Some 17,500 fatbikes imported from China have been held by Dutch authorities over concerns about speed manipulation and safety risks.
Some 17,500 fatbikes imported from China have been held by Dutch authorities over concerns about speed manipulation and safety risks.
Ebikes are regulated in the EU, they’re nothing like Vespa. What you’re referring to is an electric motorbike and already requires a license. What is needed is enforcement.
There are a lot of electric mopeds that look like assisted bicycles but aren’t. Those are a bit of a problem and shouldn’t be in bike paths.
Is there a requirement for how much assistance the bike can give. Because I see kids hardly pedaling and still going 25km/h.
And yeah, these bikes are upgraded by people and not following code. But enforcement has started. The police needed new Rollerbanks… and these have now been distributed. They can now check mopeds and e-bikes on the same device.
But then, I’d be for age restricting e-bikes and possibly even giving them tags and requiring bike helmets… so…
I may be wrong, but IIRC the assistance limit was 1:1.
Technically you are right.
The fat bike is considered to be a normal electric 25km/h bike (here in NL).
What changed (our view) on it was that some Chinese brands made it possible to raise the speed by doing a trivial change (either hardware or software) allowing speeds upto 45km/h.
In some extreme cases even higher.
Combine this with 12 year olds with soft skulls and you have the reason why the legal age is going to be raised to 16 years old and wearing a helmet.
And the old man in me screams: also require some training and a license for it.
And yes, I hate those things with a vengeance and have an opinion on everyone on such a vehicle. They are noisy, tent to break the speed limits and attract a certain type of people.
Old man signing off.