Petition for law change - Ebike Assist Limit

[Venod]

Knowing nothing about the power and battery life of ebikes, I am curious,
@youngoldbloke is saying the USA Orbea's that have assistance up to 20mph have the same battery and motor as the one's assisted to 15.6 mph.
Do they have the same range before recharge ?
It would seem logical that more power is used above 15.6 thus reducing battery life.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Knowing nothing about the power and battery life of ebikes, I am curious,
@youngoldbloke is saying the USA Orbea's that have assistance up to 20mph have the same battery and motor as the one's assisted to 15.6 mph.
Do they have the same range before recharge ?
It would seem logical that more power is used above 15.6 thus reducing battery life.

I imagine that is correct, although range attained by Orbea Gain users varies very considerably, depending on many factors, not least the strength of the rider, and as a result the amount of assistance used. I estimate a range of up to around 60 miles for myself whereas others report they have managed almost twice that with the same or very similar bike.

 

[Pale Rider]

Knowing nothing about the power and battery life of ebikes, I am curious,
@youngoldbloke is saying the USA Orbea's that have assistance up to 20mph have the same battery and motor as the one's assisted to 15.6 mph.
Do they have the same range before recharge ?
It would seem logical that more power is used above 15.6 thus reducing battery life.

The wind resistance cubed equation means riding assisted at 20mph uses a great deal more power than doing so at 15mph.

Range is drastically reduced, which is another reason why a derestricted ebike is not quite such an exciting proposition as it first appears.

 

[classic33]

Nothing really new on raising the speed limit. Other than they are wanting 30mph.
https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/change-uk-law-to-allow-30mph-ebikes.30420/

 

[NickWi]

I imagine that is correct, although range attained by Orbea Gain users varies very considerably, depending on many factors, not least the strength of the rider, and as a result the amount of assistance used. I estimate a range of up to around 60 miles for myself whereas others report they have managed almost twice that with the same or very similar bike.

I've had as much as 85miles out of my Gain, and as little as 35 on one really bad inclement & windy day. As the man says some people do report a battery range of 100miles plus, but then they throw in that they've averaged 17.5mph or some other impresive number. I know we all buy ebikes for different reasons but if I could ride that far, at that speed, I'd have to question myself as to why I bought an ebike in the first place. The truth is with only 250w of power and a modest sized battery, you're not really going to go very far AND very fast if you're mainly relying on the the battery/motor for most of you umph.

 

[Gary E]

You're much better off buying a Tandem and hiring someone to provide pedal power from the back seat then?

 

[CXRAndy]

I could easily bump my average speed up quite a notch if I used an ebike. I weigh a fair chunk but get dropped on climbs by lighter riders. If I could use an ebike to keep me in touch with the pack i can ride 20+ on the flats most of the time

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

One way in which it can be checked it when someone gets stopped for riding badly or being in an accident - similar to being in a car. If you have a 500W motor with a cutoff at 30mph then you should get done for it if you ride like an idiot and cause a collision - even if you are the one who gets injured
However I have no idea how the average police person could tell without having a specialist examine the bike.

So - given that the police have better things to do than check every potential ebike (some new ones look normal) and then get then checked for power rating, cutoff speed etc etc - the they would just opt for checking the ones that are involved in an accident - or are being ridden in a stupid manner - e.g. flying along a footpath at 30 weaving around kids coming out of a primary school

i.e. if you speed it up - ride carefully and don't hit anyone and don't annoy any Police. - just like normal life

 

[Venod]

I know we all buy ebikes for different reasons

i can see all sorts of different reasons for people buying ebikes, but does anybody buy them as N+1 type purchase, ie not needed but bought because they desired one and to have some fun riding one ?

 

[keithmac]

i can see all sorts of different reasons for people buying ebikes, but does anybody buy them as N+1 type purchase, ie not needed but bought because they desired one and to have some fun riding one ?

I don't "need" one, but it makes my work commute far more bearable!.

Been on my feet all day it's nice to have a little help on the way home.

Personally I'm happy at 15mph but do mainly town riding.

 

[Scaleyback]

Afnug said: ↑
i can see all sorts of different reasons for people buying ebikes, but does anybody buy them as N+1 type purchase, ie not needed but bought because they desired one and to have some fun riding one ?

I think you have probably just described me
I owned two other (unassisted) bikes when I purchased my Orbea Gain D30.
1. a Felt carbon road bike and
2. a Boardman 8.9 Adventure (gravel) alloy bike
I have since sold the Boardman.
My Gain D30 is fitted with wide tyres and full mudguards and has taken over from the Boardman as my 'all weather' 'all surface' ride.
The Felt is a fine weather, good surface? bike.

I have said it before (different thread) I didn't 'need' a pedal assisted bike. I'm 72 with no physical impediments (apart from being 72 !)
and at the risk of sounding boastful, relatively speaking I am still a pretty strong rider. I average about 4,500 miles a year in North Yorkshire and
the Yorkshire dales and there is not a lot of flatish rides around here. I can still manage long(ish) rides and a fair bit of climbing on the unassisted
road bike and so I agonised long and hard before purchasing the Orbea Gain. So glad I did, I have never regretted it for a day.
The Gain gives me the freedom to plan rides without taking too much notice of how far, how high I will be riding. I do ride exclusively in lowest
assist level because propelling this 16kg bike around helps keep me fit.
Oh ! and it's great fun.

 

[Venod]

I owned two other (unassisted) bikes when I purchased my Orbea Gain D30.

The Gain Gravel bike would suite my riding perfectly, but I don't really need one, I have 2 CX and two MTB's at the moment, I suppose I could sell an MTB and a CX, give the other MTB to the lad and then tell the wife I am not getting any younger, I think an ebike would be a good idea.

 

[MahatmaAndhi]

I think there's still far too many cyclists on pavements and other places where they shouldn't be, to increase the speed limit.
It's more the accidents involving pedestrians that I am bothered about. And in my personal (and very limited) experience the police couldn't give a flying hoot. Besides, I would expect a law to be passed that made helmets mandatory before I would like to see an increase in speed too.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

i can see all sorts of different reasons for people buying ebikes, but does anybody buy them as N+1 type purchase, ie not needed but bought because they desired one and to have some fun riding one ?

That is my position, I have a road bike that is in the garage minus it's wheels & has been for the last 3 years, I have a MTB which is what I do all my pleasure riding, it's only for pleasure, trying to keep a little fitter & aide the weight loss, although I think I'm currently heavier than I have been in my life. But I do want an e-bike, I really don't know why but I do, I have this dream of doing the 20+ mile commute off road, but really it will never happen due to time pressures. Currently all my rides are 20-25 miles & the reason is I can only manage 2-2 1/2 hours out of my life for them, my average is 10mph, so that's how far I travel, not sure what extra an e-bike would get me other than further potentially in the same time, but I still want one

 

[youngoldbloke]

I think there's still far too many cyclists on pavements and other places where they shouldn't be, to increase the speed limit.
It's more the accidents involving pedestrians that I am bothered about. And in my personal (and very limited) experience the police couldn't give a flying hoot. Besides, I would expect a law to be passed that made helmets mandatory before I would like to see an increase in speed too.

Ok - lets have a higher limit for eroad bikes, and for those who can ride bikes properly and can ride responsibly. I've no idea how you'd enforce or administer this. I'd be happy to take a proficiency test, if my old badge isn't still valid . As has been pointed out so many times, if you want to plough into pedestrians on pavements there's no limit on unassisted bikes, or ebikes over 15mph. Much of my ride earlier today was over 15mph - hard work! Selfish maybe but an extra 2 or 3 mph assistance would have been very welcome