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California School Bans Kids' E-Bikes, So They Start Parking Them At The Neighbors' Homes
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this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2026
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They banned them in my town recently. I’m conflicted. I like seeing kids outside and even more so using less gas, but they absolutely fly down the road and sidewalk. There’s a lot of nuance with e-bikes - max speeds, whether they are purely throttle assist, etc. The e-bikes around me really just seem like electric motorcycles.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
I advocate treating them like motorcycles. Because they are. So, licensing, registration, training.
Though in my experience, that makes forum jockeys extremely angry. Like I’m in the pocket of Big DMV and getting a cut of their $10 fees or something.
Those that can go more than 25 kph should be classified as e-motorcycles. But those that are limited in speed are proper e-bikes and should remain accessible to children and have a low difficulty to buy and start using. In the Netherlands there is already a clear legal difference between the two and unlicensed e-motorbikes that can exceed 25kph are illegal, they need a license plate.
It's so easy to hide a little switch to toggle "bike legal mode" on many models, in my experience that doesn't really stop people, sadly.
It should be pretty easy to tell by the type of motor it has. An e-bike with a low-watt motor isn't going to suddenly become a menace by flipping a fancy switch.
Likewise if a bike has a motor capable of pulling 35 mph or whatever, then it doesn't matter if they can turn a governor on to keep it below 25 mph. It's still got the more powerful motor and will be classified as such
Not really, a 250W (average, not peak!) motor can exceed 25km/h easily on flat ground, the only difference to a stronger motor would be the acceleration.
Disabling the electronic limit is the issue.
Well, not "easily". I think we can agree that all else being equal pedestrian outcomes are better when motors are 250W than 600W, whether or not limited. I think it's totally reasonable to restrict unlicensed riders to motors with power output within normal human capacity, like 100-200W.
afaik, those numbers just don't tell you a whole lot about the actual power of the motor. A "250W motor" could produce peak power output of 1kW during short bursts, as long as the average power over a longer time is at or below 250W, they're fully legal.
I live in a small town and was stepping out of a tiny office supplies shop when WOOSH a teen on an ebike went past at like 30kph right by the door. I walk fast and were I three steps further it would’ve been a full collision before either of us knew what was happening.
So they were riding on the sidewalk? That's a completely different though valid issue and is better solved by proper infrastructure in my opinion.
A lot technically are electric motorbikes (or would be under UK law, where I live).
To be an ebike, it needs to have no more than 250W peak power, have a power assist speed limit of 25kph (15mph) and require pedaling for power assist.
If it goes outside any of these, it becomes a electric motorbike, and requires a numberplate, insurance etc.
These rules seem very reasonable to me. Though I can see an argument for a slightly higher power limit for electric cargo bikes (400/500W). They are also starting to be enforced more critically now.
I've no issues with electric dirt bikes, but they belong with the road traffic at that point, not on the cycling infrastructure.
They should ban the fast ones then, not all them
The issue, as I understand it, is that there are manufacturers that make electric bicycles that are artificially limited to a maximum speed limit but have a part that, if removed, would disable that limiter. The manufacturer will tell you that you should never, ever remove that part, that removing the part voids the warranty, that the manufacturer is not at fault for any injury or legal trouble you could get from riding a bike with no limiter, etc.
Same. Just witnessed kid breaking his skull iyn my street in ebike collision. Not a thing I'll endorse for kids.