Larry used to be a contributing member of the forum. I remember him; good guy and was good at his job. I'm not a fan of the 3 class law, it allows targeted regulations that limit access for some riders. There wasn't anything underhanded about BPSA and PFB working together on the 'model legislation', they were upfront from the beginning. Now BPSA and PFB have merged into one.
2015:
2019:
BPSA and PeopleForBikes boards vote to merge organizations
BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — The boards of the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association and PeopleForBikes Coalition have each voted to merge the organizations. The merger must still be approved by a vote of all BPSA members.The two nonprofit trade organizations began discussing the merger about 18...www.bicycleretailer.com
They were not really upfront about 3 class system they were advocating - most of their position centered around "it's safe to do this and you can put class 3 ebikes only on the roads (which is obviously the least safe place for any bike rider but a different subject)?"
I believe Malcolm Currie is still alive at 93 and living in Carlbad California. What is funny is that when I first read the federal / CPSC ebike definition I said it was the result of complete idiot by pure luck or a brilliant person (he is brilliant and had the sense and vision to understand ebikes had to have common sense power/speed limitations to make the accessible and usable to all).
I am now engaged on this subject and I am motivated to fix the mess created by P4Bs "model legislation." Malcolm's intent was for compliant ebikes to ALL be usage regulated by the states as a "bike" but egos and money f*cked that up. I suggest people read the congressional notes on HB727 if they do not believe the intent was to define a low speed electric bicycle to be a bike just like a mtn., gravel, road, recumbent, trike, etc. At least two supporters specifically mention usage by elderly and disabled people that will be helped to keep riding a "bike" with assist. P4Bs should have advocated that as the model usage legislation in all 50 states (keep in mind the states are still free to allow a bit more power and speed to be less stringent but those would not be mfg. regulated by CPSC as a bike.
This is not up for debate if anyone at the state level, a legal professional, a rider, etc. actually reviews the information. I'm not anti P4Bs but the class system is not really helping usage regulation or understanding at it wasn't about safety (there are some new postings on their website that showed they were advocating some cities to just usage regulate all classes as regular bikes so maybe they realize the table's merit was harmonization and nothing else. It was about harmonizing model with the much bigger EU market but now that is pretty much gone with them dropping standard pedalec speeds to a goofy 25kph/15.5mph which is not exactly going to help ebike sales or usage in EU. I think the EU was seeing enough usage that they wanted to get registration fees out of more bikes to they made everything over 15.5mph a speed pedelec. I'm sure they'll claim it was about safety but ask for data and you'll get that deer in the headlights look that politicians and lawyers are famous for.
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