New user …

[ninja]

Hello ! have recently become interested in buying an e bike… saw this site mentioned in a Reddit post about legality in the uk. I live in London and I want a bike to get around without using the car/bus/tube
have seen police pulling pedelecs and scooters so thought I should start some research ! This looks like a great site for that and I’m sure to have a few questions !

 

[sjpt]

The basic rules for legality are:
* Motor must have a nominal continuous power of maximum 250w
(lots of leeway in the words 'nominal' and 'continuous')

* Motor may not assist beyond 15.5 mph

* Motor should only assist over walking pace (?4mph?) if the user is pedalling
(lots of confused people, including me, about exactly how that should be interpreted)

 

[flecc]

Motor should only assist over walking pace (?4mph?) if the user is pedalling

A minor legal nicety on this. The EU Pedelec regulations, which we adhere to, now allow a start assist throttle to operate motor only propulsion, without pedalling, while on the bike at up to 6kph before cutting out, which is 3.7mph.

But there is also the Pedestrian Controlled Vehicle Regulation which allows 4mph, but for that one must walk alongside. Handy for tackling a very steep hill one cannot pedal up.
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[ninja]

Thanks to both of you for replies . If I have an e bike that I can de-restrict for off road use can that pose any issues with riding in restricted mode on the road ?
My main concern is protecting my clean driving licence !

 

[flecc]

Thanks to both of you for replies . If I have an e bike that I can de-restrict for off road use can that pose any issues with riding in restricted mode on the road ?
My main concern is protecting my clean driving licence !

If the derestrict involves the use of tools or reprogramming the software, there is no problem if you only ride the pedelec on roads as it was delivered in legal mode.

If there's a simple switch to change between the two modes while on the road riding, that is very illegal. The DfT refer that as an "off-road switch".
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[saneagle]

Thanks to both of you for replies . If I have an e bike that I can de-restrict for off road use can that pose any issues with riding in restricted mode on the road ?
My main concern is protecting my clean driving licence !

The motor must be rated at 250w for it to be legal. That means that it must be stamped or labelled by the manufacturer as 250w or you can prove that you bought it from a listing that said 250w. A simple switch to operate the speed restriction is not allowed, but anything more than that probably is allowed depending on how accessible it is and who knows or finds out how to operate it. You cannot legally ride a derestricted bike off-road on any public footpaths trails or other land - only private land with the owner's permission.

There are two ways somebody would get caught. 1. They're going quite fast, the police stop them and look at the motor, which is marked 500w or 1000w . That's a slam dunk. 2. Rider is moving above 4mph without pedalling and at a speed that defies physics as far as free-wheeling is concerned. You can add a third way, but not very likely, that the police decide to do a 100% check of ebikes. In that case, they can ask questions and check the motor markings and size. Obviously, if the motor is large and it has a home made label on it, the questions will be more difficult. As long as you give the correct answers of 250w and 15mph and don't have a button on your handlebars marked "off road switch", there isn't much they can or will do.

 

[sjpt]

ho;;

A minor legal nicety on this. The EU Pedelec regulations, which we adhere to, now allow a start assist throttle to operate motor only propulsion, without pedalling, while on the bike at up to 6kph before cutting out, which is 3.7mph.

But there is also the Pedestrian Controlled Vehicle Regulation which allows 4mph, but for that one must walk alongside. Handy for tackling a very steep hill one cannot pedal up.

Thanks for the clarificaiton.

If I'm walking up a steep hill I'd be proud to reach the 3.7 mph even if being pulled by a powered bike, so I guess the difference won't worry me too much. I almost never use the walk assist on either our tandem (XF07) or solo (Bosch); partly because it tries to go faster than I want.

 

[guerney]

If I'm walking up a steep hill I'd be proud to reach the 3.7 mph even if being pulled by a powered bike, so I guess the difference won't worry me too much. I almost never use the walk assist on either our tandem (XF07) or solo (Bosch); partly because it tries to go faster than I want.

I've rarely used used walk assist, but was grateful that function was available when I encountered 45 degree hills last year - I'm sure my BBS01B converted bike could have powered me up some distance, but I couldn't balance to ride my bike pointing 45 degrees upwards.

 

[flecc]

If I'm walking up a steep hill I'd be proud to reach the 3.7 mph even if being pulled by a powered bike

Ditto at my age.

3.7 ypm (yards per minute) at times now, once I've remembered why I walked to where I am!!
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