Electric Bikes - How Fast?

[zach 234]

I was just waiting outside the Chemist on East Bank Road and a man came up going at a good speed, about 10 minutes later he came back down going much faster. I could hear the whirring of the motor so I'm assuming it was running on the motor. I looked quite good fun, even if a bit dangerous.

 

So the question - How fast do these bikes go?

 

Or do they "alter" them to go much faster than they were designed for?

[Thorpist 72]

15mph is the legal limit with power assistance. As fast as you want without.

I believe the ones that work without power assistance were made illegal a few years ago, although ones made before the law change are OK.

 

[altus 537]

The government's summary of the rules.

 

A more detailed explanation.

 

Basically 15.5 MPH before the motor has to stop assisting.

 

There are also pedelecs that go faster but under UK law they count as motorbikes and have the same restrictions they do.

[zach 234]

Thanks for the info.

 

The bike in question looked like a mountain bike but was going way faster than 15mph up the hill and he wasn't using his legs for power!

[RJRB 688]

I assume you can go as fast as the speed limit downhill

[altus 537]

4 minutes ago, RJRB said:

I assume you can go as fast as the speed limit downhill

If you can get up to that speed by pedalling. The bikes have to stop assisting you if you exceed 15.5 MPH.

[zach 234]

2 minutes ago, altus said:

If you can get up to that speed by pedalling. The bikes have to stop assisting you if you exceed 15.5 MPH.

 I wonder how they came to the .5? I've not looked on Google but as a guess it probably matches a metric speed. The bloke on the one I saw must have "tinkered" with the limiting hardware. More speed but less miles from the battery.

 

As they say, you learn something new every day!

[altus 537]

6 minutes ago, zach said:

 I wonder how they came to the .5? I've not looked on Google but as a guess it probably matches a metric speed. The bloke on the one I saw must have "tinkered" with the limiting hardware. More speed but less miles from the battery.

 

As they say, you learn something new every day!

It does - it's about 25 km/h

[Bargepole23 337]

17 minutes ago, zach said:

 I wonder how they came to the .5? I've not looked on Google but as a guess it probably matches a metric speed. The bloke on the one I saw must have "tinkered" with the limiting hardware. More speed but less miles from the battery.

 

As they say, you learn something new every day!

Pretty sure that for some suppliers, if you sign a waiver that it's for off road use only, they will send you whatever is required to delimit the speed.

[Halibut 12]

I achieved 30.1 mph on my pushbike going downhill earlier this week, without using my legs.

[biotechpete 10]

13 hours ago, RJRB said:

I assume you can go as fast as the speed limit downhill

Does the speed limit apply to e-bikes?

 

I would imagine their not classified as motor vehicles and so not subject to the motor vehicle speed restrictions.

[altus 537]

54 minutes ago, biotechpete said:

Does the speed limit apply to e-bikes?

 

I would imagine their not classified as motor vehicles and so not subject to the motor vehicle speed restrictions.

As they are suppored to stop assisting you before they reach 20MPH it's a bit of a moot point - the situation would be the same as for cyclists.

 

If you do have an e-bike that can take you beyond the speed limit they get classed as motorcycles so you'd presumably get done for not having a registration plate, insurance, a helmet, etc. as well.