Tag Archive for e-motorbikes

Round 2 of HLA appeals this Friday, teen e-moto gang in Hermosa Beach attack, and Westwood bike lane battle back on

December 3, 2025 / / No comments
Day 337 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s Day 6 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Not that you probably have any money left to give after Giving Tuesday.

But if you do, we’ll take it.

And by we, I mean me and the corgi.

So thanks to Ben for his generous support yesterday. And thank you in advance for giving what you can, when you can, to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

It only takes a few moments to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. 

Your support is what keeps this site going through the lean months, and helps ensure the corgi finds a few kibbles in her stocking this holiday season.

Because you don’t want to see a sad corgi on Christmas morning. 

Trust me. 

In today’s photo, the corgi offers her editorial opinion of both the city’s convoluted rejection of HLA compliance, and the prospect of a kibble-less Christmas.

………

It’s round 2 of the battle to implement Measure HLA, as the Los Angeles Board of Public Works will consider a second batch of appeals over projects that should have complied with the measure, but didn’t.

All of which were filed by Joe Linton in his personal, rather than professional, capacity.

As with the first round, we can expect the board to routinely reject each of these, regardless of merit, as the city insists on taking the bizarre position that any project involving the application of paint on pavement is merely “restriping,” no matter how much additional work was involved.

That includes a project on Melrose near L.A. City College, where the city removed a peak-hour lane and added more parking for cars — yet left out the protected bike lanes called for in the Mobility Plan 2035.

The whole point of Measure HLA was to require the city to build out the mobility plan whenever they did significant roadwork.

And I’d call that significant.

The only thing likely to force the Board of Public Works to actually reconsider these projects is if supporters of bike, pedestrian and traffic safety turn out in force, and in person, to make them listen.

The meeting is scheduled for 10 am this Friday, in the Edward R. Roybal BPW Session Room, Room 350, of LA City Hall at 200 N. Spring Street.

You can read Linton’s brief summary of the appeals here.

………

We keep learning more about the vicious attack on a 57-year old man carrying a pizza in Hermosa Beach, allegedly committed by an ebike-riding gang of kids in their early teens.

Although in this case, ebike appears to mean electric motorbikes and non-street legal dirt bikes.

But as for gang, that’s literal.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

The bold and seemingly unprompted attack has outraged the coastal community and stoked simmering frustrations around alleged teen e-bike gangs organizing under names such as the Goons and the Redondo Beach Killers.

Now it appears that some of the alleged attackers came from the neighboring city of Manhattan Beach. In a Sunday email to parents, Manhattan Beach Middle School Principal Matthew Horvath said that students at the school were involved in the incident, the Manhattan Beach News reported. Representatives for the district did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In this case, however, the Goons and RB Killers may not be what you normally think of when you see the term “gang.”

I’m told by someone who lives in the area that the gangs accused of “assaulting and terrorizing” beachside residents are the products of privileged homes and indulgent parents, who too often stand in the way of accountability for their kids until it’s too late.

And now it is.

Although it’s apparently not too late for angry residents to vent their frustration at city officials.

………

Los Angeles wants to know what you think about the long — and I do mean long — gestating Westwood Boulevard Safety and Mobility Project.

The project, which has been batted around in one form or another since for at least the past two decades, is intended to improve safety for bike riders and pedestrians along the dangerous corridor between Westwood Village and the Metro E (nee Expo) Line.

According to the Westside Current,

The department says the project is being developed in line with Healthy Streets LA and Mobility Plan 2035, which identify Westwood Boulevard as a priority for transit, bicycle and pedestrian upgrades. LADOT is gathering feedback on “transportation safety concerns, access challenges and ideas for how the street could function better for everyone,” and says staff will review all comments before drafting recommended infrastructure changes.

It’s nice to see the city actually working with Measure HLA, rather than fighting it, as they’ve done with virtually every other project up to this point.

………

Richard Fox, author of the enCYCLEpedia guidebook to Southern California’s scenic bikeways, forwards his rave review of the newly mostly completed CV Link in the Coachella Valley. 

Mostly, because the wealthy enclaves of Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells wanted nothing to do with it, and it was too expensive to build around them.

………

Canada’s CTV network offers a review of fat biking in honor of Fat Bike Day.

Which sounds sort of like Fat Bear Week, but isn’t.

Thanks to Megan for the video.

………

If you want to know why bike riding is booming in London, here’s a pretty good explanation.

Since 2016, we've expanded London's Cycle Network by over 475% – and there is much more to come!

— Will Norman (@willnorman.co.uk) 2025-12-02T10:47:14.594Z

………

A bike-riding British influencer is teaching her dad how to be a bicyclist on his second-hand road bike.

………

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A British Colombia letter writer almost gets it, asking if bicyclists should be treated more like pedestrians than motorists. But then goes on to say we’d be better off sharing sidewalks with pedestrians like “many places in Europe,” and wouldn’t mind wearing “highly visible license plates” if it finally allows us to get off the streets. Um, that’s a hard no.

But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Bicyclists in the UK even get criticized for not riding in a bike lane when it doesn’t even exist yet.

………

Local 

Streetsblog reports work on expanding Baldwin Park’s Barnes Park is “trooping along,” and a new connection from Walnut Creek Nature Park to the greenway walk/bike path is nearly finished.

Los Angeles is getting what appears to be its first pump track in Arroyo Seco Park, near the border with South Pasadena (scroll down).

LA-based social justice apparel brand For Your Viewing Pleasure is releasing a four-piece collaboration with Palestinian paracycling team the Gaza Sunbirds, with 100% of the profits going to benefit the Gaza team.

 

State

‘Tis the season. The San Diego Padres surprised students at a local elementary school with 100 team-branded bicycles.

An ebike rider in San Luis Obispo got the blame for crashing “into the side of a car,” even though the driver cut him off by making a “left cross” turn across his path; the victim suffered “undisclosed” injuries.

After a more than 30-year career in advertising, I can assure Morgan Hill-based Specialized that if nearly everyone doesn’t get their ad, they screwed up, not everyone else who didn’t get the joke. Although they beg to differ.

San Francisco is planing to rip out a neck down installed to slow traffic, because drivers don’t like it. And really, isn’t their happiness all that really matters?

 

National

Cycling Weekly recommends 15 Christmas present ideas for bicyclists, picked by “people who ride thousands of miles a year.” Or maybe 12 Chanukah gifts, plus an extra three for birthdays, anniversaries and such.

We touched on this yesterday, but it’s worth mentioning in more detail that Seattle is testing out the nation’s first protected bike lane barriers made of recycled car and truck tires, which not only offer a lower price, but are easier to repair and cause less damaged to cars that hit them. Thanks to Mike for the heads-up. 

A Las Vegas writer says riding a fat tired bike through Death Valley on a roadway closed to cars, but not bikes, is nirvana on two wheels.

Go ahead and enjoy riding in Arizona, just don’t cross any intersections — the state ranks third in the US for the deadliest intersections, behind only Florida and Delaware. Meanwhile, California ranks all the way down at, uh, seventh.

A church in Joliet, Illinois held a fundraiser to pay funeral expenses for a 25-year old man who was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bike to work.

In a story that will sound familiar to many bicyclists, an Ohio city is reviewing a 2008 ordinance that actually required bike lanes on certain streets, many of which were never built.

A Brooklyn man says he was iced out of a contract to install 500 bicycle parking pods across New York, after nearly a decade of fighting for them.

A volunteer organization in Memphis is using bicycles to deliver food to the homeless.

America’s oldest bikemaker is still making bicycles the old-fashioned way despite moving to South Carolina after more than a century in New York.

 

International

‘Tis the season, part two. An Ontario, Canada organization donated 90 bicycles to children in need.

 

Competitive Cycling

The American Criterium Cup returns for a fifth year, with a series of six races starting with June’s Tulsa Tough, although the $140,000 purse is up for grabs as last year’s men’s champ Maurice Ballerstedt returns to racing in Europe.

Thirty-one-year old American pro Veronica Ewers says she needs to step away from the sport for awhile to let her body recover, addressing the severe toll cycling takes by admitting medical tests show her bones are weak, and she hasn’t even had a period since 2014.

Now you, too, can own four “ultra rare” Colnagos, including the bike Sothebys says Tadej Pogačar rode in Toulouse, when he was actually busy riding up Mont Ventoux.

 

Finally…

Throwing your bicycle at a cop during a burglary is not one of its many approved uses. Your next bicycle could be a Ducati.

And turning your old bike wheel into a new musical instrument.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ebike & e-moto injuries rise 2.5 times faster than sales, and two teens busted for leading vicious Hermosa Beach attack

December 1, 2025 / / No comments
Day 335 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s Day 4 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. And we’re already off to a rip-roaring start!

So let’s all join in a round of applause for Rob, Robs, Ross, Stephen, Joshua, Eric, Johannes, David and Andrew for their generous support to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

So don’t wait! Take a moment to consider what this site is worth to you, how much you can afford to give, and donate now!

After all, what other bike sites offer all the best news and a cute little corgi spokesdog?

………

At last, we get a little context for the rise in ebike injuries — although, as usual, there’s no distinction between injury rates for ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes.

According to the New York Times, Marin County worked to get California law changed after a 15-year old girl barely survived a fall while riding on the back of a friend’s ebike, prompting a local surgeon to look into rising injury rates.

As the pandemic continued, the number of e-bike accidents increased. “You would expect that,” Alfrey says, “because sales were skyrocketing.” Indeed, in 2022, over a million e-bikes were sold in the United States, up from 287,000 in 2019, according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association. But what really struck Alfrey and Maa was that e-bike injuries were far more serious than those sustained on conventional bikes. Maa says they were more like what’s seen in motorcycle crashes. A pelvic fracture, for example, was uncommon on a pedal bicycle — only about 6 percent of conventional cycling injuries. For e-bike crashes, though, it was 25 percent.

The most alarming difference was the fatality rate. “On a pedal bike, the chance of dying from an injury is about three-tenths of 1 percent,” Alfrey says. On an e-bike, the data indicated, it was 11 percent.

These findings signaled what was unfolding around the country. During the same four-year period when nationwide sales quadrupled, e-bike injuries increased by a factor of 10, to 23,493 from 2,215, according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. A study by the University of California, San Francisco, found that from 2017 to 2022, head injuries from e-bike accidents increased 49-fold.

Which means ebike injuries rose 2.5 times faster than ebike sales.

Now we finally know.

The paper goes on to note that Class 2 throttle-controlled ebikes have claimed the overwhelming majority of the market.

By “throttle devices,” he is referring to Class 2 machines, which have captured an estimated two-thirds of the e-bike market. According to PeopleForBikes, the rationale in 2015 for creating a class for bikes with throttles — which can eliminate even the modest exercise benefits of pedal assistance — was that many e-bikes already had them, and the trade organization didn’t want to exclude those products and companies.

But to Mittelstaedt and others, it’s inappropriate to consider these vehicles to be “bikes” at all. “The essence of bicycling is pedaling,” Mittelstaedt says. “A machine propelled by a motorcycle throttle just shouldn’t be considered a bicycle. It can go from zero to 20 faster than a regular bike without any exertion at all.”

As we’ve repeatedly stressed, anything that can travel faster than 28 mph isn’t legally an ebike. And anything without pedals isn’t a bicycle.

Some manufacturers — but not governments — have taken it upon themselves to call such machines “Class 4” e-bikes. Others refer to them as “out-of-class electric vehicles”; bicycle-advocacy groups, which want to avoid being associated with these machines, prefer “e-motos.” In any case, they aren’t bicycles, nor are they street legal without registration and a license, yet they still show up regularly on roads and bike paths. One online influencer called Sur Ronster, who also has a retail business called Ronster Rides, posts videos of bands of teenagers, dozens strong, outdoing one another’s daredevil feats at breakneck speed on city streets and highways.

Like this dual-engine Chinese ebike with a top speed of 46 mph, which would classify it as a motorbike in virtually every American state — yet is somehow still sold as a ped-assist bike.

It’s worth taking the time to read the whole Times story. Because it’s long past time we started making those differences clear.

But if you’re in a hurry, you can catch the Cliff Notes version in a brief interview with the writer.

Wait, is Cliff Notes even a thing anymore?

Meanwhile, Harley Davidson is teaming with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition to host a course on ebike safety, while the San Diego police issued warnings about riders on illegal e-motos capable of 80 mph zooming through traffic and crowded areas.

And Electrek warns parents about the dangers of Sur Ron and other high-powered electric motos. Thanks Ellectrek for the link.

And no, I don’t think they don’t mean ped-assist bikes.

………

Police in Hermosa Beach arrested two ebike — actually e-moto — riding teens for leading the vicious gang beatdown given to a man carrying his takeout pizza.

The boys were part of a group of five kids aged 13-15 identified by police as the attackers, who only broke off the assault when one of the boys mistakenly yelled that the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was dead.

Another man came forward after news of the attack surfaced, saying he, too, had been attacked by a gang of ebike-riding teens.

Initial police reports sparked angry comments for implying that the victim had somehow done something to instigate the assault, which the police later retracted.

………

Bike deals are continuing post-Black Friday with today’s Cyber Monday deals, with the best specials highlighted by Cycling News and Cycling Weekly.

………

A podcast host talks with two millennials who quit their jobs to bike around the world, and wrote a book about it.

………

A Freemont CA rancher has installed a gate across a formerly open roadway, blocking a path used by bicyclists and hikers for years.

Thanks to Megan for forwarding the video.

………

A YouTube video considers how Victoria, British Columbia, population 92,000, tripled its bicycling rate in just 11 years.

Thanks to Norm for the video. 

………

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A Sunnyvale website says residents feel their voice is being “drowned out by a vocal cyclist lobby,” because they value their God-given right to park their cars on the curbs over the safety of people on two wheels. There’s that mythical bike lobby raising its ugly head again, and Hulk-smashing all who don’t bow down before it. 

A man and woman face charges in Lafayette, Louisiana after allegedly yelling at another woman, beating her and threatening her with a gun before yet another beatdown in front of her kid, all because her husband committed the crime of yelling at the woman to slow her car down while he was riding bikes with the couple’s young son.

But sometimes it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A 60-year old Gainesville, Florida man faces 11 separate charges, including possession of meth, resisting arrest and, yes, littering, after he ran away on foot when police tried to stop him for riding salmon and without lights on his bike.

A British reporter launches a “bold social experiment” to see if he can get his phone stolen by ebike-riding — actually, e-motorbike — thieves, then track it to reveal their location. Thanks again to Megan for the video.

………

Local 

The Malibu City Council approved a comprehensive, $50 million safety improvement plan for Pacific Coast Highway, including new and improved sidewalks and 9.7 miles of new bike lanes, with just a single dissenting vote.

 

State

Calbike will reveal its legislative agenda for the coming year in a webinar this Wednesday; sign up here for the 10 am video conference.

Police in Anaheim have arrested the alleged hit-and-run driver accused of hitting a 12-year old boy riding an ebike last week, leaving the kid with a concussion, broken leg and multiple bruises; 29-year old Fullerton resident Jonathan Diaz reportedly took off on foot after crashing his car a few blocks after he struck the boy’s bike, leaving behind evidence he was under the influence.

 

National

Bike Magazine is back in print for the first time since the heady pre-pandemic days of 2020.

Cycling Savvy explains how to navigate diverging traffic lanes on your bicycle.

Velo makes the case for why you should skip the crappy bikes, and buy your kid a decent bicycle to learn how to ride this Christmas.

A writer for Strongtowns makes the case that Complete Streets has run its course, leaving cities with “expensive, over-engineered corridors that win awards but fail the people they claim to serve.” Although I’d question whether the study the story is based on cherry-picked cities where Complet Streets failed, rather than where they have succeeded. 

Seattle has launched a commercial e-cargo bike program to encourage businesses to adopt cleaner alternatives to standard delivery trucks.

A pair of Seattle bike advocacy groups have purchased their own ebike-towed bike lane sweeper to clear out the wet, soggy leaves that pile up next to the curb.

 

International

Sometimes the best use of a bicycle isn’t riding it. A nine-year old Peruvian boy raffled off his beloved bicycle to fund a trip to Canada for the World Mathematics Championship, and came back home with a gold medal.

Despite rumors of budget cuts and caps on bike prices, Britain’s Bike to Work program that pays for bike commuters’ bicycles will be largely unchanged in the county’s new budget.

A study from Limerick, Ireland showed that the city’s new bike lanes “maintained or improved” access for ambulances, which could use the bike lanes to get through traffic when needed. So much for the myth that bike lanes keep emergency vehicles from getting through.

British bike writer and historian Carlton Reid talks with American Eric Hassett, who moved from Colorado to Malmö, Sweden to help design Thule’s sleek new pannier system.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. Colombian Tour de France sprinter Fernando Gaviria was given a suspended sentence for drunk driving in Monaco — despite being more than five times over the legal limit. Seriously, there’s no excuse for driving under the influence, no matter who you are.

That’s more like it. Croatia’s Silba Island has replaced engine noise with the sound of bike wheels, after banning cars from the island five decades ago.

Young workers in North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area are only turning up to state jobs on paper, instead ferrying goods and tourists on bicycles and motorbikes, rather than working without salaries or rations.

After biking nearly 400 miles across South Korea, a Malaysian writer wonders if a cross-country bikeway could unlock that country’s tourism potential, as well.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Dutch pro Stef Clement is calling for cyclists to pass a proficiency test and “crash course” before they can ride in the peloton, while his countryman Tom Dumoulin says protective clothing should be normalized for pro cyclists.

The bicycle the legendary Eddy Merckx rode when he broke the hour record in Mexico City in 1972, cycling 49.4 kilometers, or 30.69 miles, in one hour stands on display in the Brussels metro station named after him.

Twenty-one-year old cycling rookie Isaac del Toro was named Mexico’s sportsman of the year with the country’s highest sports honor, the 2025 National Sports Award, after winning winning 16 pro races, nearly winning the Giro and climbing to third in the world rankings in just his first year on the WorldTour.

Thirty-five-year old Colombian cyclist Esteban Chaves called it a career after 16 years in the pro peloton, including five Grand Tour victories, podium finishes in both the Giro and the Vuelta, and winning Il Lombardia; he called it quits after he didn’t receive an offer for the upcoming season.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn your garage into a virtual fortress to protect your two-wheeled pride and joy. Go back to the future of bicycling.

And who needs a nightclub when you can DJ from the seat of your bicycle?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Metro board members propose rescue for open streets funding, and ebikes blamed in Hermosa Beach teen gang attack

November 25, 2025 / / No comments
Day 329 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

They get it.

While I was out of commission last week, Metro considered a bizarre plan that would have virtually eliminated open streets events for the next three years, other than events tied directly to the World Cup, and Olympic and Paralympic Games, and held within a narrow two-month window each year.

Even though each of the 51 CicLAvias held since October 10, 2010 have averaged more than 100,000 people experiencing the streets of Los Angeles County in a new way, many for the first time.

Not to mention the many Active Streets events hosted by Active SGV in the San Gabriel Valley, and others funded by Metro.

It’s a plan that would mean an end, at least temporarily, to most CicLAvia and  Active Streets events outside of that narrow window, with no guarantee that they would resume afterwards.

According to Steve Scauzillo of the Southern California News Group, writing in the Los Angeles Daily News,

At issue is a dramatic change in the way Metro intends to fund “open streets” events in the next three years. A true “open street” event is as it sounds: Allowing people on bicycles, scooters, skates, skateboards and pedestrians to ride or walk the asphalt streets free of cars for exercise, while stopping at booths for food and games within various neighborhoods of Los Angeles County…

This round of funding includes 29 events at a two-year cost of $10 million, according to Metro.

As of last week, LA Metro staff proposed funding “open street” and “slow street” events (limiting car access) squeezed into two months during the next three years: 2026, 2027 and 2028. The 29 events OK’d for funding coincide with the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in July 2026 and the LA Olympic and Paralympic Games in July 2028. All others were either rejected or ineligible for funding because they weren’t within that narrow time frame.

But riding to the rescue is a proposal supported by six of the 13 Metro board members, which would commit at least $1 million to fund other events that were rejected by Metro staff for falling outside that Copa Mundial and Olympic window.

And better yet, make that funding permanent.

The group includes LA County supervisors Lindsey Horvath, Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis, as well as CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, Whittier Councilmember and Metro Chair Fernando Dutra, and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval.

By my math that leaves them just one vote short for the motion to carry. Bearing in mind that I was an English major, so my calculations may leave something to be desired.

Let’s hope they find it.

Because open streets events may be a relatively recent tradition here in Los Angeles. But they have quickly grown to be the largest in the US, and are far too valuable to sacrifice.

Even temporarily.

No guarantee the Daily News link won’t be blocked by their paywall, however. It was hidden the first time I tried to read the story, but not the second. So your luck may vary. 

………

Once again, ebikes are in the news.

And not in a good way.

As usual, though, the press manages to conflate non-street legal electric dirt bikes and motorbikes with the far slower and tamer ped-assist ebikes.

In this case, it takes the form of a seemingly random violent attack by a gang of South Bay teens riding the former, which left a man in his 50s lying incapacitated in the street.

@bikinginla.bsky.social @streetsblogla.bsky.social This will end badly. The Beach Cities does have youth gangs who use e-bikes. But passerby may not be able to tell the difference between them and the vast majority of teens going about their business.

— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T02:52:29.978Z

This is a more nuanced story. Local eBike dealer pointed out that this gang rides illegal dirt bikes, not ebikes. These kids are known to school and local police. Parents that bought their boys illegal bikes seem not inclined to check their boys' behavior. @bikinginla.bsky.social

— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T03:14:13.842Z

The problem here is not ebikes, but gangs of teens engaged in random street violence.

But by painting ebikes with such a broad brush, these stories risk the general public confusing illegal electric motorbikes with the legal ped-assist bikes being rapidly adopted by countless bike commuters and recreational riders.

And risks a crackdown on all two-wheeled electric bikes, legal and otherwise — like this ordinance unanimously approved to clamp down on ebikes in Newport Beach, just the latest to be passed by a SoCal beach community (thanks to Ed for the heads-up).

So for the uninitiated — and that includes the overwhelming majority of news outlets out there — if they don’t have functional pedals, or travel faster that 28 mph, they’re mo-peds, motor scooters, motorbikes, motorcycles or dirt bikes, regardless of how they’re powered.

Or they just ain’t legal.

Period.

………

Case in point, news broke yesterday that a 12-year old boy was injured in a hit-and-run while riding an ebike in Anaheim Sunday night.

Although video of the bike after the crash looks a lot more like an electric motorbike than an electric bicycle.

KNBC-4 reports the victim was hospitalized with “a broken leg and concussions.” Which suggests that he may have more than one head, since a single head can only suffer a single concussion in a single event.

The driver fled on foot after crashing his car about a block away. Police suspect he was under the influence based on undisclosed evidence found in the car.

………

Our old friend Zachary Rynew shares his take on Sunday’s Stranger Things CicLAvia.

Which, had it occurred next year, wouldn’t have been funded under Metro’s proposed new restrictions, since it would have fallen outside of the World Cup schedule, and had no connection to the soccer/football tournament.

………

Now that’s what I call a close call.

A man in India’s Uttar Pradesh province barely avoided becoming road kill when an out-of-control speeding bus slammed into the wall where he was parking his bicycle.

The crash injured 30 people; only his good reflexes saved him from being one of them.

………

Evidently, you can transport a wheelbarrow by bicycle.

Saw this lad on my way to work
byu/jakobolobo incarryshitolympics

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A writer for the Cornell University student paper highlights a problem experienced by bike riders almost everywhere, after bicycles are banned from the local Commons, forcing riders to choose between a busy highway and a “bike boulevard” consisting of a couple speed bumps and no protection.

A New Zealand politician complains about the “cruel” abuse she received online after posting about breaking her leg in a bicycling crash, asking “how can a human being write that to another person?” Welcome to our world, counselor. 

………

Local 

As we mentioned last week, West Hollywood will host a mobility popup on Santa Monica Blvd from 5 pm to 7 pm tonight, including distributing free bike lights as part of BikeLA’s Operation Firefly.

 

State

Riverside County firefighters conducted an air rescue of an injured mountain biker, who crashed while riding off designated trails near Lake Elsinore.

 

National

Cycling News considers whether expensive bike lights are really worth that much more than the budget variety.

Velo selects the best Black Friday road and gravel bicycling deals. Which reminds me it’s time for my annual “fuck Black Friday” campaign. Seriously, just get out and ride your bike, and let everyone else fight the crowds, virtual or otherwise.

Formerly high-flying Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes can’t catch a break as it continues to circle the drain, the latest blow coming in the form of a recall of the company’s ebike batteries, which the Consumer Product Safety Commission says pose a serious fire hazard.

Seatle’s annual Cranksgiving ride set a new record, with bicyclists collecting 6,540 pounds of donations for local food banks. Let’s hope the SoCal Cranksgiving editions were at least as successful, since some Thanksgiving Grinch stole 500 turkeys intended for a giveaway from a Lake Elsinore nonprofit. Thanks to Megan for the link. 

‘Tis the season. The Toys For Tots program in Bowling Green, Kentucky got a welcome surprise when they received a donation of 400 kids bikes, while expecting just a quarter of that.

That’s more like it. A 46-year old Florida man was sentenced to 12 years behind bars for the drunken crash that killed a 66-year old man riding a bicycle; he was also ordered to pay $750 for the victim’s funeral expenses.

 

International

A travel website highlights “the most grueling and unforgettable” bicycling routes on the planet, only one of which is even partially in the US.

No real surprise here, as no city in the UK or US is on the latest Copenhagenize list of the world’s top bicycling cities. Even if Minneapolis celebrates being ranked #44 in the world, and #2 in the US (insert scatological pun here).

A bike-touring Aussie writer discovers that South Korea is an undiscovered bicycling gem.

 

Competitive Cycling

Slovenian cycling star Tadej Pogačar denied rumors of an early retirement, saying his contract extends through 2030 and he intends to honor it.

Thirty-five-year old former Il Lombardia winner Esteban Chaves called it a career, saying he’s “very happy to close this chapter” of his life.

No real surprise here, as former cyclist and current team sprint coach Marcel Kittel says pro cycling is “absolutely not” clean. But the doping era is over, right?

Thirty-six-year old former Paris-Roubaix champ and current Canadian national road champ Alison Jackson has moved to a new team, saying she still has big ambitions and isn’t ready to leave the sport.

A petition calling for removing the Col de Sarenne from its inaugural appearance in the Tour de France has garnered more than 6,000 signatures, highlighting concerns that the mountain’s ecosystem is to fragile to host the final climbing stage of this year’s race.

 

Finally…

Who needs to be a car enthusiast when you’ve got a bicycle? Your next high-performance bike could be whittled from wood. That feeling when you steal a bike, and end up with someone’s grandma’s ashes.

And you, too, could have won Kraftwerk’s bicycle from the band’s 1984 Tour de France video for a mere $57,601.

If only you’d known about it.

Right?

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WaPo writer complains about “e-bike menace,” Micah Pan funeral today in Chino, and NJ stalker story gets worse

October 3, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 276 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

He almost gets it.

A columnist for the Washington Post writes about the onslaught of teens on e-motos, almost — but not quite — distinguishing the “e-bike menace” of non-street legal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from standard ped-assist ebikes.

I was in Hermosa Beach, California, the sweetest little beach town your toes can dig into, when I pressed the crosswalk button. The flashing lights came on, meaning: let’s go. I was one step into the street when a kid about 13 on a bike nearly sent me to my obituary.

But not just any bike. This was one of those e-motorbikes. Have you seen these things? They look like Suzuki dirt bikes, only cooler, quicker and deadlier, since you don’t hear them coming…

But this kid wasn’t just riding his. He was pulling a wheelie on the thing while doing about 40 mph. His front wheel was up so high, it nearly took my face off. Which means he wasn’t looking at any stupid flashing crosswalk lights.

Never mind that under California law, and most states who’ve copied it, ebikes are limited to a max of 28 mph, making anything that can go anywhere near as fast as he said the kid was doing illegal.

But then, he seems to have considered that.

There are tons of e-bike rules and regs, but somehow it’s legal in many states to ride an e-moto on streets as long as it has pedals and can’t go over 28 mph. Kids just go on YouTube and learn how to defeat the speed limiter.

All of which points out the need to clarify the distinction between ped-assist ebikes and e-motorbikes, which Calbike pushed the state legislature to consider this year.

And which they rejected.

Which leaves us with the same problem we’ve faced for the past few years. People who want — or need — a ped-assist ebike to exercise, run errands, replace the family car, or use as a mobility device, are getting lumped in with kids riding overpowered e-motos, and using poor judgement.

Sort of like kids have always done. But with a lot more speed and power at their disposal.

Which means we all get tarred with the same brush.

And the same backlash.

Meanwhile, Seal Beach police claimed a successful crackdown on illegal ebike riding.

A success that consisted of exactly one misdemeanor arrest, three illegal e-motorcycles seized, 22 stops for various traffic violations, and just eight tickets.

Which would suggest that maybe the problem isn’t as big as advertised.

And maybe they would have been better off cracking down on the people in the big, dangerous machines, rather than the little annoying ones.

Today’s photo from Metro Bike Share, showing typical non-teen on non-e-moto.  

………

I received word yesterday that the funeral for Micah Pan will be held at 4 pm today at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, 4201 Eucalyptus Ave in Chino.

A passionate member of the local bicycling community, Pan was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Chino two weeks ago.

The funeral is open to everyone.

I know it’s short notice, but it would be great to see some members of that same bicycling community show up to support his family.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign to help his family get back on their feet has raised over $30,000 of the $35,000 goal.

………

It just keeps getting worse.

Because the 17-year boy charged with intentionally running down two 17-year old New Jersey girls riding an ebike turns out to be a relative of the local police chief.

Okay, a distant relative.

But still.

Complicating matters even further, Westfield, New Jersey Police Chief Christopher Battiloro is a close family friend and neighbor of one of the victims.

Must be a small town.

One of the girls had filed a restraining order against her accused killer, while family members said he had been stalking her for months, calling him a “coward of a man.”

The same could presumably be said of the local school district and yes, the police department headed by his “distant” relative, who apparently did nothing to stop him.

A crowdfunding campaign for the two families has raised over $142,000 of the $160,000 goal.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

No bias here. A British driver attacks those “dangerous cyclists” for doing exactly nothing wrong, other than existing on that part of the planet he somehow claims as his own.

………

Local 

A Jesuit priest finished a three-month, 3,800-mile bike ride across the US at the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday to raise funds for Catholic schools in Belize, where he had lived for over a decade.

Nick Patsaouras, a former Metro board member and president of the late Southern California Rapid Transit District, says he was proud to build the kind of bike paths and greenways now deemed “hostile” to cars by the Trump administration. And yes, that’s the same Patsaouras as in the Patsaouras Bus Plaza in DTLA. 

A new analysis reveals Long Beach’s most dangerous corridors for pedestrians, as the city averages nearly one pedestrian crash every day.

 

State

Riverside’s Light Parade has gone from a casual, lowkey ride to a monthly event drawing around 600 people, prompting a fundraiser to pay for city permits and a police escort.

Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission dreams of transforming the city’s car-centric roads into a tree-lined paradise, calling for an “all-encompassing” citywide greenway. Sort of like bike riders everywhere — including here in Los Angeles.

 

National

Momentum consider’s DoorDash’s plans to send thousands of cute little robots crashing into bike lanes. Which might be good for them, but it ain’t good for those of us on bikes, and of questionable legality. 

A 26-year old Tucson man is being held on $1 million bail after he was charged with second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a man riding on a bike path; the 44-year old victim had gotten off his bike to confront the suspect for throwing things at members of a group ride, and had started riding away before realizing he’d been stabbed.

Apple AirTags even work in Missoula, Montana, where a man got his stolen ebike back thanks to one he had hidden on his bike.

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering changes to the driver’s license renewal process for elderly drivers, in response to the death of a 12-year old boy killed by an 85-year-old driver while riding his bike.

New York police are once again blaming the victims by ticketing bike riders, rather than drivers, at a Williamsburg intersection where a motorist killed someone riding a bicycle just days earlier.

 

International

A couple in Winnipeg, Manitoba are calling for safety improvements after they were both injured while riding bicycles at the same intersection just two days apart.

Candidates for mayor of Montreal insist they don’t oppose bicycling, but some don’t support expanding the city’s bike network, even though the limited loss of parking has generally been offset by an increase in retail sales and livability.

Cycling Weekly says bike theft is effectively being legalized in Britain, thanks to a new policy preventing police from investigating thefts of bikes parked at transit stations for more than two hours. Unlike here, where it’s just not worth the cops time to investigate if the bike is worth less than $1,000, which is only a catch and release misdemeanor under California law.

Cambridge, England is getting the country’s first “official cycle street,” giving bicyclists priority over people in cars.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life really is cheap in the UK, where a 32-year old man walked without a day behind bars for killing a 54-year old woman participating in a bicycling time trial, despite admitting he never saw the victim because he was way too busy looking at his phone. But at least he was banned from driving for a whole year. So if you want to know why people keep dying on the streets, overly lenient sentences like this are a damn good place to start. 

An 18-year old Dutch woman was randomly attacked while riding her bike in The Hague, when a man in his mid to late teens stabbed her in the leg as she rode past a hotel.

 

Competitive Cycling

Sad news from Italy, where former pro Stefano Casagranda died following a long battle against cancer; Casagranda raced for eight years, highlighted by winning a snowy Paris-Nice stage in a 62-mile solo breakaway. He was 52.

Mathieu van der Poel marked the end of his cycling season with a nice, relaxing ride with fans in Los Angeles, checking out the city in advance of the ’28 Olympic Games.

UCI cracks down hard on suspected doping by suspending an entire Portuguese cycling team for <checks notes> a whole 20 days. Because apparently there were no wet noodles left to slap them with.

 

Finally…

If you’re going to ride your mo-ped after drinking, try not to crash into a stopped LAPD patrol car. That feeling when you lock up your bike, and come back to find it’s being used for a stunt jump.

Or when your rocket-powered bicycle can’t even beat an ebike.

Or maybe an e-moto.

……… 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

No Week Without Driving in car-centric LA, fight for safe & simple red light cams, and 16-year old kid killed in e-motorbike crash

September 30, 2025 / / One comment
Day 273 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

This is day two of a Week Without Driving.

Or as it’s known here in Los Angeles, just another week.

Because officials in this city would never want to suggest to drivers that they might want to leave their car at home for even a week, no matter how good the cause.

And this is a very good cause.

According to the website,

If you can drive or afford a car, you may not understand what it’s like to rely on walking, rolling, transit and asking for rides. But for nearly a third of people living in the United States – people with disabilities, young people, seniors and people who can’t afford cars or gas – this is our every day.

We created the Week Without Driving experience so that those who have the option to drive can learn firsthand about the barriers and challenges that nondrivers face and work with nondrivers to create more accessible communities for all.

And one of those barriers, as I learned last week, is just how difficult it is to replace a lost ID here in California if you don’t drive a car.

Unlike drivers, who can request a new license online with just a few clicks and get it days later, non-drivers have to fill out a form, and schedule an appointment to appear in person at the DMV.

Since evidently, anyone who doesn’t drive is such a strange thing they have to ensure we actually exist.

Never mind that the next available appointment here in Los Angeles is mid-November.

Yes, November.

Then, and only then, according to the DMV’s website, you can expect a replacement ID to arrive in your hot little hands “just” three to four weeks later.

Which means it will be just a couple weeks before Christmas before I’ll once again have a little piece of plastic to tell anyone who the hell I am if I should get hit by a bus.

All because my wallet fell out of my pocket while riding one.

Yet when my wife realized she’d somehow become separated from her driver’s license when the paramedics took her to the hospital recently, she received a replacement little more than a week later.

So not only should drivers use this week without driving to walk in our shoes, officials in this state should try giving up their licenses to see how the DMV treats anyone crazy enough to live without a car in car-centric California.

Go on. I double-dog dare ’em.

……….

Streets Are For Everyone is urging, well, everyone to email or call California Governor Gavin Newsom to demand — okay, politely ask in a very firm manner — that he sign SB 720, the Safer Streets Program.

The bill is intended to modernize and simplify the regulations for red light cameras in California, to overcome the problems that have prevented their installation and, in too many cases, led to their removal.

And yes, I’m looking at you, Los Angeles.

This is how SAFE describes the problem, taken from a summary of their report.

California’s roads tell a grim story. SAFE reviewed the data. Since 2013, severe injuries and fatalities tied to intersection violations have surged 96.1%. In 2023 alone, red-light violations were linked to 195 deaths and more than 1,200 severe injuries. And these aren’t just drivers—the victims include cyclists and pedestrians, who made up nearly one in five of those killed or seriously injured.

Even seasoned drivers admit they hesitate after a light turns green, waiting to see if someone will barrel through the intersection. That hesitation isn’t paranoia—it’s survival.

Never mind the economic costs.

The human toll is incalculable, but the economic cost is staggering. Using the CDC’s WISQARS Cost of Injury calculator, SAFE estimated the financial burden of intersection crashes between 2021 and 2023:

  • $985 million in costs from severe injuries, nearly a third of it from medical expenses.
  • $6.96 billion in costs from fatalities.

Altogether, more than $7.9 billion was drained from California in just three years. That’s money that could have gone into schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and community programs—but instead was lost to preventable crashes.

SB 720 is designed to address the problem by improving red light enforcement.

There is a better way. Senate Bill 720—the Safer Streets Program—offers a critical chance to modernize California’s red-light enforcement. Modeled after the state’s successful speed safety camera bill (AB 645), SB 720 would:

  • Eliminate facial photography, capturing only license plates.
  • Treat violations like parking tickets, keeping enforcement simple and privacy intact.
  • Require revenue from citations to be reinvested into safety improvements—not city general funds.
  • Reduce the cost of citations to a flat $100 for the first citation and increase fines for those who repeatedly run red lights in proportion to the number of violations.

This approach has already proven effective in other states. Red light camera programs across major U.S. cities have reduced fatal crashes by 21% and saved an estimated 1,300 lives in a single year. When programs are dismantled, crashes and fatalities climb again.

It’s already passed both houses of the legislature, and is just waiting for Newsom’s signature, which is anything but a sure thing.

And that’s where you come in.

Once again, here’s how SAFE sums it up.

The data is clear. The solutions exist. And yet, lives continue to be lost every day California delays reform. SB 720 is now in the Governor’s hands, representing a chance to save lives and reclaim billions of dollars for our communities.

The question is not whether red-light running is preventable—it is. The question is whether California will finally choose to act.

Because every number in these statistics is more than a data point, it’s a life, a family, and a future stolen. And the cost of inaction is simply too high.

You’ll find a sample letter here, along with links to email, tweet or call.

I’m also told that anyone who gets at least ten people to sign will get a super cute photo of this super cute corgi.

And if that doesn’t seal the deal, I don’t know what will.

………

A 16-year old boy died in an Orange County hospital on Friday, three days after he was injured in a Newport Beach ebike crash last Tuesday.

Although he was reportedly riding an electric motorcycle, rather than a ped-assist bicycle.

Which does not make it any less tragic.

The crash occurred about 5:55 pm September 23rd, near Superior Ave and Nice Lane. There’s no word on whether this was a solo crash, or if there was a driver involved.

Anyone with any information is urged to call the Newport Beach Police Department at 949/644-3747 or email alaverty@nbpd.org.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

A London law firm has claims pending from a dozen clients who say they were injured by faulty Lime Bikes; meanwhile, a London columnist says “Good,” because maybe it will reduce the number of dangerous bicyclists. Yeah, that’s worked really well to get dangerous drivers off the road, hasn’t it.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A Secaucus, New York Uber Eats deliverista faces charges for fleeing from police following a dispute with a customer, then whacking a cop over the head with a bike lock and vase trying to get away.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Calbike calls for codifying language for self-driving cars to include a high standard for safety around bicycles and other vulnerable road users.

Berkeley has reimagined three interconnecting streets in the neighborhood below the UC campus to improve safety for bike riders, walkers and transit users through the use of bus boarding islands, concrete curbs and parking protected bike lanes.

San Francisco Streetsblog’s Roger Rudick says let’s all thank Oakland for building a bike cut-through they previously said was impossible.

It was a bad weekend in Northern California, where a 63-year old man was killed when he was struck by two drivers while riding a bike in Oakland after reportedly failing to stop for a stop sign, a bike rider was struck by a driver, and possibly killed, in Stanislaus County, and someone apparently stole a Carmichael hit-and-run victim’s ebike while leaving him to die in the street rather than calling 911.

 

National

A surprising new study shows that road bicycling is actually more dangerous than mountain biking, especially for older riders. So, go out and shred to your heart’s content. But be careful biking to the corner market, let alone riding your next century.

A French pastry chef opened a popup patisserie in a Seattle bicycle store, in other words, a bake shop in a bike shop.

Indianapolis has set a new record for bicyclists hit and killed on the streets this year, just three-quarters into the year.

Bike counters showed an average of 486 cyclists per hour on New York’s Vanderbilt Ave when it was closed to car traffic, demonstrating a high demand for safe infrastructure, despite dithering from the city’s lame duck mayor.

The New York Times visits Brooklyn’s massive and still-growing Bike Flea Market; meanwhile, the New York borough is getting a “game-changing” Dutch-style bike hub.

Tragic news from New Jersey, where two kids were killed when a driver broadsided the ebike they were riding.

Dozens of people rode their bikes through Opelousas, Louisiana to raise awareness and support for families living with the devastating effects of sickle cell disease.

Forty-five-year old Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen is one of us, going for a casual Miami bike ride with her jiu-jitsu trainer boyfriend.

 

International

A British woman says once she hit 60, she rented out her apartment and set out on her bike with just a tent; seven years and 24,000 miles later, she has no plans to stop.

Spanish motorcyclist Aleix Espargaro is one of us, even if it means he’s out of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix after crashing his bicycle.

A man rode his bike 1,250 miles from London to Prishtina, Kosovo to raise funds in honor of his father, after the older man died of pancreatic cancer. Which is the same damn disease that killed my mother 25 year ago.

A New Zealand woman known as the Helmet Lady has died, 31 years after her successful campaign to make bike helmets compulsory for all bicyclists in the country, following the bicycling crash that left her 12-year old son paralyzed from the neck down.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old British cyclist Max Hereward is trying to raise the equivalent of  over $15,000 to join a European development team, saying he’s gone as far as he can in his home country. Which is a pretty good indictment of what’s wrong with the sport these days. 

 

Finally…

Nothing goes together like bespoke bikes and craft beer. Your next e-cargo bike could be solar powered.

And nothing like making ICE an internet laughing stock when they can’t catch a single taunting guy on a bike.

……… 

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
 
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee