This makes no sense. A cyclist with a decent road bike can easily go faster than that.
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
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I can go faster than that on the clapped out bike I bought when I was still in school. And I'm 45.
In the UK e-Bikes are limited to 15mph (in that the motor cuts out above that, so you can pedal faster if you want), and frankly that's fast enough. Plenty of idiots can't handle even that, and of course they don't use helmets either because fuck having your brain inside your skull, right?
It also depends on your definition of e-Bike, because I've also seen it applied to what are basically motorbikes with an electric engine. I think that sort of thing should require a license and test to be allowed to ride in public.
When I was younger and in better shape my average speed was 35-40kmh (about 20-25mph).
15mph seems frustratingly and uncomfortably slow. But then again, Iβm not terribly familiar with e-bikes. I know that some only help you pedal and others are basically motorcycles, so lumping them all together doesnβt make sense.
Just for reference cause I was curious.
The average car speed in New York City varies greatly by location, but is generally quite slow. In Midtown Manhattan, the average speed has been recorded as low as 4.8 mph, which is slower than a brisk walk
Good idea - if you also cap car speeds at 15mph
The state of traffic already does that...
15 mph speed limit on roads? That is genuinely the dumbest thing I have read in forever. 15 on mixed use paths is still a kind of low limit, but why on earth should ebikes have a different speed limit on shared roads? Am I supposed to brake down every slight incline next time I visit NYC?
Classic legislating the out group from the in group. The idea that the justification in the text is that "ebikes are heavier than normal bikes [so less dangerous]" while at the same time having a higher speed limit for 2 ton pedestrian killers is insane.
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16mph is the limitation in germany. If your bike is faster, you have to register it an pay tax, and cant use dedicated bicycle infratructure anymore.
16mph is exactly the speed where I'm fast enough but dont feel like I would die in a crash.
Everything above would require protective clothing like on motorcycles Imo, and that kind of defeats the purpose for ebikes for me. I want to ride my bike but don't want to have to fight against wind and going up the hill.
If an ebike is as fast as a motorcycle, it should get treated as one.
Yeah this proposal is reasonable. I wouldnt want to share my bikepath with old people driving more than 25kmh. They just dont have the reaction time to safely drive at speeds like that and even that is actually waaay to fast for the oldest. If you wanna go faster, use your muscles and/or drive on the road.
This proposal is for the road, which is why it's crazy. 25kmh limit on a bike path is fine. A speed limit on roads that is lower for bikes than cars is insane, when the justification for pedal bikes having a higher speed limit is that they're lighter than ebikes. Cars should have a 5 mph limit in that case.
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16mph is the limitation in germany.
In my experience, a typical bike-friendly city in Germany will have 30 km/h limit for cars anyway (18 mph). NYC "official" speed limit is 25mph.
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Canuck here. The city I live in only caps ebike speeds on the pathways at 20km/hr (Personally I only see riders going this fast when there's no one else in sight. When they approach others on the pathways they slow right down. Most also slow right down when going around blind corners or bends). You can ride them on sidewalks but must have peddle assist disabled. When riding on the roads you must follow the rules of the road.
Could be an option for NYC. But limiting ONLY ebike speed on roads is not cool. Why should they be forced to go slower when big death traps can go flying past them??
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Just build more and bigger sidewalks. In shenzhen and beijing, they often have 2 separated bike/moped lanes on either side of the road, a bike/scooter parking lane, and then like 20 feet of sidewalk you can also ride your electric moped on.
Take one or two of the traffic lanes to cover it. They have enough.
They've already done this. Side walks have been widened bus stops have extentions into the road lanes have been removed for bike lanes and other lanes have been removed for bus lanes. Major Manhattan roadways like 2nd ave have been pushed from 4 - 5 lanes to 2 - 3 depending on the area
This feels like it's purposefully designed to kneecap the adoption of e-bikes by rendering all class 1 and 2 e-bikes illegal and making it harder/more expensive to buy new ones because they have to have bespoke detuning for the NYC market.
Did you read the bill? This is a road speed limit, not a mandated governor for the motor. It's still super dumb, but it shouldn't do anything to class 1, 2, or 3 sales.
Hmm... Well, I guess that's not as bad, but it's still a little inconvenient since it would require Class 1 and 2 ebike riders to more carefully monitor their speed instead of just riding all the way up to the assisted top speed knowing that they're still in compliance.
IMO, it should be 20mph, but it's a software limit. It's nothing to "tune" it.
If you want to go faster, get a motorcycle license. The higher end ebikes are getting ridiculous. Their frames, tires, and brakes are not designed for the power and speed they can put down.
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Step 1: Limit e-bike speed
Step 2: Enforce minimum speed limit
Step 3: Profit
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Why not just add speed limits to areas where higher speeds are an issue? That's been the approach to cars -- no car is limited to 140 kmh despite speeds above that are illegal pretty much everywhere...
Regular bikes can easily go above 15 mph as well, so why should this only affect e-bikes?
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= 24 kilometers/hr for those also wondering
Is this for sidewalk or road? Road speed limit should be same as cars. On the road I try to go faster to be safer. If there are good bike paths, whatever the non-e-bike speed limit is, e-bike same. I don't think bikes belong on the sidewalk in NYC, but here when I am on a sidewalk I think about 17mph is the top speed so yeah 15 seems reasonable.
This is not for sidewalk use, this is for road use. NYC has forbidden vehicles on sidewalks for a long time.
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That sounds pretty fair to me. Very few regular bikers go faster than 20-25. Especially with more weight, like delivery or cargo bikes, and also especially with the e-motor support there is a lot of weight and power behind those bikes.
And bike lines are usually built for "regular" use, not high speed. All the curves, break distances etc. get planned with around that speed and not a whole lot more.
The original purpose of supporting disabled people who can't use a regular bike is still served and people don't have to be afraid of maniacs going 50mph in places where "common sense" would already advise them not to. If you're using a cargo bike, that also still works and you get not so gently instructed to watch the speed with your cargo.
Maybe they could do something where to use a bike lane, it has to be speed capped. Idk.
It's not for bike lanes, the law is for "NYC Streets". It's a very dumb limit.
very few[not none] regular bikers go faster than 20-25
Therefore
limit electric to 15
Uh
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Love it here on /c/fuckbikes
This thread is full of people who have never been to NYC and think this cap is somehow a good idea and not a death sentence both figuratively for micromobility and literally for e-bikers who have to deal with much faster car traffic.
It's not even about nyc. Haven't been there in a while myself.
Its about car brains who see cars as entitled and everything else as the enemy. The mods really need to get bulk bans going.
I'm a former moderator of /r/nycbike on reddit and I can attest, a lot of cyclists hate ebikers because instead of seeing an ally against car culture they just see one more "other" with whom they have to compete for limited bike infrastructure space, who they feel goes too fast in those spaces, and they think isn't enforced against enough. I hate to say it but just like most groups of people, a lot of cyclists aren't able to step back and appreciate a shared struggle. They don't realize that they're doing the exact same thing to ebikers that car drivers do to them. They don't realize that the limited space they're fighting over is an arbitrary restriction. They don't realize how legislating against ebikes is just a wedge, the tip of which is destined to cut them too once driven too far. So while I'm sure a lot of the detractors in this thread are legitimate car brains, I wouldn't be surprised if just as many if not more of them are subscriber cyclists who maybe need a reality check.
That attitude is crazy prevalent. I ride an ebike in DC, and after passing a guy on his acoustic bike, he caught up to me to bikeshame me for riding "a motorcycle", and complained how he almost gets run over by ebikes every day (I was nowhere near him, I think he thought he was being funny). Ok, sure dude. I'm sure it's ebikers almost run over you every day, not the thousands of distracted drivers.
The worst part is the dude ran two stop signs to catch up to me, while wearing no helmet. I've never seen such a clear posengeur who couldn't deal with being passed. I am not your safety problem, bro.
complained how he almost gets run over by ebikes every day
Which is to say, he's never been harmed by an ebike in his life. Notice how his anecdote perfectly mirrors stories from pedestrians about the number of times they've "almost been hit by cyclists" while meanwhile they've literally never been hit by a bike and are much more likely to get hit by a car. No perspective. No self-crit.
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