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12 mph = 20 km/h or kph
+1
Half of the issue is that many motorised bicycles go faster than the 25 km/h they're allowed to, anyway, plus all the old people who don't have the reflexes, eyesight etc. anymore to safely control a 25 km/h vehicle on a bicycle path. It's very rare that people that go fast on regular bicycles are a serious issue.
There doesn't need to be a new rule for motorized bikes on bike lanes because there are already very clear rules. Max 25 km/h, not allowed to have autonomous support, max 250W, manufacturer has an obligation to prevent tampering.
Those rules are legislative in the whole of the EU.
The issue is with the enforcement of the rules. Not only in the streets, but also at the importer.
The issue is also with how the rules are written.
The max 250W refer to continuous motor power over 30 minutes.
Here's how that is measured to determine if a motor is legal:
So a manufacturer can have their motor tested at 250W and passed, even though it can supply 1000W peak power.
And all they need to do (legally, mind you) to supply 1000W continuously is add some cooling fins.
You are correct that the power of 250W is not very strictly defined in the standards. However, for the maximum speed there is a clear specification or 25 km/h with a maximum tolerance of 10%.
Regarding the power, yes it's true that the bike standard EN15194 allows for some creativity to boost the power (not the speed) and many ebike systems do this. However, it seems that lately this is getting out of hand with some system manufacturers offering motors with more than 1000W of peak power. This raises the question if the way the standard describes it, might be modified in the future to better align the product with the vehicle class. The whole epac vehicle class was initially meant to help people who need pedal support to cycle. The epac class was intentionally created and classified as a bike instead of a motor vehicle to promote public mobility and health. And you could make an argument that a 1000W electric bike abuses that class for a different purpose.
The movement to tighten the regulation is already underway.
And it has a good chance of succeeding, since Bosch is greasing palms to get it passed.
Of course they'll design their proposal in a way that'll also shut out their Chinese competition.
All of europe flat? I didnt think 250 would be enough help to make it up hills
They're only capped at an average of 250W over 30 minutes.
Peak output is in the 800-1000W range, and the duration is only limited by heat.
I cycled up The Hill in Torino this morning. Definitely not flat, I can tell you. Strava estimates an average of 155W over 25 minutes for a leisurely 10km/h. Add another 100W and some pedaling to offset the heavier bike, and you're going up quite fast enough.
There is no way for a manufacturer to completely prevent tampering. There should be a fine if you're caught bypassing safety guards.
For manufacturers, there is a difference between making something hard to tamper with, and not preventing it at all.
For instance, you can speed up a Bosch equipped bike but you need to install an add-on module from a controversial third party that messes with the CAN bus data.
Whilst on some Chinese import, you can just set the maximum speed in the display of the bike.
If itβs not designed to go faster, tampering with it wouldnβt do anything. The problem is these bikes are built for the fastest market and kneecapped, instead of having its own new model.
E-bikes are allowed to go faster than 25 km/h, it's just that the motor has to stop helping beyond that speed. Important difference.
I don't think that a general 20 km/h speed limit is the best choice. Maybe add tiers based on the type of path. Bike lanes on roads and bike paths without immediately adjacent foot paths could go pretty fast, bike paths separated from foot paths only by a line on the ground a bit slower, and shared foot/bike paths even slower. Maybe something like 30/20/15 km/h.
Before someone comments "but bike lanes on roads are also immediately adjacent to foot paths": Yes, but so are roads without bike paths and cars are allowed 30 or even 50 km/h on those. It's generally understood that roads are dangerous and need special consideration so I'd be willing to allow 30 km/h on bike lanes.
I don't think so. I regularly go 25 km/h on my normal bike without trying. 35 km/h if I try. And it's not a racing bike in any way, it's a regular used 300β¬ bicycle
People like you have existed in NL for decades, it's clearly e-bikes that inspired this speed limit experiment.
E-bikes already aren't allowed to go faster than 25km/h.
They are allowed. They just may not provide electric assistance above 25. But you can drive them 30 on muscle power perfectly legally
Sure but for most e-bikes it's impractical to so so since they tend to be quite a bit heavier to pedal at that point than a regular bike.
Yes comrade chairman O7
Most countries have a ~10% tolerance anyway so even legal e-bikes are probably going 27/28. And there's quite a lot of illegal ones.
And there's a differenc between young+fit people going 25+ km/h, and 70+ people going that fast. Even a relatively healthy old person has generally worse reflexes and eyesight than a young person, and lots of old people are quite unhealthy.
When I used to bike daily I would routinely hit almost 30 km/h. Today being older and wiser, I don't see why that should be allowed in city bikelanes. We have many narrow bikelanes where there is only barely room for passing, on such lanes 20 km/h absolutely sound like a good idea for all, including people in good shape on race bikes and small mopeds that are allowed in the bikelanes.
Fair, roadracers and the like can certainly get fast enough to become a nuisance. The bike lane in the article looks fairly wide, though.
Not all bikelanes are like that.
You can have more than one speed limit. e.g. 20 for narrow lanes, 25 for wide lanes.
I'm trying to get places on my bike. If the lane doesn't allow for speed I'm driving. (Maybe transit) time matter and half again faster is a big deal on a bike. I
We all want to go fast, so do cars, but there are limits for safety, and for children and elderly those fast bikes are a hazard. My own 89 year old father was hospitalized for a week, because a fast biker hit his arm so he fell, maybe even without noticing, because he just continued as if nothing had happened.
Where I live city bikelanes are typically narrow, because the roads weren't designed for them originally. Narrow lanes and high speed is clearly a problem for vulnerable users of bike lanes, and can be an outright terror.
So just don't be inconsiderate of other users of the bikelane, because it can have dire consequences for others than yourself.
That said I know slow bicycles can be extremely annoying too when they don't make room for one to pass safely.