By John Allen

I am all in favor of aging CRW members’ riding e-bikes, as I indicated in an earlier Safety Corner article. You might see me more often on club rides once I acquire one!

Most e-bike riders operate their vehicles responsibly. However, the combination of powerful e-bikes and inexperienced operators, often teenagers, is creating safety issues. Let’s look into some background.

There are three classes of e-bikes, according to a system established by the industry lobbying organization PeopleforBikes. As of 2024, those categories have been lobbied into law in most states, as shown on a PeopleforBikes map:

The three classes are:

• Class 1: pedal assist only, top assisted speed 20 mph.
• Class 2: pedal assist and throttle, top assisted speed 20 mph.
• Class 3: pedal assist only, top assisted speed 28 mph.

Motors of all three are limited to 750 watts – one horsepower.

The Massachusetts Legislature took a conservative approach with its 2023 amendments to the traffic law, and did not recognize Class 3 as bicycles -- but they are still sold and used here.

A traditional gasoline-powered motorized bicycle is restricted by law and mechanically to a top speed of 30 miles per hour. A Class 3 e-bike has essentially the same performance. Beyond that, kits to hack an e-bike to exceed its rating are available over the Internet, as are bikes which exceed the performance limits. These machines are effectively electric motorcycles, but they look like e-bikes and are sold and ridden without licensing, registration or required safety equipment.

All of these, whether legal or not, are quiet, unlike gasoline-powered motorcycles. This stealth factor creates safety concerns when they are operated by inexperienced riders on sidewalks and paths. The risk extends beyond just the riders themselves.

This issue came to a head for me on Thursday, June 12. I was riding my bicycle legally, as I do, in downtown Waltham. A rider on what appeared to be an electric motorcycle was riding haphazardly, going around blocks on sidewalks, at 20 mph easily.. He zoomed past storefronts where people could easily have stepped out into his path. He rode past me three times on different streets. One time, I called out "hold it," but I couldn't block him and he kept going. I was concerned enough for the public’s safety to phone in a report to the police.

Communities and police are beginning to take action on this issue, especially in California. Action here in Massachusetts has reached as far as the establishing of a 15 mph speed limit on parts of the Minuteman path. And e-bikes are prohibited on sidewalks and most other off-road environments except for paved paths. But we need to go further with both education and enforcement to prevent serious accidents that could harm both riders and others.

Most bicycling advocacy in the USA still promotes infrastructure which is unsafe at the speeds these machines achieve.

For comparison, let's see what the European Union does. It has three categories of e-bike, but they are not the same.

• Pedelec: pedal assist only. Top assisted speed 25 km/h (15.5 mph and power 250 watts – 1/3 horsepower, no more than a fit bicyclist can produce. These are intended to fit in with typical utility bicyclists on urban roads and bikeways.
• L1e-A: “Powered cycle”: top assisted speed 15.5 mph, but the motor may have up to 1000 watts. This is for cargo bikes and delivery vehicles whose extra weight requires a more powerful motor.
• L1-e B: “Two-wheel mopeds” which include the Speed Pedelec: Pedal assist only, top assisted speed 45 km/h, which is 27.9 mph. Power is limited to 4 times that of a human rider, for practical purposes, 1000 watts. These are substantially the same as the US Class 3 but a helmet, licensing and registration are required. These are treated as mopeds, not bicycles, and are expected to be ridden on the street.

A speed pedelec and European registration plate.

The European Union got ahead of the e-bike issue, at least in its laws and performance limits. European bicycle culture is very different too, with larger ridership and much of it for daily transportation.

To address the youngest sector of e-bike users, the American Bicycling Education Association has created the Teen EBike Training program (https://teenebiketraining.com) and there is an excellent book for parents of e-bike riders, The Caring Parent’s E-Bike Survival Guide, https://bellemontproject.com/parents.

But with no well-supported nationwide enforcement and education effort, we have a long way to go here to establish consistent order and sanity around e-bikes.

Be careful out there, riding on the path, when you walk out of the storefront, anywhere. Take a good look around and be ready to avoid a collision!

And if and when you can put in a good word for appropriate advocacy efforts, please do!