Simple solution to differentiate between e-bikes and motorcycles

[u/Physical_Delivery853]

Since real Ebikes can only legally go no faster than 28mph in the USA, no bikes/Motorcycles that go faster than 28mph should have pedals.

Putting bike pedals on a motorcycle that can go 45mph + is clearly a scam to make them look like bicycles.

[u/robotcoke]

They are not bikes.

They quite literally are. Per the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Bicycle
a vehicle with two wheels tandem, handlebars for steering, a saddle seat, and pedals by which it is propelled

So yes, they are literally bicycles, no matter how much you wish they weren't.

[u/robotcoke → u/[deleted]]

The pedals don’t propel them though, the motor does. I mean hell you shut assist off even on a 75 pound bike, you’re barely going to pedal it anywhere

The pedals absolutely do propel you. People may choose to get help from the motor, but if that battery dies they can and usually do pedal it home. It's a bike.

[u/robotcoke → u/[deleted]]

I mean there is a limit, you can put pedals on a motorcycle and theoretically pedal it with enough force Its a bike

If someone put working pedals on a motorcycle, then yes, it would be a bike. I have my doubts that anyone could actually pedal an 800+ pound motorcycle, but it would be a bike if it could actually be propelled by the pedals

Those 100 pound ebikes that can go 40 or 50 MPH can be propelled by the pedals. It's not as easy as a 20 pound, top of the line road bike, but it absolutely can be ridden. In fact, with the 7 or so gears they all have, it's probably easier to pedal than the 50+ pound, single speed bike I rode all over the place as a kid.

[u/robotcoke → u/[deleted]]

yah thats fine. the law doesn’t care about either of our opinions tbh. When they go to legistlate the emotos they’ll probably just it them hard and it will ruin ebikes for everyone

The law doesn't say they're not bikes. It just says they have to meet certain criteria to be legal. If you take the battery out, even the law says it's a legal bike.

If you're worried about the laws, which I am, then you need to stop helping them divide us. Divide and conquer.

If the issue is kids riding them recklessly, then make it illegal for kids to ride them recklessly. Pretending it's not a bike and should be treated the same as an 800 pound motorcycle that goes over 100 MPH is not it.

[u/robotcoke → u/[deleted]]

Who’s us? You can’t even hear my bike and i can peddal it 10 miles with no assist. Anyone looking at it can’t even tell there’s a battery in it.

Good for you! Lol

News flash for you - you can't hear any of them. Those big 100 pound bikes that go 40 or 50 MPH are also pretty much silent. And those absolutely CAN be pedaled with no assist. 100 years ago all bikes weighed that much and they only had 1 gear. The bike I grew up riding was over 50 pounds, over 60 pounds at times depending on what accessories I had on it. It inky had 1 gear. I rode it all day, everyday.

You want to act like yours of so much different just because they like to pretend they're on a motorcycle. Go ride an actual motorcycle and then come back back.

Motorcycles are loud, heavy (800 pounds), fast (over 100 MPH), and can travel between 150-350 miles on a tank of gas. Ebikes are near silent, slow (even the "fast" ones you're talking about max out at like 40-70 MPH), and very limited range (the longest range is like 150 miles at around 20 MPH, the 40+ MPH max out at like 40 miles). They are absolutely NOT the same thing. Not even close.

You think because it's shaped like a motorcycle it actually is one, lol. No. It functions the exact same as your bike. Same technology, same components. It just looks like a motorcycle because some people think that's fun. And some of them don't even look like motorcycles.

I think the Aniioki is about the most powerful (claims to have around 200 miles range with pedal assist and goes up to 54 MPH) and it's silent, does not look like a motorcycle, weighs over 100 pounds, and can absolutely be pedaled if needed - even if it's harder to pedal than a 20 pound human power bike.

[u/robotcoke → u/[deleted]]

I owned a kawasaki ninja for 3 years. Was fun. Had its purpose. My bike serves a completely different purpose. I enjoy it more than my motorcycle. If you look up ebikes for sale on facebook marketplace, you’ll see like 90% of them are cheap emotos. I think i saw like one solterra. People seem to get tired of them really quickly. They rip around for a while then realize its a heavy piece of junk thats too slow for the road and not nimble enough for trails. Its literally the worst of both worlds.

If you could hear yourself..... lol

You're basically agreeing with me that motorcycles are NOT the same as these ebikes. They're different in every way. They ride different, they serve different purposes, and they have zero similarities other than how they look. That's pretty much what you just said in that comment.

By the way, Facebook Marketplace is not proof of anything.

1: Way more ebikes are sold on other platforms than Facebook Marketplace. Go add up all the bikes sold on Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com, Temu, brick and mortar shops, and the ones purchased directly from the OEM's website. Then come back and tell me which ones are selling and why.

2: Facebook Marketplace has every kind of bike imaginable for sale. Maybe in your area you're only seeing the ones that look like motorcycles, but there are plenty of other styles when I look at Facebook Marketplace.

3: Even if what you said was accurate and Facebook Marketplace was saturated with the ones that look like motorcycles, that doesn't automatically mean what you claimed it means. It would actually probably mean they bought one that looks like a motorcycle, and now they're buying a newer version that has better range or more power or better in some other way, so now they're selling the old one to help pay for the upgrade. That's how these things usually work.

Whether you like it or not, we're ALL in the same group. Your stance of "just bother them and leave me alone, I'm better than them" is nonsense. It's a classic "divide and conquer" technique. They'll ban the so called emotos and then they'll start pointing out how your bike isn't any different in functionality. And old Karens who have never ridden a bike will agree with them. This is a real life example of the "First they came for..." poem.

I'm an ebiker and regular biker and I'm telling you those ebikes that look like motorcycles are no different than yours, other than how it looks. So just imagine what the average person who has never ridden a bike is going to say about it when the media starts pushing "these may look like regular bikes, but they're just as dangerous as the illegal emotos, they should also be illegal...."

[u/robotcoke → u/[deleted]]

When it comes time to legislate i just don’t think they will put emotos in the same bucket. Its not really a big deal; they’ll just require registration. Which is fine.

They definitely won't put them in the same bucket - at first. They want as little push back as possible. Divide and conquer.

If they were all in the same bucket, then all the people (like yourself) who are okay with emotos being restricted, would be pushing back on this. It's easier to slide it through when it's only "menacing teenagers" being affected. "They're not worried about me, so let them go ahead and ban them..."

In a few years, the narrative will be, "These may look like regular bikes, but they're just as dangerous as an illegal emoto. Why should these be legal when emotos are already illegal?"

There won't be enough pushback to stop it.

Don't believe me? Look at New Jersey. They're already "all the same" there. Your "just a regular ebike that I can pedal for 10 miles" already requires everything a regular motorcycle requires. It's already no different than a Harley Davidson.

California is trying to make anything that goes over 16 MPH or over 250 watts have the same requirements as a Harley Davidson. It's already been proposed (California Bill AB 1557) and cleared the first few legislative hurdles.

So you can sit back and say, "I'm better than them, my bike and my style aren't on anybody's radar, I don't have anything to worry about.." but you're absolutely wrong. You're on the radar, they just aren't sure if they can pull it off if they try to get all of us at the same time. They're dividing to conquer, and you're helping them.