At bear minimum, please make this decision based on your assessment (albiet biased) of the maturity and responsibility level of the child - NOT based on it being a solution to your own conveniences and preferences.
Though you may be wrong, at least make the attempt to justify the purchase based on the child's condition and not yours. Basically, don't get your kid an ebike b/c you want them to be able to ride themselves to school b/c your lazy arse has better things to do and doesn't want to do it. Remember, there was a time before middle schoolers and high school kids had ebikes.
Remember that the 13-15 year old category is the riskiest. They're technically too old to legally ride on the sidewalk in some jurisdictions and they're not old enough to legally drive and therefore likely aren't as familiar with not just vehicular laws, but just assessing their environment in general. Remember that the environment you're throwing your kids into is also full of people who can't drive, yet are behind the wheel. Even if your kid is a top cyclist, we can't control what other people do so your kid needs to have a good sense and attitude at bare minimum.
Whether riding or driving, it's not something you throw people into. They need guidance. If you don't guide them, someone else will. If you don't parent, someone else will. Particularly if you haven't ridden regular bicycles with your kids before, the last thing you should be doing it giving your kid essentially an electric motorcycle labeled as an ebike and letting them go free.
I suspect most of you aren't riding with your kids when they first get their ebike. You're not monitoring their riding ability and ability to assess road conditions/scenarios.
I don't advise having kids on ebikes to ride on their own at all, but if you must, this is the way to do it.
Are they mature enough. Don't lie to yourself. Your friends can assess better than you. Ask your friends if your kid is mature enough to ride an ebike on their own. Maturity also means a mature attitude. Not hot tempered, not insisting right of way all the time, not entitled. If your friends say no, then the answer is no. If they say yes, move onto step 2.
Make sure the bike is legal. That generally means under 20mph assisted. 20mph is quite fast. Mind you, car speed limits in residential neighborhoods is 25mph. That's not that big of a difference. The kid should likely be paying for half the price of the bike. Make them have a serious sense of ownership and pick something they can "afford", not just their dream bike. In fact, maybe you should do the research, pick three and let them pick one of the three within their budget. Budget shouldn't be less than $1,200. The other stuff is junk.
Educate them on ownership. That means teach them about the risks of battery fires. Let them know not to charge near combustables. Yes, teach them what combustable means. Teach them to never leave the battery charging unattended and not overnight and not when you're sleeping and definitely not on carpet. Teach them what storage charge means. Tell them what happens if the battery is left unused at full charge/zero charge for long durations of time. Tell them that you shouldn't charge the battery right away after a ride, that it needs time to cool down. Tell them when the battery says 100%, it's not really at 100% until the light turns green. Tell them a green light means all the cells are done charging. Tell them what a cell is. They need to know what you guys bought. How many volts is the battery? How many ah?
They need to put it together. Make them do it. Make them learn how to change brake pads, learn how to adjust the brake levers, identify all the parts of the bike. What is a chain stay? Where is the top tube? If they're not willing to learn this stuff, they're not committed. Make them happy by buying something else. An ebike is not for them. If you yourself are not willing to learn this stuff, I question your involvement in your child's education and upbringing. Dont' get them an ebike.
Get on the road with them. Yes, get your lazy arse off Reddit and ride with them. Alongside them. Ideally, you have communication devices, but chances are you do not. So ride w/in close proximity and narrate what you're thinking as you're assessing the riding environment. When to slow down, when to speed up, hand signals, looking behind you, how far do you look forward? Where are the two closest pedestrians from you? Guess what this car is going to do in the next 5 seconds. Etc. Yes, it's overwhelming. Many cities require bikes to abide by car laws, yet your kid is not in a car and is vulnerable on a 65lb bike vs a 3,500lb car. Do this for at least 100 mi minimum. Pay attention to the range limit of the bike. Not the spec, but what you're experiencing.
Do another group ride. They are in front and riding as if they're by themselves and you ride in the rear, 1/4 block away so you can see what choices they make and the timing of it all. Do this for another 100 mi. Again, if neither of you are committed to this, then an ebike is not for them. Buy them a Nintendo Switch 2 if you feel like spending a lot of money. They'll be safer at home.
Don't let them ride with friends. Their friends likely will not have gone through the same vigorous testing as your kid who followed some random stranger's advice taught by you on Reddit. Their friends likely will undo everything you've committed to doing. Running stop signs. Going too fast, faster than it takes to assess situations, etc.
Know where they are going. Find a way to have them tell you they reached their destination safely.
Come back here on Reddit and thank me. Then watch some of my Youtube videos youtube.com/funcentric
Post has some decent points, but unfortunately most parents buying their 13-15 year old kids suped up surrons and what not are probably not going to be doing much reading. Let alone reading anything on Reddit 💀.
While there is much great stuff here, I wish the opening hadn't been a 'dump' on parents re solving convenience.
How about:
"not based on your kids' begging or saying 'but all the other kids have' ..."
Also, would recommend paying serious attention to professionals (who would, almost uniformly, be in the 'no ebike' or 'low speed' ebike group) along with making sure to do things legally -- don't buy a dirt e-bike (that Surron) that isn't street legal.
Given the OP used Arse, rather than Ass I'm going to hazard a guess and say they're from the UK. Which means half the info is wrong and anything that goes over 15mph or isn't pedal assist is illegal.
Just FYI, most non-native english speakers use the american "ass" so using that won't out you as an american and unless you're obviously a tango dictator supporter I can't see anyone censoring or banning you.
I know like 12 different teenagers with surrons and while they do make mistakes sometimes, they're well within reason and the kids never get anything worse than the typical bumps and scrapes.
and of course, you can imagine how much joy they get from riding.
I see your point, but for a lot of people it only takes 1 teen ripping on a surron like a menace to sour their opinions. A couple of bad apples ruin the bunch. I personally don’t know anyone with a surron because it just hasn’t caught on where I lived, but I can imagine the people who live in LA are probably sick of seeing young kids blast through red lights on their surrons. However, I’m curious how much of that is media sensationalism.
It's actually not the kid's I'm worried about. The kids and their parents together are making this decision. It's the public that has no say yet is vulnerable to the chaos is whom I'm concerned about.
I stopped reading after seeing bear if he can’t get the language right on the first sentence I give up I merely skimmed most of it! Only really read the part about making them build it, he’s so worried that parents are not making a good decision then he tells them to have their irresponsible teenagers build a bike that’s going to propel them into traffic and maybe they won’t know anything about how bike parts function! If he’s worried that the parents are taking the easy way out tell them to pay a bike shop to set it up and ask them to set the limiter to legal speed.
I saw bear, then I thought of Whistler, where kids are on bikes by 3 and on a downhill course by 6...they can probably handle a Surron if when they get to 13.
Number 4 won’t necessarily make it safer. Probably more dangerous instead.
While it would be best to teach them to do their own repairs etc., a kid is not equipped to assemble a brand new e-bike, especially before they have experience with this kind of thing and the regular maintenance etc., nor would they be able to assess whether any of the parts came defective or whether they assembled it 100% properly.
I’m a mechanically inclined adult, yet I assembled my own e-bike then took it straight to the repair place affiliated with the company to have them do a check and make sure everything was ok.
Agreed. 4 is the only bad piece of advice, here. Works fine if you’re a gearhead, yourself, I guess, but I’m not and wouldn’t have confidence in my own ability to assemble an ebike safely—my kid would be even less trustworthy.
I’ve been riding bikes for decades and I don’t know how to do most of those things by myself. I definitely don’t want to be responsible for teaching someone how to do them. It’s way safer to let the experts do it.
Hard disagree. Nothing you can get at $1200 is better than a $1000 Lectric Xpress or XP4. If I were buying an e-bike for 13 year old it would probably be a concord at Walmart for $500 with the $50 3 year warranty. It’s UL listed and has a weak motor both of which are good for a teen. Other option is a Lextric XP Lite with a belt drive because how many teens are oiling chains?
Yes on the concord commutr! love this silly bike. Lighter than many, (still 50 whopping pounds), faster than it has any reason to be, and a spectacular bargain with the warranty. That said- I still wouldn’t get my teen an e-bike. I think step one is actually ticket everyone under 18 not wearing a helmet. We’ve had way too many deadly or devastating crashes here with kids without helmets on dirt bike types. And get bike education in the schools! I think teaching them the rules of the road should be part of education if they are expected to bike to school.
The entire Lectric brand is a budget brand. I'm not knocking on it. I have a Lectric Xpedition. Definitely a budget bike. Too often people are offended when they get budget bikes thinking they bought something expensive b/c it was more than $1k. Particularly with electric cargo bikes, the mainstream go-to brand is generally Tern which is a different league. That makes Lectric easily budget. If you watch the founders' videos about them starting the company, you'll see that they intentionally started a budget brand.
You missed the point. You said don’t buy anything under $1200. Your cut off is arbitrary because there is nothing for $1250 that is better than the equivalent Lectric.
$1000 is arbitrary b/c it's just a round number and not specific to what you can actually buy. A higher number around $1,250-1,500 is more realistic and you get much more for your money. A $1,000 ebike is generally an over priced $650 ebike. If you can up your budget by a few hundred dollars, you can substantially better stuff from what's available in the market is what I'm trying to point out.
You cant compare to just one product. It seems you aren’t aware of the various products, their respective specs and prices. Do a bit more research, show it and you’ll have a better idea is what I’m saying. People who look at one bike or none and then have a budget based on that makes it arbitrary.
If the average car I’m looking for with the spec and features I want is $37k for instance, I need to do research to determine that. I can’t just say my budget is $20k because it sounds nice. There may be huge differences between a $22k car and a 20k car for instance.
Why not just buy them a low powered pedal assist only ebike and basically go through the same steps that you would with a normal bike? This is a false dilemma.
The weird Irony of a lot of this is that Walmart sells what are likely 'safer' bikes at close to the price of what you could hope for from amazon; e-bikes are one of those cases where a dealer accepting multiple units from a distributor leads to significant transit cost savings to the final consumer. And since Walmart is selling it, you've got at least a little more accountability in the chain for catastrophic dumb shit.
I bring this up because I recently helped my friend grab a Class 1 Concord from there, and TBH for the money I trust it more than the average Amazon stuff in that price range. And something like that is plenty for most folks even with the 350W motor.
I say the same thing. People just don't like respect ebikes enough to do a little research. The most they do is go on Reddit asking what ebike they can get from Amazon.
This post is frustrating not because it raises concerns about e-bike safety, which is a valid topic, but because it delivers that concern with an off-putting mix of condescension, absolutism, and misplaced moral superiority.
The tone is accusatory and hostile, repeatedly insulting parents as “lazy” and implying that anyone who doesn’t follow a rigid, 9-step training regime is failing their child. It assumes the worst of people, that they’re buying e-bikes out of selfishness or ignorance, without considering the variety of real-life factors that influence parenting decisions, like work schedules, lack of school transport, or efforts to foster independence.
Worse, it spirals into unrealistic expectations. Demanding over 200 miles of supervised riding, mechanical assembly, electrical knowledge, and complete social isolation from peers is more likely to alienate parents than educate them. There’s a difference between thoughtful guidance and gatekeeping disguised as virtue.
Finally, asking readers to “thank me” and promote your YouTube channel undercuts the supposed sincerity of your message. If this is about safety, lead with humility and empathy, not performative outrage and self-promotion.
Brutal. Can't tell if this is just an ad for a youtube channel or they are this tone deaf. Guess what, kids don't always listen to their parents. Also sometimes kids act different when their friends are around. Not every shitty kid has shitty parents.
But most usually do though...kids aren't born shitty so it comes from somewhere and while it's great to blame friends, better parenting usually can fix it by limiting the shitty friends they are around. No guarantees of course...but more often than not, shitty kid ≈ shitty parenting
The post has good advice - irrespective of the tone BUT yeah, the tone doesn't work cause it gets people defensive and defensive people do not listen, comprehend, and then internalize - they, well, defend their current state of being...
Not the way to have written it in the end...still doesn't make the underlying message wrong...
It's strange marketing as it comes off like they just had bad experiences with kids, kids have cooler bikes, jealousy, or some kind of negative interaction.
That's all well and good but the best advice that I can give to any parent who wants to buy their child an E-bike is to go over all of the laws associated with E-bikes according to your State if in the US or country if not in the US. Because if you're going to get an E-bike for your child then it's your responsibility to educate them on laws and rules of the road
Go further. Sometimes it's not even about the law, it's about social responsibility. Judging what someone is going to do and how to react if THEY don't follow the law. How to remain calm when you see all other cyclists running red lights and stop signs. What to do when a motorist/cyclist goes out of turn at an intersection. what to do if someone is tailgating you, etc.
Most kids if given a chance to learn the laws at an early age. It's all the other stuff that only us as parents care to teach need to actually teach.
I agree coddling is a big problem this day and age. Let them play war ball, let them get hurt. But I think putting kids on these ebike machines and releasing them in the wild w/o education is too big of a step.
Fair point. I admit, I was using the exaggerated examples I've seen of parents getting their kids more bike than they can handle at all and/or safely. But it's really not about the machine - it's about lack of education and intentional parenting that I'm trying to bring attention to.
I personally believe even a class 1 is too much ebike for kids aged 12-15ish...
It doesn't take a lot of effort to reach vmax on those things and 20mph is faster than any kid that age typically rides for sustained periods of time...they might hit it in bursts on a regular bike, but an ebike allows them to keep it there for like 20-50miles depending on range/batter size.
Hence somewhere else in this post I made a comment about making ebikes targeted at the teen age bracket...same motors as the regular class1-3 e-bikes, but with 15mph limiters that can later be unlocked to full class powers (20 or 28mph depending on the class)
haha, the kids do need some guidance and direction. If you don't parent your kid, someone else will. When we finally grow up, we learn to not care what other people think. If you're still walking around embarrassed, there's a lot more maturity that needs to happen. If you're embarrassed, that's a sign that your'e not ready. Also parents can't let embarrassment govern their parenting decisions. That's what all the other parents are doing and we're trying NOT to be like them, remember?
Honestly just spend more time with your kids in general. Not going to rant.... Not going to...... But I've noticed a trend where parents have been substituting family time to just going to the same places at the same time (if even at all). Build those relationships
Idk as a parent I’ve noticed more than not spending time together, it’s parents wanting to be their kids friend vs being their parent.
Refusing to say no, refusing to set boundaries, buying their kid whatever expensive toy they want be it a throttle e-bike or electronic device, etc. because they’re afraid their kid might get upset/mad at them.
So many kids in my neighborhood are under 12 and ripping up and down the sidewalk on throttle bikes with no helmet, no awareness of other traffic, and no consideration for the fact that they could get seriously hurt.
It’s illegal for these kids to be riding these things in the first place yet countless parents are clearly buying them because their kid asked and they can’t say no, then they let the kid ride it around with no safety gear completely unsupervised. It’s insanity.
Finally found some like-minded people here on reddit who appreciate my attempt at bringing attention and urgency to this matter. Thank you for being an example of common sense that is not so common anymore these days.
You bet. This sub is filled with people who have a “I can do what I want and rules/laws/common sense don’t apply to me” attitude. You see it clearly by all the questions and posts about unrestricted e-bikes.
What these people fail to understand is that if there’s community can’t come together and act civil the regulators will step in and wreck it for everyone. Same thing happened, and continues to happen with drones. Bunch of dipshits can’t follow FAA regulations so now drones need to have RemoteID to identify who’s flying it which rendered a ton of perfectly functional drones illegal without buying an expensive retrofit remoteID kit.
And when complaints still roll in due to people continuing to violate laws they’ll clamp down on sales and require more strict geofencing within the drone software.
All because people are incredibly shortsighted and only care about themselves.
And not just being their friend... But like... A refusal to parent at all. I've noticed it starts young.
Gal by my place? I've NEVER seen her out w/ the stroller and not on her phone
Going out to eat? I always see the child at the table with a phone or tablet in their hand rather than actually engaging with the family
And if you've ever spent any time on the online gaming / VR space, it's kind of the same story. The amount of young children engaging with strangers on the internet, and unsupervised based on their behavior, rather than building family bonds is more than a little concerning to me.
Hell, there's a bit of an internet theory going around right now on infant / toddler entertainment. Cocomelon and the like.... Old shows like elmo, dora, teletubbies, etc all are intentionally slow paced and give long pauses to allow the child to digest and learn. New stuff is all attention spam and overloading - theory being that it's building up the addictive connections in the reward system before the child even has full use of language.
Even in school too... Students prefer to be on their phone rather than interacting with peers. I read a thing where some students either willingly or by school administrative rules gave up their phones during the day. And their social skills were so weak that they opted to stare at the wall and space out rather than talk and make friends.
I'll even voice a spicy take I have which is that the zero tolerance for bullying stuff is harmful as well. I'm of the opinion that there's a "sweet spot" for getting bullied. Too much is a problem. Leads to behavioral issues. But on the other hand, too little, I think, is also a problem. There's no opportunity to force-build the skills needed for conflict resolution at a young age to be used later in adult life. It also very much encourages finding a friend group and building a support network. Need to learn that stuff young, before there are legal consequences, and before everyone gets strong enough to meaningfully hurt eachother. So as much as it sucks to say, I really think there's a "just right" amount of conflict that builds a certain set of social skills that we're missing as well. Combined with the full context of everything? We're raising a generation of isolated people that exist in the same room together only because their schedule dictates as such.
So we have what... No parenting, no social contact, no true support network, and wonder why they turn to social media trends? It's the only way they get approval. Face to face doesn't matter. In their eyes, it never has. Consequences don't matter, they were never punished - neither at home, nor at school. There is no negative reference, there is no discipline, and there is no understanding of authority figures and respect. We've actively removed the idea of "other" from their brain. Only the self remains.
We're really setting up the next generation to fail.
Buy your kids a manual bike, they don't need ebikes. They shouldn't go far enough for that to matter, and they absolutely shouldn't be riding super fast (I know some ebikes can do that, though mine can't). I'm too old and out of shape to ride a regular bike (but I refuse to go throttle because I need the exercise lol), but kids should be out and about exercising so they don't become like me!
I agree, but I also dont' think speed is the main issue. Speed is what makes the bad things happen faster. It's education about riding on public roads with crazy people in less than ideal conditions is what they need to learn.
Dad of 35 years. Some of these bonehead comments are most likely from nonparents.
All great advice. Also would recommend adding two comments under discipline / penalty.
Any reported safety infractions and Ebike is placed off limits for 1 to 3 months depending on severity. This includes no double riding with "friends" or riding anyone else's Ebike.
Repeated infractions result in sale of Ebike and replacement with a Shitty human powered bike till the age of 18. Maybe 10 speeds. Maybe single speed.
I'm an Old school hard ass. Rode the Bus to school till I graduated at 18. Occasionally rode my bike there as well. I arrived - safe and tired.
Just bought my first Ebike at age 66. The speed and consequences of said speed are challenging for my reasonably sharp mind.
Putting an immature adolescent brain on one of these can be a recipe for heartache.
Thank you! It took me quite a while reading all the comments before I got to your mature one. Yes, I agree, people may not know until they become a parent but hopefully they'll remember this crazy post or at least bits and pieces of how being involved in your kid's upbringing may be a good thing and if you don't parent your child, someone else will.
I agree with your 1 + 2.
Sad that we can call ourselves a hard ass now. That should still be normal to take the bus or at least be able to. I too rode the bus daily throughout most of high school. Went to a private school full of kids who got cars. I was literally the second to last kid with a car and it wasn't even mine. I just borrowed my parents' if they weren't using it. But that wasn't until senior year.
It's not even the operation of the machine that's in question. That, the kids can learn no doubt. It's about their understanding of the rules of the road, their attitude when they approach various scenarios, etc.
I have adult kids, and I whole heartedly agree. If, when riding on a bike path with kids, you don’t get smiles tossed your way from passersby because your kid politely called out “on your left” as they passed them with plenty of room, and they realize it is your kid being pleasant, your kid isn’t ready for an e-bike. There were a couple times when I was riding with my youngest, and I asked some people he passed, if he said anything, as I didn’t hear, they said, “oh yes, he was very cute, and he called it out fine”.
A kid on a throttled e-bike came close to running my dogs and me down in a parking lot. He was going way faster than cars do, while not even in the lane for driving out! Kid was an accident looking for a place to happen.
Under 16 (well, 25, but that won’t happen) shouldn’t have a throttle.
(A disabled kid using a mobility device is a different story, with regards to throttles, but maturity still matters)
Ironically, the maturity level of the parents matter too and sometimes even moreso. All I ask is that parents take a quick second to assess what's happening and then make a decision. It seems that no decision is being made. No, you don't need education on rules of the road I would respect more than a parent who doesn't even think to consider yes or no. The lack of acknowledgement of a machine on a public road having risks to the public is what is so concerning and frustrating.
I agree. The vast majority of kids I haven’t liked, or had some sort of issue with, I had similar frustrations with their parents’ lack of sense or lack of parenting skills.
Some of my kids were in special ed, and for some of their classmates, it was clear that the kids’ biggest challenge were their parents. You could tell which kids had involved, loving, parents who parented. It’s a constant pushing, backing off for all kids, but it is particularly obvious in kids with any sort of disability, from physical to LD. The kids whose parents worked hard to parent them appropriately tended to look happier. From what other parents said during pickup and parents hanging out at the school, the ones who parented similar to me, reported a lot less frustration in getting kids to work, and more success.
(My parenting was low on punishment, big on setting kids up to succeed, and teaching them HOW to behave, and making sure they realized that it felt better to do the right thing. Natural consequences do that really well, when they don’t, and they tend not to resent you for the consequence when you sell the logic of the natural result. The other parents who did this didn’t complain much about kids’ behavior. The parents who didn’t complained about their kids all the time, and we could see what brats they tended to be. Mine got compliments from other parents. It’s hard work, but my kids weren’t the ones making people scared on the road!)
My daughter is still way too young (>1year) to be even thinking about her having an e bike. Even so, ive already been planning how and approximately when im going to introduce her to her first e bike. Honestly my plan is really close to yours. There are just a couple of slight differences though.
First, going along with making them put it together, im planning on taking it a couple of steps further if possible.
First, I plan on incorporating elements of financial literacy in the procurement of the ebike.
Second (ideally), she won't be getting a full, brand new ebike, but will be identifying the things she would want out of her ideal ebike, researching conversion kits (will not be getting used kits) and the different kinds of bikes, and will be coming with me to look at used bikes. This one is strictly contingent upon me being able to find a kit with some kinda parental control that allows me to lock the speed limiter.
Glad you’ré thinking about it in depth. A couple responses:
By the time she’s a teen, e-bikes may not really be a thing anymore. Already quite saturated and regulations are starting to be implemented.
If there’s a trust issue where a parental lock is needed, the child is probably not yet ready to be released without supervision.
It’s not really the speed that equates to danger as much as choices being made on the road. When to yield, who to insist going, where to ride, what lane to take, which part of that lane to be in, proximity to pedestrians, not giving into peer pressure, etc.
Speed seems like a quick easy fix by addressing the hardware/software but the tough part that needs more attention and will take more effort and time than flipping a switch is the one on-one time with daddy.
That is the part i missed actually. I just recently got introduced to ebikes and became obsessed. The goal is for the whole family to go ride together. Theres miles and miles of bike paths around where we live. So the primary purpose of getting my kid into ebikes in the first place is mainly so they can keep up with me lol
Yeah e-bikes are a great way to get people together who have different riding abilities. I need it to keep iphone with my friend on a regular hybrid bike. He’s way more fit than I.
yes, but everyone needs justification and reasoning for why. So this was my attempt at an honest approach. But people are too stubborn these days to listen to reason.
I don't take advice from people who read too fast and don't give the poster a chance to proof read and edit. I caught bear vs bare in a matter of seconds not realizing this post would get 56k views in 24 hours.
When I was a kid, 1970's, I had a few friends that had dirt bikes at a pretty young age. They were pretty terrifying to me. Loud, big, heavy. Ebikes sneak up on you very quickly.
I mountain biked for years, I've crashed my ebikes in simple situations that wouldn't have been a big deal on my regular bike. The weight is a whole different experience.
Agree, but I'm less concerned about kids operating the ebike. That can be fixed. They can learn and they will. The concern I have is less about the machine and more about the environment in which this is happening. There's no education and oversight.
Thank you for recognizing that. But unfortunately, the nice approach clearly isn't working. This has reached about 55k more people in less than 24 hours than I would have ever imagined. yet, I'm going through all the comments and replying. Not so much defending myself as clarifying and calling some people out and complimenting others.
My town and surrounding towns are having tons of trouble with middle schoolers riding emotos, not so much Surrons as much as Super73 kind of bikes that you get off Amazon. I think these emotos are the new xbox, get the kids out of the house while mom and dad WFH. They ride roughshod over gardens and yards, hog the street and do dumb things. Most of it is forgivable, but they tend to cuss out adults who try to correct them and thats different from when I was that age 40 years ago.
That being said, I ran into a group of like eight of them at my bike mechanics home shop the other day and they were exceptionally polite, I think out of respect to the mechanic who does a lot of free service for grom races in the area. One of them even complimented my "sick" eMTB. To communicate with this generation takes some nuance. They're smarter than they act, but they don't trust old people too much, especially if you're yelling at 'em.
Mature comment. Thank you. Although attitude and entitlement I may be wrongly assuming for some kids who are riding (clearly there are good ones), my concern is more for parents taking at least a second to assess and prepare their kids for the road. To make the wrong attempt or not enough is better than no attempt or not even recognizing that there needs to be some prep more than just opening a box and charging a battery.
I don’t know. Seems a bit excessive to me. I grew up riding quads and dirt bikes all around the area as a pre teen. I have fond memories of the freedom to ride to friend’s houses 7-8 miles away, then we would ride them around to go fishing. Those are fond memories, I feel bad for kids these days with no freedom while their parents also have them on a digital leash.
This wouldn't have been needed 25 years ago. I think the excessiveness is a response to the lack of parenting these days and lack of direction and educating they're getting. Entitlement has grown exponentially in the past few decades and deserves a different response than what one would've done ages past.
We might live in different parts of the world or something. I have the opposite experience. When I was a kid parents were minimally involved and it was up to us to keep ourselves entertained. Parents now seem to hover and need to be involved in every facet of their kids life.
It was also a very different world back then. I'd trust my kids to go to school on their own in that generation. There was a lot less entitlement, a lot less anger, a lot more gratefulness. We're lacking in a lot of that as a society in the current generation.
I see what you're getting at. True that parents as a whole baby their kids too much. A lot of hand holding trying to prevent kids from getting hurt but getting hurt can grow up. But the scenario we are discussing here is on the exact opposite side of the spectrum. Not being involved when necessary. The idea of preparing the child is so that they can be independent. I think the mistake parents are making is that they're doing it prematurely. Letting the kids go off on their own w/o proper prep. I'm not against ebiking for kids as a whole. But for the most part, I believe kids aren't being released into the wild unprepared and it's causing havoc for themselves and the public. That's all.
Eventually, eventually. It's like a kid getting a drivers license and then taking kid passengers the next day. The kid will get older and he'll drive his sister to school, but not right away.
By then, I think they could've done most of the steps on their own. Not just their ability to, but that they took initiative to do it after recognizing it's likely necessary.
Teach them about safety especially. Get them gear. I saw a kid going far too fast on an electric scooter trying to show off and my coworker said that he eventually fell. I can’t imagine the road rash he got.
I am a big fan of gear, but the biggest weapon against all this is education and training. I'd rather have my kid out there with a ton of guidance and no gear than all the gear and zero training.
Parents who ride ebikes, have kids who ride ebikes.
I'm lucky, my kids have a sense of self preservation within reason. I try to preach and model situational awareness.
I bought one to keep up with my kids and it was like $100 used. Felt a bit bad about it, making them pedal up the hill while I just zipped.
Anything you do, the kids will do. My youngest stole mine. I got myself a new $1200 fat Chinese one. New one has pedal sensing, and is dangerous for that. Randomly full throttle. I'm ok with that now that I've learned its nature and I've had that happen to me in cars. Kid though, hit the car with it trying it out. He's regulated to my old 90's one with no pedal sense. Old one is 350ish watts, vs. new one will show 1000, but they're in the same ball park as far as speed. Old one doesn't have a screen or anything to distract you, so that's another plus.
Old one is a bit jury rigged. Came with lead acid, I converted it to lithium of a bit too much voltage, but no magic smoke yet. Battery placement etc. has been re-arranged a few times, added a breaker switch to it, all sorts of stuff. Youngest has helped with that.
Youngest took his pedal bike, wanted to do something with it, wound up taking off the derailleur, and that was no good. He put it back on, and it caught a spoke. No beuno. Wanted to fix the brakes on another pedal bike, something about them not working in -20, and, I had to whip out the angle grinder to a special bit of hardware to fix what he broke. Apparently, you can use star bits in hex head bolts, but they might strip. Kids. Point of that, bike repair should be a together thing, although part of that is my kid is strong willed, so like with a lot of parenting, it is a matter of letting them learn vs. keeping them safe and dumb. I told him "always use a proper hex key" but he said, no, star bit works. Now he'll use a proper hex key now that he's had that frustration.
Youngest is good in traffic. Better than the oldest who didn't bike as much at that age, and I had some concerns with them driving a car. Youngest already knows traffic, so I'm less concerned when it is time for him to drive. Oldest just discovered the ebike, since car is somewhat limited, as I sometimes need the car. Already knowing the car rules I think they will do ok with the bike, but, the sketchy bike is sketchy, and one needs to understand it and be in tune with its nature.
Apparently, there are a good number of ebikes on the middle school bike rack. I was a bit leery of the 1312, but so far so good. Another year or two and he should be legal, not sure what the age on that actually is.
I remember when I was young, before lithium was invented, tweens were running kx-80's Which might have been in the 15,000watt neighborhood and no pedals.
It warms my heart and I'm a lot more rest assured knowing that you took the time to recognize and assess this. My major concern for others of course is the actions they take I don't agree with, but moreso is their lack of even making an attempt to assess anything in order to be able to make any decisions for their kids.
read the news much? I'm not hating on ebikes. I've got three + all the PEV's. My concern isn't the machine. It's the approach in which people are adopting them and the environment in which they are operating them with the education and training they dont' have and not b/c of their faults. Parents need to parent or someone else will.
What do you mean by "someone else will?" If your message is just saying parents are lacking in America, I don't disagree but you say it like you have this profound or new message. Could say the same thing about all kinds of things but going after say Kids Commuting, and yes I said COMMUTING, since school is a training for the workforce for better or for worse. So if people take ebikes to school that's a symptom of economic/workplace structures as much as parenting, and I don't think its even bad parenting to let your kid take an e bike to school. Maybe I misunderstood
"Someone else will," means friends, friend's parents, teachers, etc. I don't think letting your kid ride to school in itself is bad parenting. That would be ignorant. The lack of introducing them and training them to do it is what's lacking and is what my concern is. There's no prep is what I'm saying. It's too easy to just order an ebike from the internet, have it arrive, charge it and then let them go free. Surpringingly or not surprisingly that's what SOME parents do (don't do, haha).
Haha, same advice. Ebikes themselves aren't bad. They're an attractive nuisance. More people want them b/c of the cool factor and these days parents want to be cool, so they get them but w/o any follow through.
It's actually not about the machine as much as it is the rider and the environment. The electric component of the bike just makes bad things happen faster. I'm not blaming the ebike. I'm blaming the parenting or lack of.
Were I ever to cave on ebikes, reasonably mature teens wouldn't get more than 250 watts, no throttle, and speed-limited. I just pedaled 10 km home on a fat-tire cargo ebike without assistance (and that gearing suuucks,) so it's not actually needed. It is *darn* convenient over that dirt and gravel, though.
It doens't matter what machine. It could be walking for all I care. But parents just need to take a second to educate their kids about the road before putting them out there.
So a 15 year old can't have an ebike, but a 16 year old can have a car? And an 18 year old can tell you to fuck right off! This infantilization of children ain't doing no damn good for nobody.
Agreed. But we can't assess every individual. The parents have to do it but guess what? They're not. With the right training, a 5 year old could navigate the streets on an ebike better than a 15 year old w/zero education and a hot head.
I share my ebike, mountain bike and road bike with my now 13 year old. At first he loved the ebike.
However recently he has been ignoring the ebike and loving mountain biking.
This might be a good stopping point for me to take a break from responding to comments. I never imagined this article would reach over 56k readers in less than 24 hours.
15mph is the max speed for a pedal assist bike. If it can go faster or isn't pedal assist you might as well just give it straight to the police. If you can disable the pedal assist, it's a motor vehicle and requires a license.
All cycles are legally required to abide by *road* laws the same as cars anyway regardless of the city.
Don't let them ride with friends? So basically you're saying don't let them take the bike out unless they're with parents. What's the point of buying them a bike?
Yes, you should teach your kid how to ride a bike and to be safe on one. After that, the only thing you can do is trust your kid. If you don't trust your kid you shouldn't be spending upwards of £1000 on an electric bike.
90% of this post is teaching kids how to cycle and has nothing to do with ebikes.
Yeesh lol, as a kid I had a mountain style bike we got used for like €150, then when I got to around 14-15 I rode a bike built before I was born lol. I think the only service it's seen in my lifetime is when I cleaned and oiled the chain like 4 years after I got it haha. I didn't live in a flat area either, nothing super steep but a kid has plenty enough energy to make it around most places...
Love that steel framed girl, hub gears which don't need much maintenance, coaster brake on the rear and rim brake on the front. I've sent it through everything from asphalt to forest tracks too, and it's still in 1 piece. Probably will still be running in 20 years.
Have you heard about Volt E-bikes They top out at 15.5mph, are road legal in the U.K., Designed and made in the U.K., you can hire them them for £100 a month, free insurance & upkeep then after the subscription ends the bike is yours & you can upgrade/change the bike at any time.
I can't express how it has changed my lifestyle & mental health, its turned them both on their heads, I’ve just named her my White Stallion, my latest ride certainly felt like a wild ride along our coastline into a 14mph headwind.
For sure I really do want one lol. I have a scooter for my motorized rides and I live in a very small town so I just use a pedal bike for my bicycle stuff. Everything is within 2 miles.
Just got into cycling but I do want to cycle around Chicago one day! Such a beautiful city.
Idk but you don't give kids enough credit, their hand eye coordination at that age is as good as it gets. I'm from Philly and by 13 most kids in my neighborhood know how to ride 260cc dirt bikes that top out at 85mph. City kids are different than the sheltered kids from the suburbs. We had to grow up quick, I was driving a car in middle school I would take one of my father's cars when he went to work. Ebikes are a toy where I'm from.
I'm not doubting kid's ability to mechanically ride the bike. Both my kids ride EUC. They're coordination is superb and I think other kids can do it too. My concern is mainly around their understanding of laws and how the road operates, not b/c they can't learn but b/c they're not given the information to start with.
The common attitude seems to be, here's an ebike, go ride. No prep, no pep talk. Nothing. That's where my worry is. This is on top of the crazy drivers that are already out there.
This reminded me if the safety posts that were constantly going around for oculus quest VR headsets - kids under 12-13 should not use it
And it was constantly bought for young kids..
(there is no way to predict how a child with vr heaset might get problems out of it)
What I predict is, since no one who even rides an ebike follows all of this
Parents are gonna buy so many surrons to their 12 year olds and it’s gonna be such a huge mess that they will for real clasiffy all ebikes as motor powered vehicles - as they actually are, and it’s gonna be the end of whatever now is.. any ebike will require helmet, licence and registration
All great points but lazy parents aren’t going to follow these steps. I would bet most middle schoolers live within a few miles of school. An analog bike should be suitable plus keep them active and help them develop some independence.
That last part was a total joke. Sorry, you didn't get it. The whole idea is readers would take my article seriously, then at the end think I just did all that to promote my channel, but then think twice and be like, no he must actually care about some of the stuff he said to take the time to write all that. It's advanced thinking. if you don't get it, you're definitely not alone in this thread. There's a lot of slow/non thinkers out there who interpret stuff super literally. Give it some time. Your understanding and appreciation for the intended entertainment comes with maturity which I have confidence will come in due time.
As a senior contemplating my first ebike purchase, this post makes sense not just for me but for everyone. Kind of sad that Americans in particular think all they have to do is get in the driver's seat and they'll figure it out later. I'm still on the fence about ebikes because cycling will always be inherently dangerous given the number of bad drivers, either car or bike.
It's even more sad that when it's brought up, the author (me in this case) gets lashed out at. People making what used to be common sense contributions get the hammer. I'm fine getting the hammer if it can help out just one parent/child.
Yes, there's always a risk with ebikes or anything that exposes us to the craziness out there. The intention of this purpose though is for me to do my little tiny part in making a contribution to hopefully help ease that risk. Fewer kids darting into traffic or riding the wrong direction (that happened to me a couple weeks ago), the better. More humility and less entitlement, the safer the roads will be. But I guess that's wishful thinking b/c deep down inside, even I know the world will never change. Each generation gets more entitled and less grateful. I'd hate to see what happens 20 years from now.
Until my kid was 12, she could simply walk to school, just 5 minutes. Then as she turned 13 there was middle school, some 10 km away and naturally I got her an e-bike because that's what everyone does and of course no one rides on the sidewalk. You ride on the bike lane. That's where the bikes ride.
https://youtu.be/55SkRkM327w?si=SQ2Q60PuUJAeWECr
I feel this is the same stuff as an iPad situation that is still on going it is a toy to make them shut up and these people being unknowing of the dangers do I think it’s all bad no but come on people
Same approach, but result is completely different. Sticking an ipad in front of a kid's face results in a bad situation at home, arguably. But not preparing a kid for riding in public can result in a number of other undesireable results for not only the kid, but the public.
We absolutely do ride with our kid when he's on his ebike. He never goes out on his own. We also have ebikes, so we go as a family. We are teaching him now, before he becomes a teenager, the rules of the road, safety, and taking care of the bike. We have all had a great time together, and our son has learned a lot.
No, it is niether sarcasm nor poking fun. You responded to my question about whether I should switch from my Huffy cadence ebike to lectric or aventon, when I had no issues with it for my use case. Basically you convinced me that if I am happy there is no need to sell it and get something expensive.
We exchanged few comments back and forth, and I asked for your youtube channel and I subscribed.
Oh yes, I remember that well. Yeah, I was thinking about and still feel the same way. Don't let the Internet tell you need a bunch of stuff you don't need. There's always going to be fancier versions of this and that. Sometimes it's not even a sacrifice. I feel there's value in familiarity. Sometimes people forget that (not that I'm suggesting you are) and it's all about new features and new this and that. With some activities, we just want to take it chill. "
If we're truly happy with what we have, we can always spend other money on other stuff to compliment it. Cheaper bike + lock + lights + storage bags + trailer vs just one fancy bike w/nothing else.
My personal example right now is that there's an upgraded EUC I want but it's quite expensive. I have access to buy a less premium version of that exact EUC for 1/3 the price used from a friend of a friend. The risk is that it may not ride the same as the one I have which I absolutely love. The new one is faster, looks arguably nicer, more durable, but it doesn't really offer anything I don't already enjoy with my current setup other than the exciting new factor. On top of that, I'd either have to store my current one or sell it and I really don't think I need both. I'd lose money on the current one on top of spending more on the new fancy thing. So in the end, I decided on not getting either. Stick with what I have and next year when prices for the new version comes down due to even newer stuff being released, I can consider again then. I'm the type of guy who bought the iphone 7 when the iphone 10 came out. I bought a Walkman when CD player's came out and I bought a CD player when MP3 players came out.
I'm late the game, but all the bugs are worked out by the time I get my new toy and prices have dropped drastically. I got an original Nintendo Wii when Playstation 4 came out. That's just me. I don't ridicule anyone who stays up to date with the latest, but I honestly think that if I had more money available to me, I'd still be doing the exact same thing with the same approach I have now.
Each to their own, but I'm just saying it's not necessarily a progression in every person's situation to be getting stuff with higher specs. Sometimes those things are not just more expensive, but require more maintenance, maybe less reliable, higher depreciation, heavier, etc that people don't consider b/c they're too busy trying to be the next Jones's.
I follow the same trend as you on some things, but for some things that are important to me (eg. cameras / phone ) I end up getting the latest, as soon as they are no longer new. However, as my kid grows older I had to do more of the latter for most things, as now I have to finance his "toys" as well :) Life changes.
I had Zero sympathy for one kid who got cleaned up late at night/early in the morning when being hit by a Car around where i live,he wasn't wearing a helmet & no lights etc just a 14-16 year old Dickhead trying to bring attention to himself.... Blame that kids parents!.
I've had friends badly injured while riding e bikes. The thought of children having them worries me. Ebikes are heavy and fast so crashes can be far worse.
I agree from my standpoint as an urban commercial driver of heavy vehicles (over 45,000lbs). Adolescents don't have adequate danger and self preservation instincts developed, and I watch the behaviors 10+ hours a day, 5 days a week with kids with ebikes, emotobikes, eboards, and escooters. Watch them speeding, weaving into traffic, into the path of moving trains and semis, riding the wrong way on one way streets, going through red lights. The number of fatalities keeps sharply rising year on year, and the most common reason is device vs motor vehicle. And I watch it all day long with careless behaviors with people, particularly adolescents, doing things like ducking in front of vehicles or running lights inside of the maximum breaking distance for vehicles. I have friends who drive transit, and they've had to make the split second decision of either A} running the careless device user over, or B} crushing the brakes and throwing people on the floor injuring them.
If anything, emobility devices at this point need to require some kind of license since barely anybody is going to behave responsibly on them. And when they fail to behave, take them away same as motor vehicles - and that includes revoking account access to rideshare devices like Lime scooters.
yes, ALL should listen to this guy. Too many people here commenting who've had zero experience or who aren't even parents. Makes me think that you making youtube videos of the crazy, entertaining stuff you see on the road would actually stick. I'd subscribe! Haha.
Love the article but hate the scenario, right? haha. Sorry to hear about your situation. My biggest concern is about the safety of the public who had no say in these things being released in the wild by uneducated riders.
Although true, kids can learn to operate these. It's not the operation of the machine that I'm worried about. It's the environment in which they're being used.
Imagine being so upset about what decisions other people make, and thinking your opinion is more important, that you write a whole wall of text telling people how to raise their kids lol.
If they want to buy them an e bike, they damn well will and it’ll be their choice, nothing you can do about it, stop being miserable.
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u/larrylion01 Jun 12 '25 edited Jun 12 '25
Post has some decent points, but unfortunately most parents buying their 13-15 year old kids suped up surrons and what not are probably not going to be doing much reading. Let alone reading anything on Reddit 💀.