New here. Question on Safety

[tara]

are electric bikes safe for young kids and teens?

 

[Tara D.]

@tara
With a helmet I would say for teens yes they should have the maturity level to operate an electric bike safely (13+) though I think some states laws say you need to be 16 have have a drivers license, how young are you wondering about I personally would allow my 9 year old to ride under adult supervision as he has been riding dirt bikes his entire short life. In the following link you can very quickly look up the law in your state, some states have no minimum age.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws

 

[Joe Remi]

are electric bikes safe for young kids and teens?

Young kids in the dirt? Maybe with good training. On the street? I wouldn't.

 

[harryS]

I would have had some bad accidents if I had been able to go as fast as the slowest e-bike, when I was 9 years old. maybe killed someone or myself.

 

[Pastabatman]

I assume this is about unsupervised rides. It totally depends on the kid, location, and expected usage. I would not recommend an ebike as a straight up replacement for a kid's bike because, if you give a kid the extra range and speed of an ebike, they will take advantage of it. Suddenly they may be many miles from home, in traffic, in unsafe areas. In traffic, ebikes require a level of maturity and judgement approaching that required for driving a motorcycle or car.

I would only consider an ebike for a very trustworthy child, and only if they have a need to get somewhere important on their own, on safe routes, that wouldn't be feasible on a regular bike.

 

[MLB]

No

 

[Cory151]

The motocross tracks here in Socal are filled with kids between the ages of 5-9 years old that are jumping 20ft doubles and some even jump the triples and hitting 45 mph on the straits. Kids are far more capable riders than the old timers on here will give them credit for.

This kid clears a jump that I can hardly clear on a 450

 

[MLB]

And THAT would be exactly the problem. People thinking that the extreme (bike racers) is the NORM. Doh..........................
In case you haven't noticed, there's a huge childhood obesity problem.
Kids on bikes is not a given..............

 

[Joe Remi]

The motocross tracks here in Socal are filled with kids between the ages of 5-9 years old that are jumping 20ft doubles and some even jump the triples and hitting 45 mph on the straits. Kids are far more capable riders than the old timers on here will give them credit for.

This kid clears a jump that I can hardly clear on a 450

As I said, supervised kids on a dirt track is a reasonable option for e-bike riding. On the street in traffic is not.

 

[flymeaway]

are electric bikes safe for young kids and teens?

That's depends upon the child. A properly equipped (all safety gear) rider who exercises good judgement is "safe" (relative term). Be aware, in some states there is a minimum age requirement for riding on a public way.

Court J.

 

[one4torque]

Corey... Agree on your point about physical capability.

However it is real time judgement decision making that keeps you alive on the street, and most kids dont have that for a 20+ mph ebike imho.

 

[MLB]

Safe bike riding takes a lot of personal experience to not get into hairy situations. We make constant experienced based judgements ALL THE TIME when riding. Whether to brake or acclerate to make or skip a gap, or make a light, or zig right or zag left. Endlessly.
And the much greater speeds of an E bike make those decisions faster and more critical to our safety.
MOST kids dont' have the judgement OR experience (if grown up enough) to make ALL those decisions safely.
Could a kid hop on and quickly and seemingly effortlessly Operate the bike? Sure.
Would we feel awfully awfully bad if we sent them out in the world and they got maimed or killed?