You are not logged in.
Pages: 1
Do you live in the area or are actually affected by the ban?
Not that specific ban, but my city has a ban on bicycles for parts of two primary through streets that are hard to go around, (about 1/2 mile of road, and the alternate route is nearly 3mi) to the extent that I would not be able to commute to a fair number of employers by bike. Fortunately, my current job is the other direction, but I do have applications in with companies that are beyond the "no bike zone."
You've written about Chipseal, so you're obviously aware of how he's lost (so far) even with the law on his side.
The quality of the wording of the law has a lot to do with how winnable a case is. If ChipSeal could point to a law that said "cyclists may not be prohibited from riding in the lane" I suspect even the Ellis county courts would have a hard time getting a conviction.
As for making a minimally electric bike, if you really want to do this, I'd suggest something that actually works, or they'll probably nail you in the court room. But it doesn't need to have a lot of stamina -- perhaps get a hub motor (relatively cheap, easy to install) and some very small SLA batteries that add up to the right voltage? Or something that drives one of your wheels like a bottle generator? Perhaps gut an electric scooter and have the wheel on top of your back wheel, driving it?
I'd love to have one with about a 1mi range and regenerative capability just to help me over a couple of hills and charge up on the downslopes, but regenerative hub motor prices I've seen are way too high, and most of the folks looking for electric bikes seem to be more interested in just getting an electric motorcycle with vestigial pedals.
Most cyclists can't sustain 20 mph
Not on climbs, but certainly on downhills, and many can on flats. If the ebike isn't actually governed at 20MPH, but simply doesn't have the power to go faster, then it's going to be somewhat slower on climbs.
I've been tempted to find a used-and-abused 6V powered hub that can barely go, and mount it with a 4AA holder just so I could abuse that section if needed.
Maybe if I just stuck a battery-powered fan on the back rack and called it a propeller...but I guess they could say it actually has to move the bike at least a little bit.
Has anyone with an ebike tested enforcement of this ordinance against TC551.106? REGULATION OF ELECTRIC BICYCLES. (a) The department or a local authority may not prohibit the use of an electric bicycle on a highway that is used primarily by motor vehicles. The department or a local authority may prohibit the use of an electric bicycle on a highway used primarily by pedestrians.
I'd love to see that protection expanded to all bicycles, especially since part of the definition of an electric bicycle is that it can't exceed 20MPH using its own motor, which means it has no "keeping up with traffic" advantage over a nonelectric.
Pages: 1
[ Generated in 0.101 seconds, 7 queries executed - Memory usage: 505.39 KiB (Peak: 506.02 KiB) ]