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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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I just wanted to clarify somethings about e-bikes for people who may have not operated one. There is little to no difference between throttle vs pedal assist. Most pedal assist engage the motor with little to no effort, so you can "pretend" to ride a bike while using the full power of the motor.
Regulating the speed/power output is only way to control the speeds these bikes can go. That being said, 20 mph/32 kph seems like a good "max speed". Regular bikers* achieve this speed.
People are generally still incredibly dumb, don't operate any vehicles safely, and a lot of infrastructure doesn't have space for human power vehicles, pedestrians, and motored vehicles.
I don't understand why this school district is banning/restricting ebikes, it seems that is something that a larger governing body should be responsible for (also maybe parents). The only thing that this ban has done is create an e-bike parking problem in the surrounding neighborhood (which will probably result in more parking restrictions for those neighborhoods).
This is something I don't get about E-Bike regulation: it seems to target the wrong things.
In my country throttle-controlled bikes did qualify as e-bikes, now they don't anymore. So the relevant distinction for an e-bike is that you have to control the throttle by moving your feet in a circular motion. Big whoop. It's like regulating that a car is only a car if you have to spin the gas pedal with your feet instead of pressing it. It makes no difference.
The other thing they regulate is the power. But what does more power actually mean? All it means is that you get to the top speed a little quicker, that does nothing.
Because contrary to cars, e-bikes are required to have an electronic speed cut-off.
That's the only thing that really matters in regards to regulation.
Over here the max speed for pedal assist is 25km/h, which is easily achieved by regular bikers. And regular bikers are not regulated in regards to power output or control scheme either.
That's the problem though: ebikes are required to have speed and power cutoffs ...but you can import a modkit or even an entire bike that exceeds those cutoffs with zero problem or oversight and just start riding it around. There's no enforcement or consequences until a kid hits a parked car going 70km/h
And you can mod your car or motorbike to do all sorts of illegal things too.
That's where you need to have enforcement and consequences.
Over here they do just that. When they see an e-bike or e-scooter go too fast, police puts it on a kind of specialized treadmill and see how fast it goes. If it's faster than 25km/h then the owner (might be the kid if the kid is old enough, otherwise it's the parents) gets fined for running an uninsured, untypified motorbike without license plate or valid inspection sticker and usually also without a fitting driver's license.
This usually results in fines upwards of €5000 and if the owner has e.g. a car driver's license they might lose that one too.
If the rider is also going over the speed limit, they'll face steep fines (and points on their license) as well.
The vehicle will also be impounded until the owner proves they are making it road legal.
The result: I've seen them maybe go 30km/h, but never something ridiculous like 70km/h.
Yes, that was the point i was making. The issue is enforcement- but instead of doing that, people just turn to outright bans
That's a fair point.
This is a big problem, I just watched a 12-14 yo going 35 mph, keeping up with cars. Parents like to help kids go faster for some reason