Imagine you’re out walking on a shared-use path in your city, and these vehicles blast through your periphery at 30 miles per hour. They have two wheels, quiet electric motors, and the people atop them are pedaling, though clearly, the battery is doing almost all of the work. And they’re going a little too fast for your comfort (hell, their riders are even wearing Daft Punk-style motorcycle helmets!). It’s called a HyperScrambler 2 from Juiced Bikes. And in many jurisdictions, the pedals make it completely legal:
Now imagine you’re on that same path, but then one of these things — a Delfast Top 3.0i — speeds by at 50 miles per hour, narrowly avoiding a parent with a stroller. Pedals, check; battery, check. But otherwise, that sucker sure seems like a motorcycle.
Is *this* an e-bike?
Now imagine this beast comes up on you from behind. Its riders max out at just 18 miles an hour — slower than some of the spandex-clad cyclists on manually-powered bikes, sure, and exactly the same speed as your city’s shared e-scooters. Those vehicles, though, both weigh a whole lot less than than this 400 pound monster trike, and it’s way too wide for the path, which means it could probably do some serious damage to a pedestrian in a crash.