@fuck_cars Something I wish Australia would change is laws prohibiting any vehicles between a 200W ebike and a full motorcycle. I'd get a lot of value from a 60kmph limited 1kW ebike. But currently to sell such a thing it would have to comply with all motorcycle requirements, and things like ABS on both wheels is really not required for such a device.a #AusPol#eBikes
@LovesTha@fuck_cars Do you want to be allowed to ride this thing on footpaths and bike paths like an e-bike? I hope not. Do you want to ride on the road at 50kmh? Great, get a 50cc/electric moped and pay insurance and registration and have a licence. Want to go faster? Get a motorbike. Each of these categories already exist. You can’t have a free-to-register uninsured 60kmh powered bike on the bike path for good reason.
Push bikes have a power limit because humans are pretty power limited, which results in speeds of not much more that 30-40km/h unless you find a really big hill.
E-bikes are supposed to be both power and speed limited to about 400W and 30km/h IIRC.
Going from four classes (pushbike/e-bike, moped, LAMS motorcycle, full motorcycle) to five seems thoroughly excessive.
Mopeds (electric or petrol) are cheap and relatively low-skill and low-risk due to the limited speeds. Write to your politicians asking them to allow them to be used on car licenses like other states and NZ allow.
I also question whether you’re going to get any significant use out of a moped with a higher top speed but not much more power. The 4kW limit appears to be tailored to allow a moped to generally climb a moderate hill while in 50km/h traffic, rather than pull to the side and need a separate lane like pushbikes.
@LovesTha@fuck_cars at what point do you need better-than-minimal brakes and lights? What training and what PPE should be required? If Are you a motorcycle rider and so know what 60 on 2 wheels means?
All of those are wonderful questions that should be answered within the next X months by the appropriate government agency. And of course it’s not just in that state in Australia. We see variations of this in many places around the world.
So although I think you were trying to ask those rhetorically, actually we all agree with you, those answers should be forthcoming.
@orcrist@rusted yes, there should be some regulation, but flat illegal is pushing things in awkward directions.
The answers are probably pretty minimal, these are speeds that we are happy for cyclists to be doing with nothing more than a polysytrene hat, the sanity of the PPE that road cyclists use is a valid question.
Something like requiring better brakes, maybe dual independent front brakes, would probably be enough. Requiring head/tail/indicator lights would also be reasonable.
@coolandnormal@fuck_cars there are a lot of people riding illegal things around. Mostly cops don't care if you aren't being a dick, but catch one on a bad day and it gets expensive.
Do you have size difference one your motorbike licenses at least so you can get a smaller one like in EU. Here we have 3 sizes and the access to them are depended on age and experience from the smaller size. The smallest one is iirc max 13 Hp. It’s still a lot more than a moped I know so doesn’t really answer the issue.
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