CoC only applies to countries like Germany and Netherlands.

You call the DVLA and ask for a V55/4, complete this and send it off with a cheque for £55 and a photocopied form of ID and a utility bill and the e-bike's CoC. Ten days later its registered. No need for for a numberplate.

Final thing I am saying as Martin's thread has been hijacked. Do not believe it and insurance is still an issue. You can email me proof and I will change my mind until then not convinced.

Okay (sorry Martin but this is a really interesting subject that a lot of the community wants to know more about )

 

Here's the notes to filling in a V55/4

 

James

What do you put in the Tax Class?

Are you sure about no number plate?

Where / how do you get insurance?

Have you actually done it?

 

& for Electrifying Cycles:-

Can you prove it?

Okay (sorry Martin but this is a really interesting subject that a lot of the community wants to know more about )

 

Here's the notes to filling in a V55/4

 

James

What do you put in the Tax Class?

Are you sure about no number plate?

Where / how do you get insurance?

Have you actually done it?

 

& for Electrifying Cycles:-

Can you prove it?

Hi Wander,

 

Dave has kindly started a new thread..

Please re-post here.

Sorry Martin, been done

the vast majority of our clients are not interested in breaking the law. they want a bike to get to work, go to the park, vet, church wherever. why is there so much interest on a public forum in discussing ways of breaking the law !? this forum is becoming increasingly marginalised and irrelevant !

..... this forum is becoming increasingly marginalised and irrelevant !

 

Yes, it's a shame really, to see a once-great community based forum reduced to little more than a moribund backstreet site inhabited by overly competitive traders.

 

Somehow the forum has become less diverse, the older generation which still represent the backbone of the electrically assisted bicycles market are disappearing as fast as they register as members.

 

I must admit, as an older E-biker, the only reason I visit this forum now is to see who is slagging-off who

.

.....don't seem right somehow

Exactly which is why I would have loved James to prove me wrong because it would have ended the debate about speed pedelecs if you could ride them legally. I find most people I meet do not want to brake the law.

 

I do miss Eddie. Even if the line was a dot sometimes with him

.

 

I must admit, as an older E-biker, the only reason I visit this forum now is to see who is slagging-off who

.(

 

The only way to steer a Public forum, like this, is to post regularly _ on the subjects that intetest You.

 

Only visiting & even then not posting is leaving it to someone else.

Apathy changes nothing.

the vast majority of our clients are not interested in breaking the law. they want a bike to get to work, go to the park, vet, church wherever. why is there so much interest on a public forum in discussing ways of breaking the law !? this forum is becoming increasingly marginalised and irrelevant !

 

Well said and very true!

 

I was the first outside member to join this forum in Autumn 2006 when it started and helped in bringing in the early members through links and an introductory article in my own e-bike websites.

 

I think all those original earliest members except me have disappeared now, and I'm now almost out of the door, just inserting the odd correction to something wrongly posted. My posting rate over the whole life of the forum was almost 11 per day, but in the last seven days I've only posted on four days, showing my reducing interest. With reference to jackhandy's comment above, that is not apathy, it's just an expression of no longer wanting to be a part of what this forum has become.

 

I'm not interested in UK illegal fast powered bicycles, they have absolutely nothing to do with the world of e-biking since such machines are not e-bikes in the UK or most of the rest of the world.

.

Edited October 18, 201411 yr by flecc

With reference to jackhandy's comment above, that is not apathy, it's just an expression of no longer wanting to be a part of what this forum has become.

.

Sorry to disagree, Flecc _ but not being willing to make the effort is a definition of apathy.

 

If the majority of posts by new members is asking how to de-regulate ebikes & those opposed to such are not posting, it's obvious, to me anyway, where the forum is likely to be going.

Sorry to disagree, Flecc _ but not being willing to make the effort is a definition of apathy.

 

I've been making the effort since 2008, what else can the average of 11 posts a day seven days a week and a total of nearly 28,000 posts mean? No one else has made remotely that much effort and I greatly resent being accused of apathy in these circumstances.

 

How much longer do you expect me to go on?

.

Actually _ If you reread my post, it was not aimed at you. You dropped in on it.

Actually _ If you reread my post, it was not aimed at you. You dropped in on it.

 

I think you dropped me in by name when you quoted my comment on not being apathetic and said you disagreed.

 

However, I accept that you did not mean me originally.

 

On the point of apathy, I can't see posting many posts about the legal scene making any difference, since what afflicts the forum is just another aspect of the widespread British view on cycling, that it's a sport biased pursuit. If the great majority think that way as they patently do, they will also dominate the posting with their desires for speed and power.

 

The Dutch style utility cycling that fits so well with current law scarcely exists in this country.

 

Also this forum has an identity problem, is it just a UK national forum or is it an international one? The German, French and Italian forums do not have this problem, their languages keep them predominantly national so any discussion of their law and speeds and powers allowed is relevant.

 

Our English language forum can be read by much of the world and we have a number of overseas members as a result. That means UK legal aspects aren't relevant to many reading posts and the water is muddied by the more international view. The end result is that we can't really claim to be just a UK forum, that in turn meaning the fast and powerful powered bike brigade can claim some legitimacy. Giving them their own euphemistically named forum was just an acceptance of that.

.

Yes, it's a shame really, to see a once-great community based forum reduced to little more than a moribund backstreet site inhabited by overly competitive traders.

 

Somehow the forum has become less diverse, the older generation which still represent the backbone of the electrically assisted bicycles market are disappearing as fast as they register as members.

 

I must admit, as an older E-biker, the only reason I visit this forum now is to see who is slagging-off who

.

.....don't seem right somehow

 

Blew it, I had an interesting conversation at the NEC Cycle show involving a good number of other e-bike sellers,some of these used to be regular contributors to this forum,I think the forum was the richer for it.

But all of us agreed that 'less is more' when making postings. I also now make much less postings,only posting when I think I can add significantly to the content of a thread or some important new release or event.

The result is the content of the forum seems to be less diverse,which is a shame. The forum seems overly occupied with throttles and illegal bikes, I note that one posting is announcing that soon BBS02 will become available with 500 watts,why muck around put 800 watts in it and get 'hung for a sheep rather than a lamb'

I speak often to Tom at the LEBC and Colin at KTM,we are all agreed that 250 watts is more than enough,is legal and is also in the spirit of what Pedelecs were conceived,if you want high power without pedalling and no exercise surely a legal motor bike is a better option.

KudosDave

I think we should keep a distinction between self builds and ready made bikes. Self build bikes cannot be certified, therefore it's up to the individuals to decide where to draw the line with regard to motor power. I wouldn't put too much faith on the label either. If you compare the output of a 250W Panasonic hub against that of a 250W Keyde front hub motor, it does not take much expertise to know which one is more powerful. Is this difference down to technology? that the P hub is so much better built than the Keyde unit that it can pull wheelies where the Keyde can't? No, it's not. It's down to other components and to 'engineering view' of their respective manufacturer as how to specify the wattage of their motor. I met a guy yesterday who rides one of those 1000W DD motor kits. I asked him why he needed 1000W, he told me that he likes the acceleration, he's not that bothered with speed. Should we treat the guy with the 1000W DD motor that can't pull wheelies but has an illegal label as law breaker when compared to the other guy who's bought a ready made Panasonic powered bike?

Edited October 19, 201411 yr by trex

we are all agreed that 250 watts is more than enough,is legal and is also in the spirit of what Pedelecs were conceived.

KudosDave

 

I really didn't want to derail this thread any further, so sorry for this Martin.

 

Dave if you had made that comment a year ago, I'd have been privately thinking "get lost". The reason being that I was then very misguided, as to what a pedelece should be about. Over the last year I have grown to know exactly what a pedelec should be about*.

Owning and riding a pedelec is to me now more about being able to ride at realistic pedal cycle speed along flat ground and down hill, but then being able to pedal up hills with assist, at a rate that is both giving me a safe to others, sensible attract no attention speed, along with a decent work out should I so desire one. The law as it stands meets all of my requirements, and even whilst out riding today on my pedal only KTM mtb, I was thinking how great that it was that riding with 100% rider input, makes you feel so alive. The sense of achievement climbing without any assist up steep inclines, just can't be matched. I'm certain sure that with the rise of both power and speed, that this sense of achievement would ultimately be lost altogether. Certainly riding an e-mtb doesn't give the same buzz, but it allows me to do the extra miles that I want to do, without so much of the pain afterwards.

A legal e-mtb gives me a good balance for all my requirements, and even if the law ever did permit greater power/speed, I won't be switching.

Sadly one of the first questions that I get asked when out and about is, how fast does it go, and does it have a throttle. Awareness also appears to growing about e-bikes, as more and more frequently, the next question is about dongles, and can one be fitted, or does it have one.

I lent my Haibike to someone last week who had expressed an interest in buying an e-bike for winter training, and I felt that he would be better trying a bike before buying one. He was a road rider, and his first question was about dongles. He seemed disappointed that it didn't have one, because his friends bike did. A week later when he returned the bike, he openly said that a dongle would have ruined his riding experience, and that he is now going to be buying a crank drive e-bike, but won't be fitting dongle. In the end, gearing proved to be more important to him than anything else.

 

To end, if I wanted electric off road speed, I'd buy a KTM Freeride E.

 

Once again, sorry to derail the thread further Martin.

 

 

 

*About for me.

Edited October 19, 201411 yr by EddiePJ

Well said and very true!

 

I was the first outside member to join this forum in Autumn 2006 when it started and helped in bringing in the early members through links and an introductory article in my own e-bike websites.

 

I think all those original earliest members except me have disappeared now, and I'm now almost out of the door, just inserting the odd correction to something wrongly posted.

 

I thought it was just me, feeling this way. The forum interests me less these days and topics which I feel motivated to read crop up very infrequently. I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in high speed, high power bikes because I feel that they violate the fundermental reason for the ebike's creation and existence, utility cycling.

 

The motivation for high speed electric bike ownership is usually driven by a desire to ride something similar to a motorcycle in terms of performance, but without the cost and responsibility which accompanies motorcycle ownership. More than this, there is also a wanting to share cycling facilities such as cycle lanes and paths. This situation is repugnant and has no place in a forum which purports to be a credible Ebike / Pedelec site.

 

Sadly, since I joined just over 6 years ago, the forum has migrated away from Ebikes and more toward motor vehicles and that shift has accelerated over the past 12 months. Hence, my level of interest has accelerated toward zero. I don't even look in much these days, but I still enjoy my bike.