Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1533905
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 13 APRIL 1, 2025 P143 guns lies squarely with parents who either don't care about their teenager's safety or are so dumb as to how dangerous these things really are that it's almost criminal. People are buying these con - traptions for their kids for thou- sands of dollars and just letting them into the wild with next to no two-wheeled experience other than a couple of years after the training wheels have been taken off. I suppose I can't be totally mad at the parents because local councils across the country have been ensuring there's nowhere for kids to ride anymore for a long time. Tracks are being closed left and right, no new ones are being opened, and even in places like South Orange County in California, which has more green space than any developed municipality I've ever seen, is more concerned with implementing yet another bloody baseball field than giving kids somewhere safe to ride. Perhaps it's a conspiracy be - tween the companies that build these bikes and the health insur- ance companies, because the more crashes and car impale- ments there are, the more money everyone makes. These electric machines are motorcycles. Let that be clear. Yes, they are "pedal assist," but no kid I see in my neighborhood is pedaling up a 45° incline with their friend on the back, and I sure as hell don't see them pedaling on the way down when they are careening through stop signs and across four lanes of traffic. Trust me, it happens. I've seen it. As such, these bikes should be treated as motorcycles. Kids should get licenses if they want to ride on the street. They should have to pass the same tests you and I do; they should have insur - ance, and they should be made by the police force to actually adhere to the rules. Electric bikes fall into three categories—Class 1, 2, and 3— depending on their top-assisted speed and whether they include a throttle. Class 1 bikes provide pedal assistance up to 20 mph, Class 2 models have a throttle that can propel them to 20 mph without pedaling, and Class 3 bikes offer pedal assistance up to 28 mph. Personally, I find Class 2 bikes the most problem - atic since they allow riders to skip pedaling entirely. In a CBS report by Lauren Toms (you can read it here), "According to the [Marin] county health department from October 10th to November 10th this year [2023] the rate of e-bike-related accidents for youth ages 10 to 19 years old was nine times higher than similar accidents of people over 20 years old. "The report also showed that 22 percent of all 911 calls in the same period were for e-bike- related accidents and 71 percent of responses for all bike acci - dents among 10- to 19-year-olds were e-bike-related." Part of the blame has to lie with the manufacturers. I know they will retort and say, just like gun manufacturers, that they can't control what people do with their product. And that is true. But there's no background check when purchasing a Super73, Sur - ron, or whatever other brand is out there. There's no experience check, no courses the new riders can take, nothing. The fact that more kids are not missing limbs or, worse, buried six feet under is remarkable. Some kids and, by default, their parents are so damn reckless, and they should be held accountable. I wouldn't go as far as banning these bikes but at least make it so the kids have to be 16—the same age you need to be to legally ride motorcycles on the road—to ride them. I want more people riding motorcycles. I always have. But this is not the answer. The sale of these bikes won't breed new mo - torcycle riders. All it will do is fluff up these manufacturers' back pockets and, eventually, those of the medical insurance providers after the kid who doesn't think the road rules apply to him goes smashing into the side of a truck. Something's got to change. CN As such, these bikes should be treated as motorcycles. Kids should get licenses if they want to ride on the street. They should have to pass the same tests you and I do.