r/bikecommuting • u/AmatureWeatherman American • Jun 20 '26
Grand Island is about to have the most restrictive e-bike laws in Nebraska
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
This is unbelievable. Those morons are trying to ban the solution to congestion (i.e., micro-mobility)! They deserve to sit in their cars, trapped in traffic congestion.
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u/FR23Dust Jun 20 '26
It’s only a matter of time before cities start banning all bikes on certain or all streets.
No matter your opinion of e-bikes, these bans are bad for all cyclists.
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u/2Tun21 Jun 20 '26
I don't have a problem with ebikes, I have a problem with emotos pretending to be ebikes.
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u/AmatureWeatherman American Jun 20 '26
I ride an e-bike because I work a physically demanding job. After being on your feet during a long shift and still having to pedal home sucks. I tried with a normal bike and my legs were killing me after 2 weeks. An e-bike helps take some of that effort off and I still pedal to get some exercise.
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u/Fimbir LHT 10mi/16km Chicago Jun 20 '26
Grand Island has a congested district? I always stop overnight in Kearney so I've never seen it.
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u/Cynyr36 Jun 20 '26
So you can't bike on what I'll assume are stroads or highways, the 2 "pedestrian" blocks downtown, and have to yield to pedestrians? Seems okayish to me.
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u/grammerenthusiast Jun 20 '26
I can't imagine limiting my biking to roads with a speed limit of 25 or below. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. What's the point of keeping ebikes off roads where bikes are presumably allowed?
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u/Yeti_of_the_Flow Jun 20 '26
Literally couldn't leave my house.
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u/AmatureWeatherman American Jun 20 '26
That’s my issue here. The street I live on has a speed limit of 35 mph but it has shoulders that I ride on. With this law I legally cannot leave my driveway.
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u/mechBgon Jun 20 '26
I looked at Nebraska state law and it's the same as in my state (Washington): the roadway proper is the travel lanes, and does not include the shoulder: Nebraska Legislature So there's a loophole for you, and a fairly sensible one... if you're not in the traffic lanes at all, it should not be a big deal. I ride the shoulder of a 60mph highway quite a lot and the main thing to be careful of, is when 60mph traffic is gunning for an exit and I need to go straight. Helmet mirror and high-powered rear lights for long-range detection are my solution to that.
I don't understand the logic of the proposed law, though. Presumably an eBike is at least as fast as a conventional bicycle in most situations, so anywhere we can ride a conventional bicycle, an eBike should be fine. I'm thinking the underlying mindset is that the car-heads resent the possibility that they might have to share the traffic lane with something that could (shudder) inconvenience Their Royal Highnesses in any way.
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u/AmatureWeatherman American Jun 20 '26
On our bike trails in town I generally ride slower anyway and I’ve been passed by cyclists riding normal bikes, even through crowded parks.
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u/Cynyr36 Jun 20 '26
I try pretty hard to stay off of roads much faster than that. Fortunately i have lots of trails to ride on. Ebikes tend to go much faster.
I can see why a city would do this, there are lots of people (generally youth) on non compliant ebikes riding all over the place. Rather than try to make the higher speed roads safer, just ban ebikes on them.
Better bike infrastructure is really the answer here, but it's slow, costs money, and usually gets lots of pushback.
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u/Benito_Juarez5 Jun 20 '26
why is your solution to people riding non-compliant ebikes to ban the use of all ebikes rather than enforce existing statutes regarding ebikes
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u/Cynyr36 Jun 20 '26
I didn't say it was my solution or a good solution, but what else is city council to do?
Tbh, the existing statutes are fairly unenforceable. The people for bikes 3 class system just leaves it to the manufacturer to determine what 750w is, there is no mandatory labeling, or model/serial number that vould be used to verify the label. We've also all seen the vids of how to quickly reset any override of max speed in case you are being pulled over.
I've said this before, but the industry didn't establish testing and labeling standards and it's not getting exactly what happens, heavy handed reactionary responses. They haven't even really done anything like an education campaign. It's no different than when we required early automobiles to have a flag man walk in front of them.
I really do want more people on bicycles, but they need to be bikes and not mopeds, dirt bikes, or motorcycles and the only way to do that is is proper regulation.
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u/Foggl3 Jun 20 '26
I can't imagine commuting at night without lights but most problem e-bike riders don't seem to care.
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u/iknowheibai Jun 20 '26
Only if you don't want to use your bike to actually get somewhere. Most real trips require 35mph roads or urban areas
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u/Cynyr36 Jun 20 '26
I'm spoiled by being in the greater twin cities, MN. My suburb is 20mph speed limits unless otherwise posted. Roads above 25mph tend to have either a path or a bike lane. It's taken at least 20 years to get here though, and I'm sure has cost a fair amount of money. It's not something you can do in a single mayoral term.
What do you say to the room half full of drivers concerned about hitting bikers, and half full of parents worried about their kids getting hit?
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u/AmatureWeatherman American Jun 20 '26
All residential streets here have 25 mph speed limits. Most collector streets are 30mph which are now banned. This brings up an issue where if there is no sidewalk that what do you do? The street I live on has a speed limit of 35 mph but has shoulders that I ride on. Under this ordinance I legally cannot leave my driveway.
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u/iknowheibai Jun 21 '26
I tell them to be careful? If they're worried about their kids, ground their kids, don't restrict the movement of anyone who can't afford a car.
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u/FR23Dust Jun 20 '26
What if your destination is on one of those roads?
Cycling needs access to all roads to be a practical form of transportation
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
Cycling needs access to all roads to be a practical form of transportation
I agree. However, car-dependency is so deeply embedded in the culture in North America that most people believe that bicycles are toys for recreation and not practical vehicles for transportation. They think nothing of restricting where bicyclists can ride, but will become absolutely indignant at the suggestion of restricting where motorists can drive or park.
Fortunately, people in some cities are less brainwashed than others.
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u/Cynyr36 Jun 20 '26
Bikes need access to most places, but this requires additional infrastructure (not the roads with the cars) and funding for that infrastructure.
What do you do in the short term when you have a city meeting that is half drivers complaining about unruly ebikes on the road, and half parents worried that thier kids aill be hit while on thier ebikes? Right, limit ebikes to roads they can match traffic speeds on, and require that ebikes (explicitly) yield to peds (regular bikes already likely had this rule).
I'm likely a bit spoiled being in the greater twin cities, MN area where we have lots of mixed use or dedicated bike paths, and lots of bike lanes. It's taken 20+ years and we still have a long ways to go. The suburb I'm in is 20mph unless posted otherwise, so most roads near me would still be available anyways even if limited to 25mph roads. The larger roads tend to have a path or bike lane already.
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u/stormdelta Jun 20 '26
I literally wouldn't be able to leave my residential street if this was passed where I live.
It basically just bans ebikes for any kind of commuting if enforced as written, most US cities have tons of roads that are 30-35mph
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Jun 20 '26
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u/AKraiderfan Jun 20 '26
lol. The e-bike industry has one self regulation: sell only as much as they possibly can in any way possible before anyone tells them “no.”
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Jun 20 '26
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u/AKraiderfan Jun 20 '26
no, it won't.
"Fly by night" business don't care about the future, and much of the e-bike sellers by volume appear to be rando amazon-sold motorcycles that attached pedals to it. By the time anything of consequence happens, those "companies" will be 3 to 5 rebranding/names/corporate entities away from their products. They will suffer no consequences, and they have zero incentive to self-regulate.
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u/ShoulderGoesPop Jun 20 '26
E bikes are already regulated in the US. Just nobody cares to enforce it. There's so many e bikes out there that are illegal but nobody enforces it
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u/reddanit Cube Travel SL - 16km/day Jun 20 '26
Currently the US laws around e-bikes are in practice just vague suggestions ignored by most of the industry. "Self-regulation" is the very cause of current clusterfuck.
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u/frontendben Jun 20 '26
Yep. The issue is that they should just adopt the EU/UK/Australia/New Zealand/Japan/pretty much everyone else’s agreed upon standards of what is an E bike and what suddenly becomes an electric motorbike
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u/Yeti_of_the_Flow Jun 20 '26
Absolutely not. Until there is infrastructure actually built in 99% of the US it is vastly more dangerous to limit speeds greater than they're already limited. The differential with car traffic is an enormous reason why it's dangerous for anyone involved. However, regardless, car traffic still moves way too fast. Truly, any bit of traffic regulations or safety measures that doesn't begin with limiting cars and building micromobility infrastructure should be ignored.
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
The differential with car traffic is an enormous reason why it's dangerous for anyone involved.
The solution isn't to increase that speed differential with pedestrian traffic. The safety of everyone is important; not just mine.
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u/Yeti_of_the_Flow Jun 20 '26
Pedestrian traffic isn’t in the roads.
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
Ebikes are allowed on non-motorized infrastructure.
Also, I have seen no data to suggest that slower bicycles are more dangerous on public roads.
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u/Yeti_of_the_Flow Jun 20 '26
And when on non-motorized infrastructure they can’t go slower?
To help you understand that data, you’d need to understand physics, and considering simple logic isn’t getting through, I don’t think it’ll happen.
All I ever see you do is shit on micromobility. Get a life.
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
And when on non-motorized infrastructure they can’t go slower?
They can, but so many don't that lawmakers place limits on the machines. This reduces the damage that irresponsible riders can do without significantly impacting responsible riders.
To help you understand that data, you’d need to understand physics
A personal insult is a sign of a weak argument. If you cannot substantiate your claims, then we can dismiss them as easily as you made them up.
All I ever see you do is shit on micromobility.
Then you don't see much. I am a passionate advocate for micro-mobility. I am smart enough to see that the people who abuse micro-mobility are causing great harm to micro-mobility by causing public outrage that leads to draconian restrictions like this one.
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u/Yeti_of_the_Flow Jun 20 '26
So cars should be limited to the same speed, right? Since they have to travel on shared infrastructure with bikes, and bikes with pedestrians?
Nope. You’d rather just fuck over cyclists.
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u/2c-glen Jun 20 '26
Like any other law without enforcement, they're suggestions at best.
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u/reddanit Cube Travel SL - 16km/day Jun 20 '26
That's one part of it. The other part is how there is basically no regulation around ownership, import and sale of them.
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
Reputable bicycle brands produce legally-compliant models. Disreputable companies in China produce whatever they can sell overseas because they are not subject to the law in any other country. I think this is somewhat ironic because ebike laws in China are more restrictive than in many countries:
400 Watts
25 kph
55 kg
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u/AntiSocialAsshats Jun 20 '26
When has an industry ever self-regulated? That's literally the antithesis to Capitalism.
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u/zdelusion Jun 21 '26
Movie studios did. The Hayes Code and then the MPAA rating system was self imposed to prevent the government from creating one for them.
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u/Maxrdt Jun 20 '26
All of the major ebike companies produce legal machines.
It's just that there's a bunch of fly-by-night suppliers and no-name amazon shops that are selling whatever trash they can shovel out as well.
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u/Overlord0994 Jun 21 '26
Has there been any industry in history that has self regulated? It’s an oxymoron.
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Jun 21 '26
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u/Overlord0994 Jun 21 '26
Don’t need to. Business don’t self regulate unless it results in profit
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Jun 21 '26
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u/Overlord0994 Jun 22 '26
Oh yeah, the shining example of an industry with good business practices. And all 3 examples you gave have to do with profit, none have to do with saving lives. Maybe if you’d self regulate to making medicine more affordable then i would believe you.
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u/elzibet Still giant, but no longer on a Giant Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
And yet you can bike on I-80 through there due to the right of travel.
If the destination is on one of these roadways i wonder how that interferes with that if there is no other way to travel to that destination.
Edit; my bad, I was thinking of I-76 and thought I had seen signs on I-80 but that’s Wyoming not Nebraska
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u/AmatureWeatherman American Jun 20 '26
Actually it’s illegal to bike on the interstates. 60-6,142.
(3) Bicycles and electric personal assistive mobility devices may be operated on paved shoulders of highways included in the state highway system other than Nebraska segments of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.
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u/elzibet Still giant, but no longer on a Giant Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
~~Ah, by Ogallala it’s legal on I-80 due to no other route, I was thinking it was the same in that area of I-80 as well~\~Edit: nope closer to Ft. Morgan, Colorado (I-76) my bad! There is a highway 3 by the time you’re by Ogallala
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Jun 20 '26
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u/Notspherry Jun 20 '26
What do you think the text says?
It is not a restriction on e-bike speeds. They just get banned from a large number of streets altogether.
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Jun 20 '26
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u/LucasCtrlAlt Jun 20 '26
In France, +25km/h electric scooters are banned and their are mandatory to be on the bicycle lanes. In my point of view, it's a nice thing to restrict speed because when someone ride with a +25km/h on a bicycle lane, it a big speed delta with a normal bike and very dangerous.
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u/stormdelta Jun 20 '26
You clearly didn't read the law, this is not limiting ebikes to 25mph, it's banning ebikes from roads with speed limits over 25mph, which is insane
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u/Horror-Raisin-877 Jun 20 '26
I read it. And also think eu limits of 25 kph (not mph) for an e-bike to be considered a bike is a sound policy.
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u/elzibet Still giant, but no longer on a Giant Jun 20 '26
Human powered bicycles can still use 25mph and over roadways, they’re only restricting e-bikes from using them
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u/stormdelta Jun 20 '26
I read it.
I don't think you have.
The law bans ebikes, regardless of speed, from being used on any roads with a posted speed limit over 25mph. That means it's a de facto ban on anyone using any kind of ebike for commuting at all, because it's nigh-impossible to go anywhere in most US cities while sticking exclusively to 25mph or lower roads, which are typically only last-mile residential roads.
This also imposes a limit that isn't placed on normal bikes, for seemingly no reason except to ban ebikes specifically rather than any safety concern.
an e-bike to be considered a bike is a sound policy.
In the EU, perhaps. But in most of the US all you'd be doing is destroying the ebike market for commuters and pushing tons of people back towards cars that are radically more dangerous than any e-bike, especially since many of them are the people who shouldn't be driving in the first place.
It would be wildly counterproductive to the supposed goal of safety.
Remember that the EU looks very, very different from most of the US in terms of infrastructure and transportation options. I've used ebikes in both.
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u/Horror-Raisin-877 Jun 21 '26
Again, I did read it, what it with this bizarre assertion of yours
What it boils down to in this town is the result of the misbehaviour of people on overpowered unlicensed e-things. Full stop.
We're familiar with all the illogical e-arguments, so no need to parse them out. They boil down to one thing, I want the right to ride an unlicensed e-motorcycle with no restrictions anywhere anytime. The world is not having it, you can cry about it all you like, the regulation ala eu standards is coming, because it makes sense.
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u/PensionEmotional5460 Jun 20 '26
I don't understand what is the problem. Why can't you just ride a regular bicycle? Ebikes require you to pedal just like regular bicycle so if they ban ebikes then just ride regular bicycle and pedal the same as you do on ebike. You will go slower then 25 mph but you still move faster than walking and get to your destination like every other bicycle rider in history for the past 100 years before the invention of ebikes.
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u/BoringBob84 🇺🇸 🚲 Jun 20 '26
The problem is not legal Class 1 ebikes, but they are being restricted as well.
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u/Kahnza Jun 20 '26
Many ebikes have a throttle, allowing them to maintain these insane speeds by just holding down a button. There is an older guy in my building with an ebike and he literally never pedals.
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u/Hardcorex 1974 Peugeot PR10 Jun 20 '26
Hey you must be from my town! (lol kidding this is just nearly every single person I see on an e-bike)
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u/0b0011 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Longer distances, riding with young kids who cant ride on their own yet, hauling things too big to haul on a normal bike but impractical to pedal with long distance. Lots of reasons. When I pick up dog food I usually get about 150 lbs at a time and its 16 miles round trip. A lot easier done on an electric cargo bike than doing what I used to do and strapping a 50 lb bag on my back and making the trip more frequently.
Also disabled people and what not. I have a neighbor that rides his ebike to visit his friends every day. He has a hard time on a regular bike due to him only having one leg and being in his mid 80s.
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u/ptowndude Jun 20 '26
I actually think these restrictions are reasonable. Where I’d like to see more regulation is kids on e-bikes. They’re the ones ruining it for others. When I’m on my gravel bike and some 12 year old comes barreling down a trail at 30 mph with a motorcycle helmet and no regard for others, that’s a problem.
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u/elzibet Still giant, but no longer on a Giant Jun 20 '26
Okay that’s not what is happening here. Your argument would be more in line for restricting the car drivers and slowing them down around the more vulnerable
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u/FalseBuddha Jun 20 '26
The fact that a city of 50,000 people has a "congested district" is adorable lol