observations on getting back into riding after 30 years being overweight etc

[JoePah]

YOu have to read the state statutes... An electric bike is not a motorized vehicle, necessarily, so it MAY be legal to ride on bike paths.

Unless that state statutes specifcally prohibit electric bikes on bike paths and sidewalks, they can be ridden like a human powered bike.

It is worth the time it takes to search on your state or county website for real information.

 

[vincent]

i do the same, turn off all the power/motor lights and ride normally

i am never going fast so that is not an issue, but i try to be super courteous when i am on the loop

did more research on this last nite and looks like by az state law they are fine but that az passed a law a while back saying the municipalities can write their own laws

so it is a convoluted mess, sure some bike paths cross a few of these little towns and no doubt the laws dont match

if i am reading the legalese correctly in tucson the ebikes- which are lumped in with motorized gas bikes- pretty much can go nowhere except the main road designated bike lanes

no shared use paths, etc etc

i confirmed with my friend that bikes a lot - she said that people had posted on some facebook pages about getting tickets on the loop in tucson riding ebikes

 

[J.R.]

One law that over rides all state and local laws and regulations is the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Anyone diagnosed with a physical disability by your doctor can use an ebike on any bike path. This is true for all the United States. The state doesn't declare a person disabled, your doctor does.

Ebikes can be very beneficial to older persons and people with physical limitations. I wish ebike companies would target advertise to these groups, they need it far more than the 18 year old for MTBing. The older crowd has a lot more disposable income to buy expensive exercise/hobby toys.

 

[vincent]

i agree 100% JR
to me that is the crowd than can and will buy the bikes and it would be good for them

good to know about the disabilities act and something ebike sellers should make sure to post or educated their customers on

i hope bosch and these other big companies put some money to work lobbying, was not impressed by all the confusing legal stuff i found online last night

ebikes are here to stay and will only get more prevalant
sure most of this was for concerns with safety and speed, but i see so many of these regular road bikers flying through town, surely they are doing 30 mph and i dont even think my bike can go that fast, not that i want to lol

the fact that ebikes are lumped in with gas powered bicycles is ridiculous to me, they are so different

 

[George S.]

i hope bosch and these other big companies put some money to work lobbying, was not impressed by all the confusing legal stuff i found online last night

You mentioned something about a network of paths in Tucson. Like in St. George, they are building out along the riverbeds. It's pretty impressive. I noticed this, on the Home Page:



The Loop has a Facebook page so I posted something, asking if they really treated ebikes as motor vehicles.

http://webcms.pima.gov/government/the_loop/

https://www.facebook.com/ridetheloop

There are definitely some people you could ask. It does look like a beautiful set of paths. I get down to Arizona a lot of winters, so I may pursue this a bit.

 

[vincent]

i dont ride on it a lot and usually at the end of the day or early evening so have not passed a lot of riders etc yet


also have a feeling the loop more in central tucson gets patrolled than the area in marana where i ride

been going with the ignorance is bliss thing right now lol

if get stopped will plead the state law and see what they say
if i get a ticket will stop going i guess or might talk to some electric bike shops and bike lawyers to see about getting together to fight the ticket and somehow change the law, someone is going to have to do it sometime

i dont do facebook but found your post over there and will watch to see if we get any responses


the loop is nice, it is really nice over in the marana part, seems like less users etc over there

 

[pxpaulx]

I'm glad I live in Minnesota where the law is reasonable and has been on the books for 4 years now. An ebike with less than 1k watts, and motor cutoff at 20mph is considered a bike and provided the same access. It is not a motorized vehicle and is prohibited from being denied access except on private land.

 

[George S.]

So, like I said above, I asked the people who seem to speak for The Loop, the really incredible group of bike paths in Tucson, if the 'No Motors' applied to ebikes. Good news. They posted this to Facebook (so it must be true, or at least completely public)

The Loop We do allow Ebikes, though gasoline powered ones are prohibited. Thanks for asking.

Like · Reply · 5 hrs

 

[vincent]

i saw that, awesome

thanks so much for checking on that

nice to know i wont get a ticket!