Call to ban motorised bikes - AUS

neuraxon77

neuraxon77

100 mW
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
45
A SURGE in the number of motorised pushbikes on the Tweed – some of them tuned-up to do high speeds – has alarmed Tweed Shire Council's local traffic committee which wants state government action. ... The council's traffic committee has drawn up a recommendation asking councillors to write to the NSW ministers for transport and police to amend the definition of a motor vehicle to include any vehicle “powered by a volatile spirit, steam, gas or electricity”.
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Not sure what any of that will achieve other than a push for more enforcement... since the Acts already cover people powered by "volatile spirits". :lol:

From the comments:

Nah de govamant cant ban em ey i lost me lisense for 4 years for drink drivin cause of dem coppers, now only way i can get to chindy pub is on me bike!
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You can read more here
 
Like the current laws aren't restrictive enough! Oughta make em sit down and watch Mad Max for 72 continuous hours to understand what real motorcycle mayhem is. What? thier hair catch fire because somebody whizzes by on a bike doing 40kph?

Reading the whole story, sounds like the problem is twofold, a bike shop owner that hates, "cheaters" and drivers that don't want to bother to look before they back out of the driveway. I bet the fast bikes stay in the street anyway, and the "too fast" ones on the sidewalk are legal speed riding.
 
dogman said:
Oughta make em sit down and watch Mad Max for 72 continuous hours to understand what real motorcycle mayhem is
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:lol: that cracked me up, good call.

I kinda liked this comment from someone who seems to live right here where I am and no it wasn't me. Although I wish that it was.......

Posted by Ride2Wk from Southport, Queensland

In all your whinging about motorised bikes, did any of you stop to think about what actually kills people in our road toll and who the police sometimes book for breaking road rules. That right - cars. Cars kill over 1,500 & injury 20,000 people per year. Of that cyclists kill usually 0! Recent research showed 75% of incidents were caused by cars doing the wrong thing not the bikes!

I see so many rule breaking cars everyday it's not funny and rarely do I see them getting booked for speeding, running reds, failing to indicate or talking on phones etc. Bikes do get booked but it's only as often as cars do.

I have a 200W electric bike that enabled my speed to increase about 10kmh from 35 to 45kmh on the flat. I rarely use it as it's not worth the charging etc - except to annoy jealous motorists by being more able to keep catching them at traffic light traffic jams :)

If you really want to whinge about something worthwhile, whinge about selfish, noisy, polluting motorists speeding, not stopping for pedestrians and killing / injuring so many people each year. But no, most of you are too ignorant & lazy to learn the facts.

95% of adult cyclists ARE drivers too. Rego for bikes was common in many countries years ago but was discontinued because it cost more to run than it was worth. And rego does NOT pay for roads! Most roads are council roads paid for by council rates. Cyclists DO pay council rates and other taxes so cyclists HAVE paid for their share of the road.
 
I am never surprised by the over the top councils and motorists calling for the ban, the thing I don't get is the cyclists who hate Ebikes. I saw on a mountain bike forum the other day that some guys had been seeing a Stealth Bomber at a reserve or national park (I think it was near Manly NSW), and they were all talking on the forum about how they should dob the guy in to the cops. I wasn't a member but I wanted to ask them what their problem is? What do they care? It has always surprised me that other cyclists sometimes seem to be the biggest opponents of ebikes even more than motorists. What is their problem?

Thanks though for the funniest thing I have read in ages, I cried and cried with laughter (not at the news article, that was horrifying - at the comment).

I have actually become addicted to reading the comments under online news stories now. I have a game where I read a "law and order" type article in the Victorian press, scroll down to the comments and see how many comments it takes before someone posts "Bring back the death penalty Ted! that's what we voted you in for!" Then some rubbish usually follows about how Australian society is falling apart....

Something just occured to me though - A Current Affair has been running a constant story about "Youth Gangs Run Amok!" at the Tweed.... Let's just hope they don't get onto this as their next thing - "TEEN EBIKIE GANGS OUT OF CONTROL!" Because A Current Affair = NSW Govt policy.....
 
These kind of issues will only increase. Ebikers need to organize in order to have any voice that is heard. Otherwise ebikers will be subjected to rules developed by pedestrians and pedalists. That's the cause of the overly restrictive regulations that already exist. Who do you think really posted the note about the revoked license guy, a real person or someone just pretending? I guarantee that was a pedalist or pedestrian who doesn't like sharing the pathway with someone moving with such little effort on a bike.
 
Philistine said:
I am never surprised by the over the top councils and motorists calling for the ban, the thing I don't get is the cyclists who hate Ebikes. I saw on a mountain bike forum the other day that some guys had been seeing a Stealth Bomber at a reserve or national park (I think it was near Manly NSW), and they were all talking on the forum about how they should dob the guy in to the cops. I wasn't a member but I wanted to ask them what their problem is? What do they care? It has always surprised me that other cyclists sometimes seem to be the biggest opponents of ebikes even more than motorists. What is their problem?
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a park is a different situation,
no motorized vehicles are allowed.

bikers see the Stealth Bomber as an motor-cycle, which is illegal.

they also see this as a negative reflection on cyclists, amongst other trail users, hikers, equestrians...
(speeding is the most common complaint about mtbikers)


maybe in the future with enough ebikers out there, they can open up certain trails to high power ebikes.
 
Stealth bomber IS a motorcyle. And shouldn't be ridden on bike trails posted no motor vehicles. If the sign says no motorized vehicles, all ebikes are banned.
 
dogman said:
Like the current laws aren't restrictive enough! Oughta make em sit down and watch Mad Max for 72 continuous hours to understand what real motorcycle mayhem is. What? thier hair catch fire because somebody whizzes by on a bike doing 40kph?

Reading the whole story, sounds like the problem is twofold, a bike shop owner that hates, "cheaters" and drivers that don't want to bother to look before they back out of the driveway. I bet the fast bikes stay in the street anyway, and the "too fast" ones on the sidewalk are legal speed riding.
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dogman said:
Stealth bomber IS a motorcyle.
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I see it as a hybrid of the two..

and the rules were really made with gas bikes in mind...

I could foresee a future rule change to allow any electric motorcycle/bicycle (peddle or not), under 100 lbs, to be allowed on any firetrail (no single tracks) with a 15 mph limit (just like mt bikes)

getting the mt bikers to support this might be hard, because most of them don't relate to motorcycles...

also we allow people to ride an 1000 lb animal that poops everywhere to be on the trail.... :wink: :D
so why not a 100 lb e-moto-bicycle ...
 
The 1000 pound animal is technically a pedestrian, and people writing laws don't know shit :mrgreen:
 
I stopped yesterday to have a chat with 2 transit cops just to be sure I didn't miss something in the recent change in road regulations here. I'm still home free, and only ICE powered 2 or 3 wheelers that have greater than 49cc of displacement are legally motor vehicles, so life is good and my bikes aren't banned and only normal traffic rules apply with no registration or fees. :mrgreen:
 
neuraxon77 said:
You can read more here
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In a report to the council, engineering staff said the motorised bikes created hazards for motorists
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Pathetic. At the bottom of this story will be one/two folks that live in fear and ignorance and are happy to show off in public forums...ebikers need to speak up!
 
On the way to work on my ebike, I pass through a park with a shared pedestrian/bicycle walkway.
At the entrance there is a sign that looks like this:bike busters.jpg
The sign has been there for years.
Everytime I pass a pedestrian I always slow down to walking pace and peddle past. I give them a nod/smile or say gday and nearly always get a smile or greeting in return (or "hey, nice bike!") 8)

I was always worried in the back of my mind though, that some overzealous cop might have a problem, you can get that with sign's that don't have any words because they are kind of open to interpretation to some degree. It could be taken that there is a hub motor on each wheel of the bike on the sign. :roll:

They recently added this:signpost.jpgBoy! Do I feel better now. I don't think that anyone could call my bike a trailbike:me bike.jpg

It will do 52kph, but NEVER on pathways or parks or schoolzones.
 
Wow! That must be the cleanest and neatest ebike that I have seen for quite some time. Beautiful!
BTW, how did you make the battery cover?
 
Start a campaign to ban motorcycles, it'll confuse the issue and start a big backlash from motor cycle drivers and have a mental impression carry over.
 
Gday Ed, how's it goin? Thanks for the compliment!

It's a custom made box from sheet stainless steel then polished up to a mirror finish, fits my 48v/10ahr headway perfectly with about 3mm of foam top and bottom, fairly watertight too.
The bike is a Jesse James west coast chopper sold a few years ago in kmart (for about $330) for kids. Because of the thick steel frame they turned out to be far to heavy for kids to pedal, but IMO are perfect for ebike conversions (just add a longer seatpost and raised bars), large triangle space for batteries too. You can get them on ebay for about $140 or less in good nick these days. Pick up only tho.
 
dogman said:
Stealth bomber IS a motorcyle. And shouldn't be ridden on bike trails posted no motor vehicles. If the sign says no motorized vehicles, all ebikes are banned.
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If a Stealth Bomber is a motorcycle, so is every ebike on this forum :roll:
 
Dogman wrote:
Stealth bomber IS a motorcyle. And shouldn't be ridden on bike trails posted no motor vehicles. If the sign says no motorized vehicles, all ebikes are banned.
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I'm not trying to be picky and I know New Mexico does not have an electric assist bicycle classification, but in many states, including California, Oregon, and Washington an electric assist bicycle is not a motorized vehicle and those "no motorized vehicle" signs to not apply to them.

There always seems to be confusion on this distinction and my trike is legally permitted anywhere a bicycle is except sidewalks, where the state law says the motor can not be used, and other places where a properly passed local law prohibits its use.
 
Lessss said:
a Stealth Bomber is a motorcycle, so is every ebike on this forum
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Not true(from legal definition standpoint) my ebikes are properly speed capped.
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So is a Bomber. They are electronically locked into street legal mode. Riders choice if they want to select the "private property" mode. :)
 
Kepler said:
Lessss said:
a Stealth Bomber is a motorcycle, so is every ebike on this forum
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Not true(from legal definition standpoint) my ebikes are properly speed capped.
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So is a Bomber. They are electronically locked into street legal mode. Riders choice if they want to select the "private property" mode. :)
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Quote straight from the Gov web site in W.A "To be classified as a bicycle, a power-assisted pedal cycle must not have a motor that exceeds 200 watts" Key words here, "must NOT have a motor that exceeds 200watt...the bomber does and you know well electronic limiting isn't a legal way around it, tiz a smart one sure but not legal in making the Bomber or an other bike with a motor that is capable of producing more than 200watts a street legal bike....

Regardles though, i think its excellent idea and have even discussed with Mr Lyen if he can build in a limiter for me on my Infineon that is remote controlled via car remote control so i dont even have a switch the popo can find if they ever want to dyno the bike, he said it wouldn't be a problem :mrgreen: How i will explain doing 80km/hr on a 200watt street legal bike up hill while NOT pedaling is another story :mrgreen:

KiM
 
Just goes to show how stupid the people who make these rules are. That makes every comercial ebike on the planet ilegal. Lets face it, what motor fitted to bike couldn't exceed 200 watts if the voltage and current were supplied to it. Some might not last long but they will sure produce more the 200W.
 
Kepler said:
Just goes to show how stupid the people who make these rules are. That makes every comercial ebike on the planet ilegal. Lets face it, what motor fitted to bike couldn't exceed 200 watts if the voltage and current were supplied to it. Some might not last long but they will sure produce more the 200W.
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Totally agree, the laws need to be changed....any idea what happened to the new changes that were being discussed i.e the 250watt at rear wheel no motor power under 25km/hr was it? and must have pedelec setup..?

Either way i don't care much what the laws are thankfully there are few police where i ride :)

KiM
 
I'm in australia, I was pulled over the other day by an umarked highway patrol car. There were two officers in the car, the driver was almost hostile in his approach, they discussed with me for about 20mins on the side of the road if my bike was legal or not. They seemed quite angered that I was using an electric bike ( rear hub motor type) there were a few interesting aspects to their discusssion:
they asked me if I can go up hills without pedalling
they produced a folder showing the ban on electric mopeds in australia due to the supreme court ruling regarding 'easyride' bikes ( now out of business). The supreme court ruling has left a big grey area, my bike is a normal pedal cycle to which I've added a rear hub motor, it now comes down to if the motor is classed as "auxilliary" or is the primary means of power.
This just leaves a huge grey area, at the moment if you have a normal bike converted to electric ( whether hub motor or chain drive) its in the 'grey area', it looks likely if police start fining converted push bikes that another supreme court case will almost certainly outlaw all electric bikes, at the moment its only mopeds that are effected. Its unlikely a ebiker will have the funds to take a fine to the supreme court!!!, basically the ebike laws are a mess in australia, someones previous post is correct, the 200watt peak power law makes all ebikes in australia illegal!!! ( except avanti which is actually 200watt peak limited).
So bascially 99% of ebikes on the roads in australia are illegal, if the authorities were to actual follow their own laws that would have to close up every ebike retailer in australia and ban imports of ebikes. It is indeed a crazy situation which is still not resolved, the supreme court ruling has just added to the mess, police officers are obviously frustrated on what their role is.
Hopefully new laws will be put in place until then we are all breaking the law whether we like it or not.
 
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