day.
Ummm...you're setting the bar pretty low there....
Dionigi
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Santa Cruz & Pittsburgh
I agree the regulations are not logical and should be based on speed limits. A 20 mph class 1 vs 28 mph class 3 should not be the issue but rather a posted speed limit. In California I was forced to purchase a class 1 bike if I legally wanted to ride the coastal state park trails, yet on a regular basis I have been passed by younger riders traveling 20+ mph on their pedal powered gravel bikes. I have no issue with their riding accomplishments, if done safely, but do take issue with being targeted and regulated for riding a PAS Ebikes. I actually have come to believe the 20 mph cutout to be dangerous when riding in urban street traffic.
As far as I know there are no other kinds of motorized vehicles that are subject to the absurdity of a set speed limit being imposed this way. The speed limit for cars has nothing to do with the maximum speed they can attain, not trucks, boats snowmobiles or anything else. If, however, any politician thinks that this makes sense in any way there's actually a simple solution. With the low costs of GPS units it would be a fairly simple thing to require all motorized vehicles to have a gps unit that regulates maximum speed based on its location, so a Corvette, for example, could be limited to 25 mph in NYC, 70mph on the highway and be allowed top speed on a track. Talk about safety and the possibility of saving some of the thousands of lives lost in car accidents each year! Of course this would never happen, car owners for example would go off about their liberty being taken away and any politician who implemented such a system would be voted out of office. Apparently electric bike riders are the only category of motorized vehivle users who have to be treated like infants.
Tim859
Member
I’ve been saying for years that cars should sense the speed limit and that’s as fast as you can go. This would be relatively easy to do as you said. I guess when self driving cars come along the speed limit will be obeyed.
steve mercier
Well-Known Member
hmmm.... how about a self driving Ebike with gyroscope technology so I can eat soup while I am riding ?
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