My bike conforms to EN15194

[10mph]

Here is a copy of Kalkhoff's certification for a whole series of their bikes, just sent to me by 50cycles, after I got a bit alarmed at some wild statements on another thread that nearly all bikes are illegal.

It looks like my Agattu C3 is nicely covered. I can see why kit-bike builders may have cause for concern, but for those who are buying a complete pedelec just make sure your supplier gives you the certification.

 

[Jeremy]

Here is a copy of Kalkhoff's certification for a whole series of their bikes, just sent to me by 50cycles, after I got a bit alarmed at some wild statements on another thread that nearly all bikes are illegal.

It looks like my Agattu C3 is nicely covered. I can see why kit-bike builders may have cause for concern, but for those who are buying a complete pedelec just make sure your supplier gives you the certification.

Those weren't "wild statements" at all, not by a long way. You're fortunate, you purchased a well-known, well-made, bike with genuine approval from a reliable supplier.

The same isn't true for all the thousands of bikes sold via outlets like ebay, or the many small shops that buy in a container load of ebikes from China and sell them directly. There are many such outlets, from market traders to one-man bands selling from home.

It is far from just being kit and DIY conversion enthusiasts that have a potential issue with legality, although I dearly wish that it wasn't.

As mentioned on that other thread, I have (as a favour) looked at and repaired maybe a couple of dozen different ebikes in the past couple of years. Only one (funnily enough a Kalkhoff) was genuinely Type Approved, every single one of the others was illegal.

 

[flecc]

Here is a copy of Kalkhoff's certification for a whole series of their bikes, just sent to me by 50cycles, after I got a bit alarmed at some wild statements on another thread that nearly all bikes are illegal.

It looks like my Agattu C3 is nicely covered. I can see why kit-bike builders may have cause for concern, but for those who are buying a complete pedelec just make sure your supplier gives you the certification.

Unfortunately this document still does not make that bike legal for use on UK roads. Apparently we wil have to wait until 2016 for the EU type regulations to be incorporated into UK law and the Kalkhoff's 250 watt rating to be acceptable in law.

There appears to be an unofficial DfT "blind eye" policy in respect of this issue, but the courts are only concerned with the law as it stands, and that is the 1983 EAPC regulation which specifies a 200 watt rating limit.

 

[Old_Dave]

The certificate is a very nice one

But it's more of a mitigation than a proof


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You're very lucky to have a certificate that's worth diddly squat in this country. It only certifies that your bike is illegal, so you better keep quiet about it.

 

[tillson]

You're very lucky to have a certificate that's worth diddly squat in this country. It only certifies that your bike is illegal, so you better keep quiet about it.

Sooo, when 50 Cycles sold me my bike and they told me that it was legal to ride it on UK roads........

Who is telling the truth here, d8veh or 50 Cycles? The two statements can't co-exist.

 

[GaRRy]

Here is a copy of Kalkhoff's certification for a whole series of their bikes, just sent to me by 50cycles, after I got a bit alarmed at some wild statements on another thread that nearly all bikes are illegal.

It looks like my Agattu C3 is nicely covered. I can see why kit-bike builders may have cause for concern, but for those who are buying a complete pedelec just make sure your supplier gives you the certification.

Im sure your bike does meet the EN standard but as that document was produced by the manufacture all it proves is that they say its passed. Not that its possible to get anything else better as thats all ive got for my NEO's as well and as others have posted strictly speaking currently in UK law they are not legal anyway (although again due to EU law you could argue in court that they are)

 

[GaRRy]

Sooo, when 50 Cycles sold me my bike and they told me that it was legal to ride it on UK roads........

Who is telling the truth here, d8veh or 50 Cycles? The two statements can't co-exist.

Can of worms just been reopened

 

[Old_Dave]

Last of the Summer Wine


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[Jeremy]

Sooo, when 50 Cycles sold me my bike and they told me that it was legal to ride it on UK roads........

Who is telling the truth here, d8veh or 50 Cycles? The two statements can't co-exist.

d8veh is correct, the law only allows ebikes that meet the 1983 EAPC regulations and Construction and Use regulations to be used here.

50 Cycles are also sort of correct, but not in the strict sense of the bike being "legal to ride on UK roads".

The conflict is because the UK hasn't formally adopted the EU EPAC regulations as law, so as already stated that certificate means nothing in terms of proving legality here. However, the UK has agreed to the general principle that products approved in one member state, to EU agreed regulations, can be used in all members states. Under this agreement there could be a legal argument made that using an EU approved ebike on UK roads was allowable, even though it breaches UK law (by not complying with the UK EAPC regulations).

The DfT have given assurances that they would not support prosecution for someone using an EU approved ebike in the UK. This is not the same as them saying it's legal, by any stretch, as they could only do that by either issuing an exemption to the existing statute law or by amending it, neither of which have been done yet.

 

[tillson]

The DfT have given assurances that they would not support prosecution for someone using an EU approved ebike in the UK.

That will do. Thank you.

 

[GaRRy]

Sooo, when 50 Cycles sold me my bike and they told me that it was legal to ride it on UK roads........

Who is telling the truth here, d8veh or 50 Cycles? The two statements can't co-exist.

Ok I will give it a try

Current UK Law says a ebike/pedelec needs to conform to with UK SI 1168 and UK SI 1176 (which requires testing to BS 1727 :1971). which basically means no more than 200W Max output, throttles allowed and max 40kg.

In 2003 a new EU standard / Law was introduced EN15194 (basically 250W and no throttle) which due to our commitment to EU the UK government should of placed into UK law (but never have).

So strictly speaking only bikes that have passed old UK law are legal. However a blind eye has been turned to bikes that meet EN15194 by dft. But obviously there is no 100% guarantee that if you get in trouble with the law this will be honoured but there is enough evidence around to at least let you use it in your defence. This is what most suppliers and manufacturers now claim is legal in UK and in reality you should be ok.

If you bike meets neither of these then it is definitely not legal/acceptable and if get in trouble you could have difficulty defending yourself.

The one really grey area as I see it is bikes that claim to meet EN15194 and have a throttle that works at over 6kph. I have yet to see anyone provide any evidence that these are either legal or acceptable to dft despite plenty of people SAYING they are.

 

[103Alex1]

Unfortunately this document still does not make that bike legal for use on UK roads. Apparently we wil have to wait until 2016 for the EU type regulations to be incorporated into UK law and the Kalkhoff's 250 watt rating to be acceptable in law.

There appears to be an unofficial DfT "blind eye" policy in respect of this issue, but the courts are only concerned with the law as it stands, and that is the 1983 EAPC regulation which specifies a 200 watt rating limit.

Without wanting to state the obvious, isn't it about time the waste of space lazy f*ckers in government departments got off their waste of space a*ses and sorted something as in interim measure for the next (completely unnecessary) five years. After all we all pay for them to sit around doing very little of any practical help other than get paid and deliberate most of the time. Whole thing makes me angry. No wonder people in this country don't want to pay their taxes. They have every right to pay as little as possible from everything I've seen since living here. We'll all be dead and buried by the time half of this lot do anything remotely useful.

I don't expect you to reply.

 

[flecc]

Sooo, when 50 Cycles sold me my bike and they told me that it was legal to ride it on UK roads........

Who is telling the truth here, d8veh or 50 Cycles? The two statements can't co-exist.

I'd already posted earlier that these Kalkhoff models were illegal in use on UK roads in this post, giving the reason why, this also quoted by Alex just above.

Quite simply, UK law limits e-bikes to a 200 watt rating, and we now know it will continue to do so until at least January 2016.

While a prosecution for a 250 watt rating is very unlikely, if it does ever occur, the accused will have to jump though some hoops to prevent the prosecution reaching a court.

 

[flecc]

Without wanting to state the obvious, isn't it about time the waste of space lazy f*ckers in government departments got off their waste of space a*ses and sorted something as in interim measure for the next (completely unnecessary) five years. After all we all pay for them to sit around doing very little of any practical help other than get paid and deliberate most of the time. Whole thing makes me angry. No wonder people in this country don't want to pay their taxes. They have every right to pay as little as possible from everything I've seen since living here. We'll all be dead and buried by the time half of this lot do anything remotely useful.

I don't expect you to reply.

But I will briefly. The problem at heart is:

Too many laws, in too much detail, about too many things.

Those in power often mean well, but they've long since lost their way in endeavouring to cover all bases on every issue.

 

[103Alex1]

But I will briefly. The problem at heart is:

Too many laws, in too much detail, about too many things.

Those in power often mean well, but they've long since lost their way in endeavouring to cover all bases on every issue.

My heart bleeds for them. All they have to do is issue a specific exemption for Type-approved bikes conforming to EN***** - can be passed in a few weeks and job done.

Over-complication and procrastination serve a certain purpose well - namely less achieved and more time served, so more jobs still needed as there are "all these issues to work on". In the meantime the taxpayer is keeping the bike market alive (take a look on every half-decent seller's website at what's on offer - who buys a 200W bike these days ?) but walks out of the shop exposed to the whims of civil servants, magistrates and lawyers (the latter of whose only purpose in life is to maximize chargeable time to make the most fees).

We're all stitched up like kippers and sometimes it isn't a bad thing to cut the c*ap and see things for what they are. There is NO EXCUSE for it. The market has spoken on the matter and it is high time the Civil Servants came back off their extended lunches and feasibility jaunts and pushed through some appropriate legislation to back it up. Well-meaning people with Agendas for change are forced to put on a 'show for the audience' in order to get simple common sense things through the quagmire of mediocrity we call a civil service. It just isn't acceptable.

 

[tillson]

I'd already posted earlier that these Kalkhoff models were illegal in use on UK roads in this post, giving the reason why, this also quoted by Alex just above.

Quite simply, UK law limits e-bikes to a 200 watt rating, and we now know it will continue to do so until at least January 2016.

While a prosecution for a 250 watt rating is very unlikely, if it does ever occur, the accused will have to jump though some hoops to prevent the prosecution reaching a court.

I'm not too worried by this because as Jeremy has said, the DfT have given assurances that they would not support a prosecution. However, I'm not happy about the traders, 50 Cycles in this case, stating that their bikes can be used legally on British roads. Taking into account what has been said, that is misleading because you cant legally use the bike. I also note that information regarding the use of ebikes on roads does not appear on their web-site. I'm sure it was there a while ago.

 

[RoadieRoger]

If only the Politicians could keep everything Simple , but no they have to complicate everything . I must be the only person on this Forum not going to jail , as my folding Batribike Quartz Motor is only 200 Watt . Luckily they saw sense and upped it on the next model I believe . Luckily for everyone the jails are full of proper criminals .

 

[Jeremy]

If only the Politicians could keep everything Simple , but no they have to complicate everything . I must be the only person on this Forum not going to jail , as my folding Batribike Quartz Motor is only 200 Watt . Luckily they saw sense and upped it on the next model I believe . Luckily for everyone the jails are full of proper criminals .

I hate to be the bearer of (possibly) bad news, but unless that 200W Batribike had its motor rated using the method defined in BS1727:1971, then it won't meet the UK regulations, either.................

It's an unfortunate fact that motor power rating labels are usually as much use as a chocolate fire guard, particularly as the motor power is set by the controller and battery, rather then the motor.

 

[103Alex1]

Perhaps it is time for a different approach. Didn't David Cameron (or any other Minister) recently have a spin on an eBike ? If so and if it was on a public highway, and it can be demonstrated that it fell outside of the present legaislation a list of the traffic offences and possible criminal offences he committed might be helpful in bringing matters to a swifter conclusion. Just a thought.