Warning: Some posts on this platform may contain adult material intended for mature audiences only. Viewer discretion is advised. By clicking ‘Continue’, you confirm that you are 18 years or older and consent to viewing explicit content.
The Oregon Senate passed a bill updating laws around electric bicycles on Monday. It's named for a Bend teen killed in a collision while riding an e-bike last summer.
You are correct; that was an oversight on my part, and I’ve edited my comment to reflect the Oregon bill.
IMO, the two-wheel continuum is getting muddied by these sorts of bills. As it stands in California, the spectrum starts with bicycles, then ebikes, then mopeds*, then motorbikes/motorcycles. And we have an increasing scale of regulation, requirements, and licenses when moving to toward the actual motor vehicles. This ascension currently makes sense to me.
That class 3 is just shy of the moped with it’s 30 MPH (48 kph) limit is perfectly sensible to me, as is a helmet and age restriction. If we didn’t have a sliding spectrum, we’d basically be telling teenagers that they might as well go straight for mopeds or motorbikes, and that’s just opening a huge can of worms, public policy-wise.
I didn’t do an exhaustive search of Oregon law, but I have to imagine an overpowered ebike would get categorized as a moped or motorbike, subject to all those laws and regulations.
BTW, mopeds in California are very OP. An M1/M2 license, one-time registration forever, can use bike lanes, no insurance requirement, and can do 30 MPH. Just wow.
You are correct; that was an oversight on my part, and I’ve edited my comment to reflect the Oregon bill.
IMO, the two-wheel continuum is getting muddied by these sorts of bills. As it stands in California, the spectrum starts with bicycles, then ebikes, then mopeds*, then motorbikes/motorcycles. And we have an increasing scale of regulation, requirements, and licenses when moving to toward the actual motor vehicles. This ascension currently makes sense to me.
That class 3 is just shy of the moped with it’s 30 MPH (48 kph) limit is perfectly sensible to me, as is a helmet and age restriction. If we didn’t have a sliding spectrum, we’d basically be telling teenagers that they might as well go straight for mopeds or motorbikes, and that’s just opening a huge can of worms, public policy-wise.
I didn’t do an exhaustive search of Oregon law, but I have to imagine an overpowered ebike would get categorized as a moped or motorbike, subject to all those laws and regulations.