Here are the rules on for electric bicycles that share a wide path with pedestrians. Since there are many ups and downs they implemented rules governing speed and power on the bikes.
Electric bicycle rules on walking path
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
We have a bike trail at the end of our street and they fly by our house about 25-30mph and the person is barely peddling. Might as well call them a motorcycle. I don't know a lot about them and I understand depending on the assist setting most require at least some peddling?
My wife and I have pedal assist bikes. They do not have throttles. We have ridden them all over the Western U.S. Yes-it is "throttle" ebikes that can go in excess of 20mph that are the issue. They spoil it for the rest of us. And most people (see post above) don't know the difference and think we are all speeders.
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I'm with you, but they might not have a place on hiking trails and walkways. A dirt bike will get me there as well, but people would absolutely freak if I road that at the same 20mph speed.
It is a simple matter of being polite. I always give full consideration to people on the sidewalk if I have to ride on the sidewalk for safety reasons. Mine is 350 watts and complies with the above rules. It allows me to keep biking as my age advances.
Are there restrictions on regular pedal bikes ? On the trail systems around here, people walk, push strollers, ride bikes casually, and some ride their bikes quite fast (serious bikers, i.e. pedal clips, helmets, biker shorts, etc). It's not an ideal mix....
We can ride bicycles on the sidewalk here in my neighborhood, even though the state law says that you should be on the roadway.
Most motorists understand this and are very accommodating to bicycles.
My neighbor was riding his bicycle on the sidwalk the other day, and got hit HEAD ON! By an electric bike!
Hurt him pretty badly, and destroyed his handlebars and front forks.
People on these bikes don't really understand how dangerous they can be, and tend to underestimate their speed.
Rules are a good thing andI would suggest electric bikes should try to maintain travel on the roadway instead of the sidewalk.
I imagine they would be equally dangerous on bike lanes, but at least those should have everyone traveling the same direction.
Most motorists understand this and are very accommodating to bicycles.
My neighbor was riding his bicycle on the sidwalk the other day, and got hit HEAD ON! By an electric bike!
Hurt him pretty badly, and destroyed his handlebars and front forks.
People on these bikes don't really understand how dangerous they can be, and tend to underestimate their speed.
Rules are a good thing andI would suggest electric bikes should try to maintain travel on the roadway instead of the sidewalk.
I imagine they would be equally dangerous on bike lanes, but at least those should have everyone traveling the same direction.
e-assist is fine, but of course the problem is the government needs to adopt some type of rules then someone needs to enforce it, which will never happen in most places.
I like to ride my bike but I stay off the sidewalks and on any mixed use path I slow down and give a wide berth to any pedestrians. A bicycle is a vehicle - plain and simple. When I am walking never fails some jackwagon that thinks there lance armstrong goes flying by 6 inches away. If you want to ride fast get on the street.
Don't even get me started about adults on the sidewalk.
I like to ride my bike but I stay off the sidewalks and on any mixed use path I slow down and give a wide berth to any pedestrians. A bicycle is a vehicle - plain and simple. When I am walking never fails some jackwagon that thinks there lance armstrong goes flying by 6 inches away. If you want to ride fast get on the street.
Don't even get me started about adults on the sidewalk.
Just bought one a month ago, 100 miles on it now. 500 w, 7 speed derailler. 5 assist settings. Here is what I've learned-500 w is plenty for flat ground but not great for hills. There are 2 pedal sensors available, torque and cadence. Torque is usually more $ and can tell how much effort you are exerting. Cadence is what I have and as long as you move the pedals, you get motor assist. And 7 sprockets aint nearly enough lol. At most assist levels I can't pedal fast enough to keep up with the motor. So basically once I'm past 10 mph I'm not exerting any effort, just moving the pedals. I wish it has 21 speeds like my bicycle. ( Actually I just use the throttle and quit pedaling altogether. ) Mine has assist settings that you can program into the controller and they correlate to your pedal speed in that the spacing of pedal motion to motor speed ramps up. In other words the lowest setting will spread your speed from 5-16 mph depending on your Assist setting on your dashboard on your handlebar. Mine has 1-5. If you stop and change the program to another (mine are like 60, 70, 80, 90, maybe a %?) then not only does the top speed increase to 25 mph, but the spread between setting 1-5 increase as well. In other words, if I set it at the lowest top speed my assist level 1 goes 6 mph and level 5 goes 16 mph. If I change the programming to 90 Level 1 assist will go 12 mph and level 5 will go 25 mph. I thought it just increased the top speed but it changes all the speeds, so the slowest I can go and pedal is almost 13mph and I run out of gears if I set the top speed to be able to out run the dogs.
I love riding the thing, nice break from my Honda Valkyrie. A good padded comfortable seat is important.
I love riding the thing, nice break from my Honda Valkyrie. A good padded comfortable seat is important.
What kind of hills do you have to contend with? As a non-ebike user I know I'm not doing 200W to the pedals, yet still manage to get up (most) hills. I can't imagine what I'd do with 500W on tap going up hills.
I bet though I could easily kill myself going down them, with 500W pushing down...
I just tried riding thru the grassy ditch in my yard while pedaling and it didn't seem like the motor was gonna make it if I quit pedaling. But it was new and I didn't want to overheat it. I have watched YT vids of a guy testing a different model on a long hill with and w/o pedaling and he did fine, but he was skinny lol.......
We cycled parts of the Paul Bunyan and Heartland trails in north-central Minnesota in May, and would say that we were in the minority with our old human-powered bikes.
I agree that trails shared by walkers, runners, scooters, bikes, and e-bikes are not ideal.
Our newer local paved trails are marked with two lanes for bikes and one for pedestrians, which seems to work well.
When cycling and overtaking a pedestrian, I try to give lots of warning with the bell, and call out "Bike passing on your left".
Unfortunately, a lot of pedestrians wear headphones and don't hear me.
I agree that trails shared by walkers, runners, scooters, bikes, and e-bikes are not ideal.
Our newer local paved trails are marked with two lanes for bikes and one for pedestrians, which seems to work well.
When cycling and overtaking a pedestrian, I try to give lots of warning with the bell, and call out "Bike passing on your left".
Unfortunately, a lot of pedestrians wear headphones and don't hear me.
Oblivious pedestrians definitely add to the issue. So many people zone out on the paths with ear buds in, zig zagging back and forth making it difficult to pass. There is definitely a common decency thing to all this.
One reason why I like living in the sticks, tend not to deal with this issue. Still, I do run into it on a local rail trail, and I feel bad when overtaking joggers. To a T they always seem to have earbuds in. Sometimes I think I must be the only person who walks/hikes/bikes sans earbuds blasting away music--Ok, if I lived in a city, I'd rather not listen blaring horns, but life in the sticks, it's kinda nice to hear... nature.
Don't have a bell on my bike but not sure anyone would hear it anyhow.
This is true. Pedestrians/joggers with earbuds are AN ISSUE.
