Your Riding eBikes in New York State

[dko...@gmail.com]

In New York State only low speed eBikes are legal. The exception is in
New York City, where high speed eBikes are allowed. You may think I
have this reversed. No, the way I have it written is the state law.
High speed eBikes are allowed on roads in the state's most congested
area, but not in rural areas.

Secondly, the maximum speed possible with eBikes is not only
controlled, but posted road speed limits legally limit me to riding no
more than two short deadened roads away from my house on an eBike. I
cannot legally enter the county road I need to enter to take me
anywhere. (The county road that I have ridden a bicycle with no
electric assist thousands of times).

I have been working for years to rewrite New York State's flawed eBike
law. If you live in New York State, ask your state Assemblyman and
Senator to work with my Senator Hinchey to revise the law.

Demetri

[Wayne Estes]

I wish high speed E-bikes were banned everywhere in the U.S., same as they are banned in Europe and many other places.

Demetri can go anywhere he wants on New York roads with a Class 1 or Class 2 E-bike that has a maximum speed of 20 mph.

Buy a motorcycle if you want to travel at motorcycle speeds.

Wayne Estes

[Mark Boyd]

On Tue, Aug 1, 2023 at 10:37 AM <dko...@gmail.com> wrote:

In New York State only low speed eBikes are legal. The exception is in

I'm guessing the low speed is 20 mph and high speed is 28 mph. Those are  the only 'speed limits' I've seen associated with the ebike class. Those speed restrictions have to do with how fast the bike can go using just the motor power. Since I live and ride in the mountains, I daily exceeded both of those speeds even on my bikes without e-assist. 

New York City, where high speed eBikes are allowed. You may think I
have this reversed. No, the way I have it written is the state law.
High speed eBikes are allowed on roads in the state's most congested
area, but not in rural areas.

Secondly, the maximum speed possible with eBikes is not only
controlled, but posted road speed limits legally limit me to riding no
more than two short deadened roads away from my house on an eBike.

 

I cannot legally enter the county road I need to enter to take me
anywhere. (The county road that I have ridden a bicycle with no
electric assist thousands of times).

 

I'm think what you are saying is that your ebike is the 'high speed' kind and  that you bought, or put together, an ebike that you can't legally ride where you live.

My first experience with e-bikes was in Germany in 2019. There, the issue was, and I assume still, is how powerful a motor you could have on an ebike and still ride it on bike paths. That limit was 250 watts or about 1/3 of a horsepower. Because of that experience, I bought 250 watt motors with my ebike conversion kits. Now,, with newer software, I can get more power from those motors,  but I've set them to not put out more than 320 watts. Since I, even at my advanced age ;-}, can still put out a peak of about 500 watts and can sustain 250 watts for a block or two, that provides enough power to climb most of the hills - up to peak 10% grade - on my regular daily rides.

I regularly see folks in Asheville riding bikes that I think of as e-motorcycles, but, even though I now use my e-bikes as utility transportation as well as for recreational riding and exercise, I have no interest in that kind of e-bike. I owned motorcycles, up to 500 cc, for many years and enjoyed riding them, but I made the transition to bicycles roughly 30 year ago and have no reason to want to go back. 

Mark

[dko...@gmail.com]

No, sorry, wrong. I have a legal eBike in my rural area. Low powered.
I could only ride a legal high powered eBike in New York State if I
rode it in New York City.

I am not permitted from going anywhere more than two blocks from my
home because I have a high powered eBike. I am prohibited because of
being on an eBike, any eBike. I am prohibited from riding all county
and state roads in New York State, roads I have ridden many thousands
of miles on a non-powered bike...

I can ride the two blocks up to the nearest through road (county
road), detach the battery and I can continue riding legally on the
road, by using just my legs for power, but that is absurd..

The law needs to be changed. This is the state that was first to grant
equal rights to the road to bicyclists, in 1887. This flawed eBike law
is a step back from progress began so long ago..

Demetri

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[GMX]

Fully agree—they are a pest, not an inherent feature of the bikes themselves but the way people ride them. I rarely use bike paths, so in a way e-bikes do not bother me, when one passes me on the road, it is no different than when a normal motorcycle does. What I do find funny is that the operators carry water bottles—after all, they don’t sweat much ;-)

I am not sure what is allowed here in Spain, from casual observation it seems that some of the e-bikes are see are more powerful than 250 watts.

Occasionally I have seen someone on an e-bike whose battery has conked out and who has to go uphill. Delightful Schadenfreude ;-)

I should add that the above comments only apply to riders younger than me (I am 62). Older people are more than welcome to their e-bikes, and their riding style is generally non-problematic for other road users.

Cheers,

Nathan

Nathan Wajsman

na...@gmx.es

Слава Україні! Героям слава!

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