this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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Can't argue with the base premise. But here in Toronto it's the ebike wild West. Where no law is enforced.
Folks are ripping by in the bike lanes on 100lb electric mopeds with throttles and fold away pedals. I've seen bikes where the chain is rusted off but the "bike" happily zips past a grandma on dutch bike at 35kph.
Recently the transit commission finally banned ebikes on the subway because they were lighting trains on fire.
All I ask is that ebikes are limited to pedal assist and have a weight limit. But I think the genie is out of the bottle.
Anyway. I've got opinions.
Pedal assist and max speed that pedal assist works until (I want to say 18kph, but I might be wrong) is how it works in Japan and it seems to work fairly well. Anything bigger or with a throttle must have a plate and be registered as a moped.
32kph in Canada (since the post references Toronto) for pedal-assist (level 1) e-bikes.
This makes even the limited / legal ones little fast, but not beyond what a human is capable of.
Unfortunately It’s very easy to de-limit the inexpensive ones or the DIY ones and there’s no checking. :/
At least here in Japan, it's definitely a non-zero chance of getting pulled over if you delimit it. Harder to catch, but people have been busted