Individual Vehicle Approval

[Az.]

As Flecc mentioned on few occasions, all converted e-bikes are technically illegal unless owner made an effort and acquired Individual Vehicle Approval.

Is there a single person who acquired such approval? If you are such person, please share your experience.

 

[AndyBike]

Legally* built ebikes. So totally in the clear.





*Note to police - willing to dob in unregistered or illegal cyclists for a flat fee.
Just need some names,which im sure will be along any minute.

 

[Akbarramzan]

> all converted e-bikes are technically illegal unless owner made an effort and acquired Individual Vehicle Approval
False. As per the MSVA (IVA) manual, 250W EAPCs without a full-speed throttle are exempt

 

[flecc]

> all converted e-bikes are technically illegal unless owner made an effort and acquired Individual Vehicle Approval
False. As per the MSVA (IVA) manual, 250W EAPCs without a full-speed throttle are exempt

I'm not referring to the M.A.C., only to the fact that an MAC inspection will certify a home build as a legitimate EAPC according to all the rules. For example the required labelling on the converted bicycle showing the Manufacturer, the Maximum Continuous Rated Power and the Maximum Assisted Cutoff speed. Where is the evidence for the converter producing that? It doesn't exist without an official approval.

I'm nit picking of course, which is why I said "technically illegal", no-one needs concern themselves.
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[Tony1951]

I wonder if anyone here has had experience of police troubling any sensible kit e-bike rider, who was riding along, pedalling at around 15 miles an hour? I'd have thought that given the parlous state of our society these days, the police might spend time attending crimes like burglary, rather than just reading out a crime number on the phone, before they started trying to catch people who put a sensible sized assisting motor on their old bike and pedal it around sensibly.

I have seen the odd person whizzing along at about 28 miles an hour up hill while not pedalling and weaving in and out of traffic. I 'd expect such people might be pulled over. Oh - and then there is the chap who I've seen often on a sort of weird, single, fat, motor wheel, who rides around like a circus act, at speed, waving his arms about to stay in balance, on busy road and pedestrian paths. I'd like to see the police get their hands on him. He's a menace.

 

[Akbarramzan]

I'm not referring to the M.A.C., only to the fact that an MAC inspection will certify a home build as a legitimate EAPC according to all the rules. For example the required labelling on the converted bicycle showing the Manufacturer, the Maximum Continuous Rated Power and the Maximum Assisted Cutoff speed. Where is the evidence for the converter producing that? It doesn't exist without an official approval.

I'm nit picking of course, which is why I said "technically illegal", no-one needs concern themselves.
.

I got one of my bikes type approved as a 250W LPM (special subcategory of low power moped, which btw as explicitly stated in the MSVA manual is still classed as an EAPC). They did not check the manufacturers name, power etc was on the bike as when you do an MSVA you are allocated a VIN which must be stamped. They check for the VIN being stamped to both a riveted plate and directly on the bike frame itself on the right hand side. The VIN links to the MSVA certificate which then has the manufacturer’s name, power and speed declarations. They will pass you without having the details on the bike itself.

The manufacturer’s name, power etc is required to be shown but it is merely a declaration. There’s no legal requirement to have these “certified”. Technical standards are not law but meeting these standards are a way of demonstrating compliance with the law. Many of the laws governing e-bikes are only related to sale of said bike and there are specific exemptions to second hand products as long as the seller adequately informs the customer that they are invoking those exemptions.

 

[flecc]

I got one of my bikes type approved as a 250W LPM (special subcategory of low power moped, which btw as explicitly stated in the MSVA manual is still classed as an EAPC). They did not check the manufacturers name, power etc was on the bike as when you do an MSVA you are allocated a VIN which must be stamped. They check for the VIN being stamped to both a riveted plate and directly on the bike frame itself on the right hand side.

The 250W LPM e-bikes supplied by Wisper use their existing stamped bicycle frame number as the VIN number, this agreed from the outset of this sub-category when the individual approvals were done at Southampton. Since then their approvals have been done at Gillingham, Kent, more convenient to Wisper's operation.

Never totally trust the DfT's reading of the law as I've shown when correcting them on several occasions, including preventing a wrongful prosecution on their say so. They are wrong to say in the MSVA manual that 250W LPM is classed as an EAPC (a bicycle in law). They are not, they are classed as Motor Vehicles in law like all the L1e-A group of LPMs, this acknowledged by Wisper. To use the DfT's own more correct terminology, "will not be considered as motor vehicles", yet another impossibility for the police.
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[AntonyC]

I promise to like and subscribe anyone who can fit this shambles on a Venn diagram!

 

[Az.]

which is why I said "technically illegal"

What is the actual meaning if "technically illegal" bike? The way I see it, bike can be either legal or not.
Or is it something like riding on pavements? You can't, but you can.

 

[saneagle]

What is the actual meaning if "technically illegal" bike? The way I see it, bike can be either legal or not.
Or is it something like riding on pavements? You can't, but you can.

It's illegal to ride a bike with non-compliant lights. Nearly everybody does it. Nobody cares. Nobody does anything about it. It's illegal to use your horn at night-time (late). Many people do it. Many people care. Nobody does anything.

Now back to my cat videos:

https://twitter.com/ShouldHaveCat

 

[flecc]

What is the actual meaning if "technically illegal" bike? The way I see it, bike can be either legal or not.
Or is it something like riding on pavements? You can't, but you can.

A bit like that, in the sense that if one follows every detail of the regulations, such bikes would fall foul of the reqirements in some nit picking way.
.

 

[Tony1951]

What a TOTAL mess this country has become. I was listening to You and Yours at lunchtime. The programme was about the massive problems people were facing with probate when relatives or friends died. You have to get probate to deal with the possessions of the deceased and to administer their will. It used to be simple. Now the business takes months and years to sort out. Why? Because NOTHING administered by government works in this country anymore. NOTHING. I genuinely can not think of anything government does or has a hand in that works anymore.