That’s all fun & games, but it’s no longer an e-bike IMO. Especially if you remove the need for pedaling. It’s just an electric motorcycle/moped. And it should be licensed that way too.
Ah, then I understand wanting to spice up your e-bike. That’s a retarded rule which rather negates the usefulness of an e-bike.
An interesting thought…
But I’m not really convinced. You also need to factor in the energy (and waste production) used to create the motor and (especially) the battery. And how much extra food would someone eat when biking compared to e-biking. Would there be a 1-1 match to the amount of energy used in biking? Or would people just get fatter on an e-bike?
But it’s an interesting thought.
I usually use the pedal assist, but it’s nice to be able to just push the throttle if I feel like it. If I don’t feel like pedaling at all, I just commute on my motorcycle.
E-moped if you like. I’m not super concerned with the semantics. I’m a two-wheeler for the fun, cost effectiveness and very mild environmental benefit of not taking the house with me on four wheels everywhere I go. I disagree that it’s a proper motorcycle though. Yes it has a motor and it’s a cycle, but it’s nowhere near as fast as a real motorcycle nor would I want it to be. Critically, it can go places an un-modified motorcycle can’t.
The regulations are a little grey here. I look at it this way. I have a class M driver license anyway. I rarely exceed 25 mph, and only ever really open it up on empty rural roads or if I need a bit more speed on a road without a bike lane (Austin is moderately bike friendly). I mainly went DIY because I like putting stuff together with the features and parts I like, and being able to easily do my own repairs and servicing.
I doubt I could get it licensed as a motorcycle or moped anyway as those have different frame requirements. If the regulations are expanded for such a relatively light-weight “e-moped” I’d consider figuring out a way to mount signals and registering it. It already has a removable review mirror. I also use a rear-facing bike radar and a small camera mounted on my helmet. For me it’s all about increasing my safety without resorting to driving my car.
I’m not totally unsympathetic to the motivations. They don’t want people turning cycling trails into dirt-bike tracks. In my experience most trail cyclists are pretty good Samaritans and I don’t believe most would flaunt speed limits if they were set instead of just banning e-bikes.
I gather the concern is more that a bunch of tech-bros would buy e-bikes and go nuts on the trails. I like to think that wouldn’t happen, but with the menace electric scooters have rapidly become I’m less certain. Ultimately I think I’d like to see e-bikes allowed on paved trails but maybe still kept off unpaved trails. It’s not really a big deal to me though since when I hit a trail it’s normally for exercise and I have a really nice mountain bike I built up from parts over many years.
It does seem that governing to around 30 km/h is a legal thing. Here in Germany, it’s a case of registration and insurance. If it goes above that but not more than 50 km/h, then it needs a moped/scooter insurance plate (like a license plate, but you get it from your insurance agency). If it would go even faster, then it needs to be registered as a motorcycle, with licence plate, safety inspection stickers, and so on. And I doubt any e-bike would pass things like the TÜV brake test, lights and turn signal test, and so on.
DId you account for the fact that e-bikes are designed to assist cycling, not to act as motorised transport. The e-bike user still has to pedal.
Look into a mid drive conversion kit from someone like em3ev or lunacycle. They cost about 1300, take an hour to install and allow a certain range of configurability, which is very nice I converted an old mtb with a 52v bbs02 kit for 1060 ( I shopped far a sale) and love it.
Some, including most conversion kits, can operate with or without pedal assist.
I used a Bafang mid-drive. But if the goal is build inexpensively then hub-drive is cheaper.
I’m talking energy input/output here. Here is another conversation about the matter.
Here are a couple more conversations about the topic, one of which gets into the math.
E-bikes actually appear to be MUCH more efficient than regular bikes, even taking into consideration the manufacture of the batteries and motors. Another point I thought was interesting was the “accelerating to higher speeds in traffic only to burn off the energy by braking more”. On an e-bike I can accelerate more quickly and maintain a higher speed which actually means I brake less because I’m hitting lights timed for car traffic. The standard bike rider is having to stop and burn a lot of energy to back up to speed again and again.
My first conversion was an old Gary Fisher steel mountain bike, which worked out extremely well. My latest is an aluminum plus mountain bike with front suspension which has been very squishy indeed.
Yep, even if all the rider is wearing is a backpack, that still adds up to a meaningful difference in drag.
Cycle commuting with a backpack was the worst. I always ended up with a sweaty back, even on the coldest of days.
Hmm - must go look at regs here - I believed they were not allowed to be pure electric transport, and required some pedalling before they could kick in - but maybe that’s not the case unless they can exceed a certain speed. Still, the calculations do assume, I assume, zero human energy expended while e-biking. Which is also an error (even if at the level of a rounding one) seeing as some energy is being burnt by a human even when sitting still. But I freely admit this is nitpicking, given the ‘back of fag packet’ level of calculations.
And here’s the regs. Basically the motor should not operate or will cut out at certain speeds, depending on the pedalling activity. Look towards the end of the excerpt re ‘throttle dilemma’ - seems to me to say that if it is not assisting a pedaller then max speed from standing start is limited to 6 km/h - and above that speed rider must be pedalling to get the motor running.
“Get your motor running
Pedal up the highway”
The UK legislation was harmonised with EU law EN15194 in April 2015, which means that it could change as Brexit takes effect. But for now it’s pretty clear in defining what can – and what cannot – be called an ebike.
Your steed is an “electrically assisted pedal cycle” (or EAPC, or ebike, or Pedelec) if: the bike has pedals that propel it; the electric motor won’t assist you when you’re travelling more than 25 km/h (15.5mph); and the power doesn’t exceed 250 watts.
The cycles that meet these requirements (which affect two-wheeled bikes but also tandems and tricycles) can be ridden on any cycle paths and anywhere else that bikes are normally allowed.
In the UK you must be over 14 years old to ride an electric bike but you don’t need a licence, nor do you need to register it or pay vehicle tax.
You may find off-road bikes that can go faster than 15.5 mph by flicking a switch, but for UK law these are not compliant with EAPC regulations for on-road use.
Many ebikes contain a motor in the bottom bracket, which gives added power to assist with pedalling
If your ebike doesn’t meet these regulations – either because the motor is more powerful than 250W, or if it assists you when you’re riding more than 15.5 mph – it will need to be registered, insured and taxed as a motor vehicle. In this case, you will also need a driving licence, and you must wear a motorcycle helmet.
These other kind of bikes (also called speed pedelecs) cannot be ridden on cycle paths and must be approved by the DVLA. So while it’s easy to de-restrict an ebike to get the motor assisting you with higher speeds, it is not very wise to do so, both for regulatory and safety reasons.
Harmonisation with EU law has had an important effect on electric bikes with ‘twist and go’ throttles that can take the bike to full speed without any pedalling at all.
From January 1 2016, the only throttles legal within the UK’s EAPC legislation are those that assist the rider without pedalling up to a maximum speed of 6 km/h (3.7 mph) – ie starting assistance only.
If the rider is rolling – but not pedalling – faster than 6km/h, the throttle cuts off. If the cyclist pedals at the same time then the throttle can still assist up to the general limit of 15.5mph.
If you bought an ebike with a full-speed throttle before January 1 2016, don’t panic: those sold prior to this date are still considered as EAPC and do not require a registration or taxed. Practically, you could still buy one a ‘twist and go’ and not be fined, but it would have to have been produced or imported before January 1.
I do know that in most places in the US there’s a legal limit on speed of an e-bike which is why retail models have a limit that can be bypassed by flashing the firmware. Of course for conversion kits since you assemble it yourself the companies can sell you motor and battery sets that will go as fast as the available power allows.
I also noticed that all the retail e-bikes I test rode would only power if you were pedaling, but I don’t know if that’s true of all of them and it never occurred to me but maybe it’s another regulatory limit.
Well your retail test riding experience seems to coincide with the UK regulations, anyway!
That issue is why i always get hiking style backpacks with a curved steel bracing and mesh back, leaves an airspace beetween your back and the bag, solving that problem 
Example:
Also means that even if you just lob stuff in the bag at random, no pointy bits end up poking you in the back
Though the dynamo is a bit masochistic.
If you really want to go that fast just get the motorcycle endorsement and get an electric twist and go proper.
It will have better range and at that speed you want a full face helmet and better clothing than bicycle wear.
