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DIY Electric Bicycle, Entry #5: How It Goes Toget

    Blog entry posted in 'Uncategorised', August 04, 2011.

    When I mentioned my idea of eliminating the pedals altogether on the forum, it was mentioned that there may be legal issues with doing that. I decided to look up the laws in my area pertaining to motorbikes. I found none specified for Vermont, the state in which I live, but I did find some federal laws. The one that caught my eye was the following:

    CPSC rules stipulate that low speed electric bicycles (to include two and three wheel vehicles) are exempt from classification as motor vehicles providing they have fully operable pedals and a top motor-powered speed of less than 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) when operated by a rider weighing 170 pounds.

    This obviously proved to be a problem. If I didn't have fully operable pedals, the law would require that I register it as a motorcycle. This would be very inconvenient, especially for a lot of DIYers. I realized that having the pedals was absolutely necessary. Once again, I had to completely rethink the layout of my bike.

    Comments
    Resistanceisbutyl, August 04, 2011
    I thought you might have some more posts! Yayz! Friends don't let friends drink and legislate. How else could someone have come up with a law like that? Wouldn't it be redundant to stipulate in the law that electric bicycles have to have pedals AND travel at a low speed? If it travels only at a low speed, does it really matter whether or not it has pedals? Sheesh! Like someone is going to "beat the law" by governing their Harley-Davidson down to 20 mph? I won't even get into the environmental aspect of this, laws like these would make people like you more likely to get annoyed and end up apathetic about your project, and end up driving a car instead. Leave Derstrom alone, people! -Resistance (:D)
    DerStrom8, August 05, 2011
    [QUOTE=Resistanceisbutyl;bt443]Friends don't let friends drink and legislate. How else could someone have come up with a law like that? Wouldn't it be redundant to stipulate in the law that electric bicycles have to have pedals AND travel at a low speed? If it travels only at a low speed, does it really matter whether or not it has pedals? Sheesh! Like someone is going to "beat the law" by governing their Harley-Davidson down to 20 mph? I won't even get into the environmental aspect of this, laws like these would make people like you more likely to get annoyed and end up apathetic about your project, and end up driving a car instead. Leave Derstrom alone, people! -Resistance (:D)[/QUOTE] Hahaha, thanks for the defense, R :D These laws are only for electric motors. If you put a 50cc or greater gas motor on a bike, the law requires you register it, regardless of speed. I agree that the law is quite ridiculous, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do to change it :P I guess I'll just have to follow it for now.... *sigh* Der Strom
 

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