Las Cruces NM defines an E-bike

[dogman dan]

Fuuuugggg. Last night the city council passed a 5 page rewrite of the city ordinances for operating bicycles. Can't seem to make the document attach.



It did include some good stuff, like actually calling a right or left cross of a bike in a bike lane a crime. Re states the obvious, like no riding wrong way. Doesn't prohibit sidewalk riding.

Not that they'll stop right crossing you at every stoplight, while you are in a crosswalk. Or that cops will care if they see it happen. But nice that they spell it out that cars don't always have the right of way, even if you better ride like they do.

Big trucks have to give us 6 feet of space when passing. Yeah right, Mexican truck drivers can cross and drive on this side now. I'm sure they will give me 6' now.

Some dumb stuff. One provision outlaws sirens, air horns, and whistles on bikes. Later on another page it says you have to warn pedestrians from 100 feet away when overtaking from behind. Guess we just have to yell "HEY BITCH" at the ladies on the bike path that walk three abreast. I know they can't hear little dinky bike bells at 100'. Certainly they can't hear shit from 10 feet with that ipod blasting in thier ears, or just yakking at each other. Perhaps we can carry a slingshot or a bb gun to warn em from 100'.

They have defined what an ebike is. 750w, 20 mph. Damn, nearly my whole fleet of ebikes is not a bike now. However, state law still says all my ebikes are mopeds. 30 mph no watt limit. So it's perfectly clear now. I'm a moped till I enter and ride in a bike lane, or bike path. Try explaining that kind of shit to a cop someday. Last thing a town with some steep hills needs is a 750w rule.

At least they didn't ban 750w ebikes from the bike paths. It's clear to me at least, that the signs that went up on the new bike path ban electric scooters with no pedals, gas skateboards, Quads and motorcycles etc, but not "electric assist bicycles". But you just know the walking bitches will still think the signs ban any kind of motor on any kind of vehicle.

Just wish they'd continued to ignore ebikes, Holy smokes, there must be at least six of us max, in a town of 50,000 or so. None of us young assholes either, just a handfull of old farts.

 

[neptronix]

Sorry to hear that, dogman
It's nowhere near as bad as places where ebikes are banned totally from bike lanes and bike paths though.
Who knows how many watts you're pushing anyway? Like they really own a dynamometer small enough to deal with a bike, so that they can boss around all 10 ebike owners out there :lol:

And 20mph on a bike path is half reasonable, really. I tend to roll along at that speed when people are around, for efficiency and also not giving eBikes a bad name.. when i'm on the road or a bike lane though, it's 25-30mph, or more if i am riding one of my higher powered bikes.

 

[TylerDurden]

Last thing a town with some steep hills needs is a 750w rule.

Time to go mid-drive?

 

[Eascen]

I spoke to my friend who's a cop yesterday -- as I'm following the rule of thumb that I'm trying to glide on the moped laws and stay off the bike paths. As a cyclist I can say that I'd prefer aggressive e-bike riders stay off the paths his main advice was: "Stick to the speed limit and wear a helmet/eye protection and you should be fine, clear as mud?".

 

[spinningmagnets]

dogman wrote:
Last thing a town with some steep hills needs is a 750w rule.
Time to go mid-drive?

Yes! and also two battery packs allowing 24V/48V or 36V/72V with series/parallel switching so when your RFID ring is away from the handle, the bike is limited to the lower voltage/wattage for those smart-assed big-brother types with a multi-meter.

 

[wineboyrider]

I doubt you'd get a ticket unless you were driving too fast on the bike path anyways.... 8)

 

[HAROX]

Dogman, please excuse me. Good thread. I pulled the writing for all to see:

66-3-707. Lamps and other equipment on bicycles.
A. Every bicycle when in use at nighttime shall be equipped with a lamp on the front which shall emit a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred feet to the front and with a red reflector on the rear of a type approved by the division which shall be visible from all distances from fifty feet to three hundred feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle. A lamp emitting a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet to the rear may be used in addition to the red reflector.
B. No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with, nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.(up-on the bike, not in your mouth)
C. Every bicycle shall be equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make the brake wheels skid on dry, level, clean pavement.

So I see you could whistle yourself, or blow air thru a tin whistle in your mouth, or use a toot-toot horn or a bell, or a gong. You just can't use a sireen or boat whistle, maybe...

 

[dogman dan]

Those look like the state laws to me. Different coding at the start of them. Or maybe you pulled up the old Las Cruces municipal laws?

Yeah, I'm not planning to worry about tickets, or de power my longtail which now climbs hills great and goes 30 mph now. 5304, 40 amps of 48v. Call it 2000w. Love it! I do tend to ride it on routes off the bike trail primarily. But I might put the slow motor back on my other commuter bike if I ever get well enough to ride as far as the start of the bike trails again.

Stop at the stop signs, signal turns etc, don't scare the moms, and nobody will even look at me, let alone ticket me in this town. Even if I keep riding 30 mph. All still legal under the moped law too, till I get on the bike trail. So slow down some there, and all should be good.

Nobody has a clue about wattage, that's for sure. I'd already been slowing down to less than 10 mph on bike paths to pass the walkers from behind. That's all most of em wanted. A few just want no bikes on the BIKE PATH, and screetch like crows at you no matter what you do. They make a point of blocking the path, three abreast. Nothing you will ever do with make them happy. Towanda types.

It was nice while it lasted, being legaly invisible. But getting ignored is still very very very likely to be continued. I just hate it that now a city cop has a lever to use if he decides to do some discretionary enforcement. Much better for them to not know about max speeds and a watt limit.

 

[hydro-one]

I knew you were having too much fun to be legal , Dog !!!

 

[hydro-one]

I knew you were having too much fun to be legal , Dog !!! This is personal, they want u shut down !!! Next thing you know you will have emf bombs taking out your throttle halls like i had in my town!! The oilman must fall!!

 

[veloman]

I did a lot of miles today, with a good chunk of riding that forced me to take highway frontage roads. I was able to hold my own for the most part, flowing with rush hour traffic at 35-38mph. No sidewalk there either. Passed a cop, made sure I was pedaling.

Many parts I just aero tucked it at WOT.

I didn't have any problems, and my bike been legal at 20mph, imagine the disruption in traffic and danger i would have caused.

 

[fizzit]

I did a lot of miles today, with a good chunk of riding that forced me to take highway frontage roads. I was able to hold my own for the most part, flowing with rush hour traffic at 35-38mph. No sidewalk there either. Passed a cop, made sure I was pedaling.

Many parts I just aero tucked it at WOT.

I didn't have any problems, and my bike been legal at 20mph, imagine the disruption in traffic and danger i would have caused.

That doesn't sound too bad. Opening up the throttle on back roads with high speed limits is a lot of fun.
The most stressful part of my commute is riding uphill on a long two-lane street with a bike lane. If I ride in the bike lane, cars are slowly passing me (going about 4mph faster than me) and I'm going past parallel parked cars at 33mph or so. There is a raised median immediately to the left of the car lane, so the cars on my left are passing me very closely and I am forced to ride in the door zone if I don't want to impede traffic. If I ride in the car lane, cars are tailgating me and I feel like a jerk

 

[veloman]

I did a lot of miles today, with a good chunk of riding that forced me to take highway frontage roads. I was able to hold my own for the most part, flowing with rush hour traffic at 35-38mph. No sidewalk there either. Passed a cop, made sure I was pedaling.

Many parts I just aero tucked it at WOT.

I didn't have any problems, and my bike been legal at 20mph, imagine the disruption in traffic and danger i would have caused.

That doesn't sound too bad. Opening up the throttle on back roads with high speed limits is a lot of fun.
The most stressful part of my commute is riding uphill on a long two-lane street with a bike lane. If I ride in the bike lane, cars are slowly passing me (going about 4mph faster than me) and I'm going past parallel parked cars at 33mph or so. There is a raised median immediately to the left of the car lane, so the cars on my left are passing me very closely and I am forced to ride in the door zone if I don't want to impede traffic. If I ride in the car lane, cars are tailgating me and I feel like a jerk

Do not ride in the door zone, no matter what. If they are only going 4mph faster, you are not a jerk for taking the lane.

Best thing to do might be to increase your power/voltage so you can 37 for that stretch. What's the speed limit?

I don't like cars who take forever to pass too. But it's better than going slow and having lots of cars flying by. To me, it's all about reducing the number of cars who pass, the less the better, and it really makes the ride more enjoyable. That's why I love side roads where I own the road.

 

[winkinatcha]

I would give my left nut for 750w to be a legal e-bike here in Aus... That's three times our limit... I shed no tears for you

Joe

 

[Chalo]

I did a lot of miles today, with a good chunk of riding that forced me to take highway frontage roads. I was able to hold my own for the most part, flowing with rush hour traffic at 35-38mph. No sidewalk there either. Passed a cop, made sure I was pedaling.

Many parts I just aero tucked it at WOT.

I didn't have any problems, and my bike been legal at 20mph, imagine the disruption in traffic and danger i would have caused.

I ride frontage roads in the lane on a pedal-only bike often, at speeds under 20mph, sometimes pulling a trailer. Just stay in the right lane, be visible, and move in a predictable way. I've never caused any kind of traffic disruption that way. During rush hour, I'd bail out to the sidewalk just for some peace at the expense of lower speed and more frequent stopping to yield.

On most frontage roads, the preponderance of the action is in the leftmost lane. The only time drivers want to be in the curb lane is when they are trying to turn right.

To be specific, the stretches I most often ride on a frontage road are I-35 between Manor Road and 51st Street and between 6th Street and Oltorf Street, and US 183 between Lamar Boulevard and Burnet Road. Sometimes I use segments of Ben White Boulevard anywhere between I-35 and Lamar.

My wife will always choose another non-freeway route when she possibly can, so I only ride on frontage roads when I'm not with her and I'm trying to make time (or when there is no alternative).

Chalo

 

[dogman dan]

Fortunately the frontage I ride has about 4' of bike lane, AND a pretty low traffic count except a few spots. The area is far from fully developed so far. I'll definitely continue to go moped legal speeds on that road.

Except for the track racer, all my bikes are legal mopeds in NM, 30 mph top speed or less. I'll just have to rig a three speed switch for the bike trails now. Just so I don't have to hold a half throttle for miles. Previously the longtail was only able to do 18 mph with a slow 2810 9c on it.

Nobody's gonna care about the wattage. Above 20 mph the bike trails curb cuts will beat the crap out of the bike anyway. Crap design. Several other bike trails in town are simply unridable due to even worse curb design every block, or a forest of bollards to weave through every 1/4 mile.

I just hated to see it, the thin edge of the wedge and all. Next round, you can bet ALL ebikes get banned from the trails. Hope they don't bother for a few years.

 

[Ranmannm]

I feel for ya. I'm in Albuquerque and still researching / putting together my first build. I ride 15 miles to work each way for a total of 30. The paths are what I want to stay on because I like away from the cars. I use Rio Rancho paths, the Bosque and North Diversion channel bike paths. I'm just worried when I get electrified I'll cause to much of a ruckus and basically screw myself out of those options. There are a lot of walkers complaining now about cyclists not giving room. What happens when I buzz by on a E-bike.

 

[veloman]

Nobody's gonna care about the wattage. Above 20 mph the bike trails curb cuts will beat the crap out of the bike anyway. Crap design. Several other bike trails in town are simply unridable due to even worse curb design every block, or a forest of bollards to weave through every 1/4 mile.
.

I've been talking to a TXDOT engineer this week about how to fix curb cuts to allow decent bike usage. We have to understand that bikes are at the bottom of the totem pole. Everyone (cars, peds, wheelchair, blind) get priority over bikes. Bikes always get the shit end of the stick in the US. No wonder it's taken so long for their numbers to rise, if at all.

 

[Goathead]

What happens when I buzz by on a E-bike.

Nothing.

But just to be safe: Pull off the throttle, ring your kiddie bike bell and say "Good morning!!" like you're the ambassador of bicycle friendliness.

Kind of stupid. But straight out of Dale Carnegie.

I have people who greet me first now . . .

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, I did that a lot. Slow to thier speed, big smile, little chat about the saving the enviroment and parking the car. Snuck in there at some point, a suggestion to walk to the right, not right up the center. At about 30 feet, a loud "morning ladies" rather than some annoying horn or bell. They stop worring about you then.

I find few walkers mind if I pass at 10 mph, but at 20 it's too much for em. One fine day, I encoutered 50 crew cut 200 pounds of pure muscle dudes all jogging. I flat out told em they had to let me by, and almost got in a fistfight with em. They were sure all bikes were not allowed. Once in a while, you run into a holes on the path.

Another very old guy would see me coming and get, no shit, 8 feet off the path. Stopping to talk to him, he'd been hit 3 times over the years by lycras in a tuck. I told him he could stop worrying about me, and recognise me by my yellow black coat and such. I never passed him from behind at more than 5 mph again, and he stopped dodging me on a frontal pass, which I still slowed to 5 mph for.

 

[dogman dan]

Re those curb cuts. To me they look like a pain even for a wheelchair user, they require all these 90 degree turns to wind your way up onto the sidewalk. Then they just stacked the multi use path onto the sidewalk so the bike has to slow to 5 mph every block, so like every 200 feet you have that curb. You can ride off it on one side, but then have to either curb hop, or do a tight zig zag to get on again.

The newest neighborhoods have not used that curb design. But we are stuck now forever, with about 7 miles of this path on one street. I just ride the street there. 35 mph speed limit thank god.

The newest bike path in town has the bollard forest from hell every 300' or so. I'll have to get pics of that some day, It will truly blow your mind how stupid it is Veloman. It looks hard to even get a baby carriage through. Somebody measured a bike handlebar, and then gave you one inch more between the bollards. It's really freaky! There's a dirt dich road paralell with the path though. 8) I'll never ride that path again unless I've brought the skinny tires.

 

[veloman]

Engineers and planners shouldn't be allowed to design anything that they don't already use in all modes.

When i ride slowly through a park, and there is a mother with a small child on the sidewalk, they usually give me a look like I'm going to kill their child and yell to their kid to come to them.

 

[arkmundi]

They have defined what an ebike is. 750w, 20 mph. Damn, nearly my whole fleet of ebikes is not a bike now. However, state law still says all my ebikes are mopeds. 30 mph no watt limit. So it's perfectly clear now. I'm a moped till I enter and ride in a bike lane, or bike path. Try explaining that kind of shit to a cop someday. Last thing a town with some steep hills needs is a 750w rule.

Yea, the federal consumer protection line between "assisted" bike and moped. Good to see some states holding to a decent distinction and making provision for ebikes. Sorry to hear your fleet has been redefined. Best.