Increase in seizures of illegal ebikes

[Alex321]

I tried that in the pandemic. The ordering sites were pants, the delivery times were missed, the selection of fresh products seemed like shifting old stock (and supermarket produce is never as fresh as markets anyway) and the substitutions were ridiculous. It's much less stress just to cycle to the High Street (well, mostly Broad Street, Norfolk Street and New Conduit).

Yes, but in the pandemic, it went in a matter of a few weeks from being a very niche thing to being a large portion of the population. As a result of which, the services were overwhelmed. Now, it is routine, and for a much larger portion of teh population than pre-pandemic.

I don't think any of those issues are anywhere near as common now as they were during the Pandemic. I don't use food delivery services myself, but both my daughters do, and several neighbours do. And all seem generally happy with the service.

 

[DCLane]

My big weekly shop is delivered but any top-ups are done usually on foot or by bike.

No takeaways in my house, so no illegal e-bijes. Given where I live those on the illegal bikes don't appear to be delivering food.

 

[classic33]

Yet, all this illegal use could be sorted, just make the limits sensible.
Allow
20mph assist limit and 750W motor will cover probably 99.9% of rider uses

I'm all for going back to old limits, even though I voted for the increase in speed.
The difference being, you know your bike will be legal in Europe, should you ever take it off this island.

You want to go faster than 15.5 mile an hour, with assistance, get the licence, VED(Soon to be pay per mile for electric vehicles), helmet, insurance and the vehicle licence plate on your moped.

 

[Webbo2]

I think you’d have to rethink your shopping habits. Your weekly shop exists precisely because it was conceived with your car in mind. If doing it without a car you’d more frequent but smaller shops. Of course if you have a cargo bike you can shift as much shopping as you do in a car.

Why. The nearest smaller shops are 2 miles away and the same for the supermarket which is a lidle which other than their wine I wouldn’t accept even they were giving it away. It’s cheap because its shoot and mostly tasteless especially with there fresh produce
.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Why. The nearest smaller shops are 2 miles away and the same for the supermarket which is a lidle which other than their wine I wouldn’t accept even they were giving it away. It’s cheap because its shoot and mostly tasteless especially with there fresh produce
.

A dustance of 2 miles is perfect for cycling or even walking. The why is because we need far less trips, like those of 2 miles, being made by car.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

One of the problems is that we are always encouraged to buy the big packs as they are cheaper

but if you are on a bike a massive pack of bog rolls is a problem

as are special offers
today I saw a "buy 5 for £5" on Ravioli at ASDA - it was £1.98 a tin otherwise
which is fine in a car
but an extra 3 or 4 tins of a few thinsg ona bike can get to be too much

so you can actually save money by driving to The ASDA

which is not right!

 

[Mike Ayling]

Here in Oz three young people have managed too kill themselves recently on e-devices.
The youngest was eight years old

 

[classic33]

One of the problems is that we are always encouraged to buy the big packs as they are cheaper

but if you are on a bike a massive pack of bog rolls is a problem

as are special offers
today I saw a "buy 5 for £5" on Ravioli at ASDA - it was £1.98 a tin otherwise
which is fine in a car
but an extra 3 or 4 tins of a few thinsg ona bike can get to be too much

so you can actually save money by driving to The ASDA

which is not right!

I've managed to get a washing machine home after buying it. On a pedal cycle.
Just under four miles total distance.

 

[cyberknight]

Same for us - except for the bus bit
we lived 2 doors away from the local supermarket and the greengrocer was another 3 doors down

which helped!

We were in a little village with a couple of corner shops , nearest big shop was about 4-5 miles away .

 

[Drago]

Until recently I lived 8 miles from the nearest civilisation.

My neighbours, many of whom were younger than me, tell me it was too far to cycle. I just nodded sagely and carried on cycling. Id ride into town for the docs (a pain when theyre doing a BP check!), library, light shopping, the sortmof things my neighbours would drive to without a second thought.

It is lazy, but I wonder to whet degree they've simply fallen prey to a previous generation saying "its too far to cycle". By the time someone like me comes along to prove them wrong it was already so ingrained they would never consider a change regardless of how compelling the logic of improfed health, money saved, ease of parking , etc, may be.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The idea that you need 2 tonnes of car to act as a shopping trolley is utter nonsense.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yet, all this illegal use could be sorted, just make the limits sensible.
Allow
20mph assist limit and 750W motor will cover probably 99.9% of rider uses

I think that would fundamentally change the nature of what an EAPC is. Which may be a bit irrelevant now the cat is out of the bag, but anyway...

I think the original idea was for an ordinary bike that was to all intents like a bicycle but had a bit of assistance. 250W / 25km/h are relatively normal figures for an ordinary bike rider. They are human sized figures. So we have a nice way for less fit people to ride bikes in a comparable way to regular cyclists. That was the rather quaint idea behind EAPCs. They are still bikes, but require slightly less effort. And it's fine for them to be used on cycling and shared tracks.

But of course that's not what people want. People want electric motorbikes and light delivery vans (see this thread) that are completely unregulated. And EAPCs become a kind of Trojan horse for obtaining these.

Now, electric motorbikes and light delivery vans aren't necessary a bad thing. But they don't in any way fit with the original remit for an EAPC: An ordinary bike but with some assistance.

750W continuous rated power is inhuman. Not even elite cyclists put that out for prolonged periods. 20mph is a speed that most normal cyclists only achieve with gravity assistance and only very fit sporty types can maintain continuously on the road.

These might be reasonable limits for a new class of light electric moped (possibly subject to less regulation than ordinary mopeds). But they aren't suitable for EAPCs unless we want to throw away the original idea entirely.

Maybe it was just too quaint and optimistic to think that making bikes a bit more accessible would be a good thing, and not just the thin end of the wedge.

 

[Alex321]

The idea that you need 2 tonnes of car to act as a shopping trolley is utter nonsense.

The idea that any significant portion of the population in the UK can reasonably do it any other way is nonsense.

 

[Drago]

If folk want more, get an eleftric moped. That doesn't seem difficult to me.

A line has to be drawn somewhere, and placing it at a level close to that of regular cyclists performance levels is probably sensible in terms of keeping riders safe by not mixing vehicles with a large performance differential on cycle paths and shared use paths, and allowing EPACS to thus remain legally as bicycles.

Those wanting more performance already have an alternative available with licencing, taxation and insurance requirements thet are far from onerous or expensive. The fact that most folk calling for more power or performance haven't already taken advantage of this option shows how much they really want them.

 

[cyberknight]

If folk want more, get an eleftric moped. That doesn't seem difficult to me.

A line has to be drawn somewhere, and placing it at a level close to that of regular cyclists performance levels is probably sensible in terms of keeping riders safe by not mixing vehicles with a large performance differential on cycle paths and shared use paths, and allowing EPACS to thus remain legally as bicycles.

Those wanting more performance already have an alternative available with licencing, taxation and insurance requirements thet are far from knerous or expensive.

i think the current limit is perfectly acceptable , unless your a very keen rider how many do you see riding faster than 15.5 mph ? Im talking about the average hybrid / mtb