BBC Breakfast item today on illegally modded ebikes

[fossyant]

Well that'll teach me

after saying that I have just nearly been splattered by an modded electric thing on the High Street

I was walking back to the car - down the pedestrianised bit - and curver right a bit to pass a coplue on my left

just left a polite distance

and some k***head on an electric thing shot between us at one hell of a rate
I mean - I ride a fair bit - enough to know what FAST means and that qualifies

if he had his me I would have been in an ambulance
and worse still - my wife's pasties would have got squashed!!


his mate went round the far side a bit slower but still fast


no way he missed me or the other people by more than a couple of inches
if eitehr of us had wandered unpredictably - and we have all seen pedestrians do that - then he would have been in trouble - and so would we!!

Thank goodness the pasties were safe !

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

My wife had just told me that I need a haircut

I complained - it has only been a few months so she said

"Your looking like an old man"

"If you were still teaching the kids would be telling you that you look weird" (they actually did that - I didn;t object as it developed a good relationship with them)

"and they would be telling you it was freaking them out when you walked in front of the projector" (the shape on the image would enhance the spikey bit of very thin hair on the top"


she should have been a psychologist!!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I'd say the taxi driver he passed going up Sunwin Road would disagree. Then there's the throttle fitted, illegal in itself on any EPAC compliant bike after 2016.

Not totally true
they can have a throttle but it requires a specific piece of paper from the DVLA
it has been covered in some depth on the PEDELEC forum

there is (or was) an ebike company somewhere that offered their bikes with a throttle - but that means they would do the paperwork for you

it pretty much has to be done on a bike-by-bike basis

I seriously doubt any of the idiots or delivery riders do this

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Not totally true
they can have a throttle but it requires a specific piece of paper from the DVLA
it has been covered in some depth on the PEDELEC forum

there is (or was) an ebike company somewhere that offered their bikes with a throttle - but that means they would do the paperwork for you

it pretty much has to be done on a bike-by-bike basis

I seriously doubt any of the idiots or delivery riders do this

this should explain
https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/how-to-get-legal-approval-for-a-pedelec-throttle.34008/

 

[wiggydiggy]

Not totally true
they can have a throttle but it requires a specific piece of paper from the DVLA
it has been covered in some depth on the PEDELEC forum

there is (or was) an ebike company somewhere that offered their bikes with a throttle - but that means they would do the paperwork for you

it pretty much has to be done on a bike-by-bike basis

I seriously doubt any of the idiots or delivery riders do this

I was looking at Electric Trikes recently for a friend, some of them seemed to be sold with throttles. Are they legal or do they need the exception as well?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I was looking at Electric Trikes recently for a friend, some of them seemed to be sold with throttles. Are they legal or do they need the exception as well?

What what I know they would need the exemption as well - but I am not expert

The Pedelecs forum might have something on it

 

[wiggydiggy]

What what I know they would need the exemption as well - but I am not expert

The Pedelecs forum might have something on it

I'll check if we go ahead, the cost of them puts us off though as the decent ones were £2k+ - different problem to illegal just Eat, Deliveroo or UberEats riders though!

 

[classic33]

Not totally true
they can have a throttle but it requires a specific piece of paper from the DVLA
it has been covered in some depth on the PEDELEC forum

there is (or was) an ebike company somewhere that offered their bikes with a throttle - but that means they would do the paperwork for you

it pretty much has to be done on a bike-by-bike basis

I seriously doubt any of the idiots or delivery riders do this

The MVSA.

I very much doubt they have the required paperwork, as the test sets a whole raft of requirements to be met. Mentioned elsewhere on here.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Forgive me for being dumb, but why all this fuss/paperwork for a throttle on a legal ebike?

I had a legal e-bike in 2011ish and it had a throttle. I never used it. I always had e-assist on Max setting. If it's legal (250W and limited to 25km/h) then the presence of a throttle does not make any difference. Even on the flat, you can go faster pedalling than you can with WOT. Downhill, irrelevant, you'd cruise at over 15mph so e-assist deactivated. Uphill, combination of e-assist and pedalling so no need for throttle. And it wouldn't be comfy standing up and trying to hold a twist type throttle anyway. Throttle only up a hill = lucky to go 4mph if it'll even get up.

Either my £1500 Wisper was especially weak, or these newer legal bikes put out a lot more torque for their 250W power

 

[classic33]

Forgive me for being dumb, but why all this fuss/paperwork for a throttle on a legal ebike?

I had a legal e-bike in 2011ish and it had a throttle. I never used it. I always had e-assist on Max setting. If it's legal (250W and limited to 25km/h) then the presence of a throttle does not make any difference. Even on the flat, you can go faster pedalling than you can with WOT. Downhill, irrelevant, you'd cruise at over 15mph so e-assist deactivated. Uphill, combination of e-assist and pedalling so no need for throttle. And it wouldn't be comfy standing up and trying to hold a twist type throttle anyway. Throttle only up a hill = lucky to go 4mph if it'll even get up.

Either my £1500 Wisper was especially weak, or these newer legal bikes put out a lot more torque for their 250W power

Before the new regulations, which brought all European regulations into line with each other, the throttle was legal.
The updated regulations didn't include the second and third class of e-bikes as legal pedal cycles in the UK. Hence the MVSA, to get one fitted.

A throttle, other than as a walking aid, on a current e-bike is usually in place so that the riders don't have to pedal.

 

[fossyant]

My brother in law has a 'legal' throttle e-bike. He's still slower than me on a knobbly tyred heavy MTB commuter

https://pedibal.com/products/pediba...HHnz6ydwvkZKDES0BOOfLj&variant=55342417641854

 

[briantrumpet]

Well that'll teach me

after saying that I have just nearly been splattered by an modded electric thing on the High Street

I was walking back to the car - down the pedestrianised bit - and curver right a bit to pass a coplue on my left

just left a polite distance

and some k***head on an electric thing shot between us at one hell of a rate
I mean - I ride a fair bit - enough to know what FAST means and that qualifies

if he had his me I would have been in an ambulance
and worse still - my wife's pasties would have got squashed!!


his mate went round the far side a bit slower but still fast


no way he missed me or the other people by more than a couple of inches
if eitehr of us had wandered unpredictably - and we have all seen pedestrians do that - then he would have been in trouble - and so would we!!

"Pasties" isn't a euphemism I've come across before.

 

[Dan Lotus]

You have a regular "user" or "dealer" on your quiet cul de sac then, unfortunately.

Certainly a possibility, but our road is only a cul de sac for 4 wheeled vehicles, as there is traffic bollards at one end, and a way through a park there as well.
A friend who lives maybe a mile away up the hill has also seen them, so I think a fair amount of people use it as a cut through (Avoiding traffic lights, and a busyish roundabout), either on foot, on a bike, or on these electric things

 

[wiggydiggy]

Forgive me for being dumb, but why all this fuss/paperwork for a throttle on a legal ebike?

I had a legal e-bike in 2011ish and it had a throttle. I never used it. I always had e-assist on Max setting. If it's legal (250W and limited to 25km/h) then the presence of a throttle does not make any difference. Even on the flat, you can go faster pedalling than you can with WOT. Downhill, irrelevant, you'd cruise at over 15mph so e-assist deactivated. Uphill, combination of e-assist and pedalling so no need for throttle. And it wouldn't be comfy standing up and trying to hold a twist type throttle anyway. Throttle only up a hill = lucky to go 4mph if it'll even get up.

Either my £1500 Wisper was especially weak, or these newer legal bikes put out a lot more torque for their 250W power

There'll probably be a reason written down somewhere in the original legislation notes why they decided that, at guess someone drafting the legislation would have decided throttles make bikes a little too much like motorbikes and decided to exclude them.

 

[raleighnut]

My trike has a throttle and no sensors anywhere I built it like that on the K.I.S.S. principle and also to keep the cost down (it was still £500 for the kit) This was totally legal before the regs changed (built in 2013) speed is limited by how fast the 3 phase 'hall effect' motor will spin.
It does have one safety feature though in that the rear brake has a power cut out switch, The kit came with 2 levers but with it being a trike it needs to have a 'handbrake' to stop it rolling away so there is a little button on the front brake lever that locks it on.