Tag Archive for ebikes

New bill needlessly rewrites ebike laws, LA ignores Winter Bike to Work, and welcome to the Donald J. Trump NP & bike path

February 17, 2026 / / One comment

新年快乐

新年快樂

새해 복 많이 받으세요

สวัสดีปีใหม่

CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI

Selamat Tahun Baru

Manigong Bagong Taon

And lest we forget, Ramadan Kareem, too!

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

No bias here.

A new bill from San Ramon State Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan would require owners of Class 2 and Class 3 ebikes to register their ebikes with the DMV, in addition to displaying a license plate and carrying proof of ownership.

They would not, however, have to have to take a driving test or have a driver’s license.

Bauer-Kahan says the so-called E-Bike Accountability Act is needed because there is no accountability for riders on the streets and “on our bike paths where e-bikes are going upwards of 30, 40 even sometimes 60 miles per hour.”

Except anything that can go that fast is already classified as a motorized bicycle or motor-drive cycle, since Class 3 ebikes are capped at 28 mph, and already requires a) a driver’s license, and b) registration with the DMV.

Either that, or they are illegally modified ebikes, or electric dirt bikes that are being illegally ridden on the roads.

Key word there being “illegally.”

So what the hell is the purpose of this bill, since everything it regulates is already required and/or illegal?

Never mind that the DMV can’t seem to manage their current workload just licensing drivers and motor vehicles, so this would require untold millions in additional staffing and resources, unless we want to watch the DMV slowly grind to a halt, as if it isn’t already.

Not to mention that the idea of registering bicycles has already been studied to death, and found to cost more to do than it would bring in to the state.

The practical effect of this bill would be to virtually halt all sales of Class 2 and 3 ebikes, at a time when the need to replace motor vehicles with some other more viable form of transportation is greater than ever.

This appears to be nothing more than an asinine political stunt to score points with the ebike-hating crowd.

Or looking at it in the kindest possible light, a sincere attempt by someone who is hopelessly uninformed, and has not bothered to look at the laws already on the books before submitting needless and ill-conceived legislation.

Let’s hope her peers in the legislature see through it, and give this bill the swift death it so richly deserves.

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My hometown newspaper offers photos from my bike-friendly hometown’s apparently very chilly 19th Annual Winter Bike to Work Day.

Which is about 19 years longer than not-so-very bike-friendly Los Angeles, which doesn’t celebrate it at all, for reasons that will forever escape me.

Then again, thousands of bike commuters turned out in Denver, too.

And even frosty Anchorage, Alaska had a small but significant turnout, which exceeded LA’s zero by roughly infinity, if I’m doing my math right.

It’s funny how cities in cold-weather climates can manage to encourage people to bike to work in the middle of winter, while normally sunny Los Angeles seems to buy the dual myths that biking to work just isn’t practical here, and no one would ever ride a bike in the winter.

Then again, those chilly cities also offer decent bike infrastructure that provides those people with safer places to ride, making winter bike commuting much more practical.

Or maybe Los Angeles just doesn’t want all those people on bicycles clogging up the streets, and impeding the God-given right of motorists to use their handheld smartphones without, you know, actually killing someone.

Usually.

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Um, okay.

Legislation passed by the US Congress last year and signed into law by President Trump gives the National Park Service three years to complete a study of turning the Los Angeles coastline into a national park.

According to the Santa Monica Daily Press,

The study, required by Public Law 117-328, examines coastline from Will Rogers State Beach to Torrance Beach, including areas around Ballona Creek, the Baldwin Hills and the San Pedro section of Los Angeles. The public comment period runs through April 6, 2026.

Which means it could soon cost you $15 to $20 a day, or $80 a year, for the privilege of riding your bicycle on the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path, which will inevitably be renamed the Donald J. Trump Bike Path.

Same with commuting along Ballona Creek, where the proposed extension will inevitably be halted once it starts requiring federal tax dollars from a bike-averse administration.

And if you think maintenance is bad now, just wait until the job is turned over to the DOGE-gutted park service.

But whether or not you agree it’s a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea, you now have two months to get your comments in.

According to SMDP,

The National Park Service is seeking feedback on five questions: what nationally significant cultural and natural resources should be protected, what role NPS should serve, what concerns exist, and general comments.

Comments can be submitted online at parkplanning.nps.gov/LosAngelesCoastal or mailed to National Park Service, Denver Service Center, Attn: Los Angeles Coastal SRS, One Denver Federal Center, Building 50, Denver, CO 80225.

A second virtual public meeting is scheduled for March 11 at 6 p.m. Pacific time.

………

Now you, too, can turn your bicycle into entryway art like Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling, just by hanging it from the rafters.

Or, uh, parking it in the hallway.

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

There’s a special place in hell for whoever deliberately doored a Yorkshire man in his 80’s as he was filtering past stopped traffic on his ebike, leaving the victim with multiple fractures.

No bias here. A Conservative member of the British House of Lords not only says there’s too much London road space dedicated to bike lanes, but there’s no corresponding space dedicated to cars. But subtract all the bike lanes in the entire city, and it would still leave the overwhelming majority road space dominated by motor vehicles.

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

Speaking of a special place in hell, police in New York are looking for a bike-riding man who put a 70-year old man in a headlock and punched him in the face following a dispute in the city’s Gramercy neighborhood.

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Local 

Kindhearted strangers came together to raise more than $9,000 for a Los Feliz family, after some schmuck stole an adaptive tricycle from their nine-year old boy with Down’s syndrome and autism.

Look for these three Croatian guys in 2028, when they plan to continue a two-decade tradition of bicycling to international Olympic sites by riding Route 66 from Oklahoma City, where some of the Los Angeles Olympic events will inexplicably be held, to the City of Angels for whatever events OKC doesn’t do.

 

State

Ventura opened a new multi-use path through Cabrillo Village on Friday.

 

National

Action star Jason Statham goes meta, starring as himself in the new big-budget action-comedy Jason Statham Stole My Bike, in which he apparently does just that. Although I’m not sure $80 million qualifies as “big budget” anymore. 

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is one of us, going for a Valentines Day ride through Miami with her one-year old son. 

 

International

A writer for Bike Radar questions the ever-increasing size of gravel bike tires, which are rapidly approaching bus tire territory.

Bike friendly cities around the world where you might actually be able to afford living.

Momentum highlights Canada’s best rail trails.

The wife of a late Scottish rugby star will ride 750 miles from the Scottish Borders to Dublin to raise funds for the motor neuron disease charity he founded before his death.

A 23-year old Liverpool, England man riding a ped-assist ebike was killed when he crashed into a police van during an attempted stop by the cops; police later clarified that the man fell off his bike before crashing into the van, “which was stationary at the time.” Although that doesn’t mean the cops didn’t cut him off with the van and cause him to fall. 

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that British women still don’t feel safe on the streets a year after launching a new safety campaign, because of everything from dark streets and distracted drivers to sexual harassment.

Bicyclists in the UK are being targeted by thieves when they try to sell their bikes online.

A new study from the Netherlands questions the effect of ebikes on the fitness of the country’s youth, as ridership for people under 24 has doubled in the past two years.

Tyler Perry is one of us, too, breaking his collarbone in two places pulling an endo while riding his bike in Elba, Italy. For anyone unversed in ancient bicycling vernacular, “endo” is short for sending your end over your handlebars. 

Here’s one for your bike bucket list. A Kiwi adventure bicyclist completed a 12-day, 270-mile journey through some of Nepal’s highest mountains on the Annapurna circuit.

Sad news from Taiwan, where King Liu, the founder of the world’s largest bikemaker, died at age 91; Giant is now a $2 billion company 54 years after he founded it.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-one-year old South Central native Alfredo Bueno takes fans of the EF Education-Aevolo pro cycling team on a tour of his Los Angeles, from the Marathon crash ride, to his favorite ride from his family home in Long Beach to the Hollywood Hills in Griffith Park.

Twenty-seven-year old Skylar Schneider is blowing off the Women’s WorldTour to return for a second stint with the L39ION of Los Angeles.

The Tucson Bicycle Classic is expanding to a four day stage race this year, kicking off with a time trial on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay says the cycling world is wondering whether America’s Jordan Stolz, the world’s fastest man on ice skates, could “transfer his brilliance” to pro cycling, like Eric and Beth Heiden, Clara Hughes and Mia Manganello before him. But you’ll have to get past the Journal’s paywall if you want to read it. 

Australia’s Kate Lee recounts her brief, two-year cycling journey from absolute beginner to national champ.

Yet another young cyclist has been killed by a driver. Eighteen-year old Francesco Mazzoleni of Italy’s GoodShop Yogurt Team was struck by a motorist while on a training ride in his home country, just three weeks short of his 19th birthday.

 

Finally…

Sweet! Your next tandem could have concha wheels. Sure, he can ride a tall unicorn with a Sousaphone, but can he actually play it? The next step of evolution, when even squirrels will be born with built-in bike helmets.

And that feeling when you’re just looking to hookup with bike dealers.

………

Oh, and this happened.

 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Elderly woman kills 3, injures 4 crashing into Westwood market; study shows ebikes boost mental health in elderly

February 6, 2026 / / 4 comments

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m just glad this damn week is over. 

I mean, it is over, right? Tell me it’s over. 

It’s just been one damn thing after another. And as soon as you think you’ve caught your breath, something even worse happens. 

But on the plus side, Sunday offers one of the best days to ride a bicycle, with virtually traffic-free streets until the game is over. Or gets out of hand, anyway. 

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

………

This is who we share the road with.

An elderly woman — the media was all over the place reporting her age, throwing out seemingly random numbers from 70 to 87, before apparently settling on 92 — crashed into the 99 Ranch Market on Westwood Blvd early Thursday afternoon.

Three people were killed on the spot — two men, ages 30 and 55, while the other was a 42-year old woman.

She also critically injured two 35-year old men, and two other men suffered minor injuries, one 37 and the other 38.

The horrific incident started when the woman struck a bike rider at Wellworth Ave and Westwood Blvd, then reportedly continued down the sidewalk before crashing through the glass windows into the store’s bakery department.

At least the guy on the bike walked away, as did the woman behind the wheel.

So far, police have termed it a tragic accident.

You know, just another oopsie.

Just a kindly old lady who just got confused, lost control of her car, and didn’t mean to cause any harm.

Not one word, at least to this point, discussing whether someone that old should have even been behind to begin with. Never mind that for most people, cognitive abilities decline with age, eyesight weakens, and reaction times slow.

No one is saying she’s not a nice person, and no one can say whether she was at fault for the initial crash with the bicyclist. Or that she doesn’t need a car in this damnably car-centric city.

But it’s hard to believe that a younger driver wouldn’t have been able to come to a stop before plowing into a building a full block away.

We continue to allow elderly people to continue driving, even as their abilities to do so safely decline. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?

Four dead people and an unborn baby, the victims of two drivers well over 80 in less than a week.

Just the normal cost of getting from here to there, I guess.

Thanks to Andy for the heads-up. 

………

No surprise here.

A new study on the effect of cycling in older adults published in the PLOS One medical journal shows that bicycling improved cognitive function and mental health in the test subjects, whether they rode regular bicycles or ebikes.

According to the abstract,

For executive function, namely inhibition (the Stroop task) and updating (Letter Updating Task), both cycling groups improved in accuracy after the intervention compared to non-cycling control participants. E-bike participants also improved in processing speed (reaction times in go trials of the Stop-It task) after the intervention compared to non-cycling control participants. Finally, e-bike participants improved in their mental health score after the intervention compared to non-cycling controls as measured by the SF-36. This suggests that there may be an impact of exercising in the environment on executive function and mental health.

In fact, the ebike riders actually showed more improvement than the regular bike riders.

Perhaps because ebikes are easier on older bodies, encouraging people to ride both more, and more often.

Just a guess.

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They get it.

In a surprisingly commonsense editorial, the conservative Orange County Register urges Irvine, and by extension other OC cities, to go slow when it comes to regulating ebikes.

We don’t have a problem with cities enforcing some sensible rules and reminding e-bike riders that they have a responsibility to be respectful of pedestrians and those who use traditional bicycles. Still, we worry that in their zeal to regulate, cities are tamping down on the core benefit of these e-bikes: providing people with that wonderful freedom of travel.

Which, at its core, is exactly what ebikes offer. Whether you’re young or old, healthy or otherwise.

It’s not that ebikes are better than regular bikes. They just meet different needs for different people.

And that shouldn’t be taken away just to rein in a relative few out-of-control kids.

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In better news, Gravel Bike California takes in the gravel and wine experience riding around Temecula.

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

Confusion reigns over Ireland’s proposal to require helmets and hi-viz for bike riders, even as a deputy prime minister insists they didn’t mean to include regular bicycles, just ebikes and the ilk.

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Local 

The Los Angeles Daily News profiles the owners of Spoke N’ Wheel, the oldest bike shop in the San Fernando Valley, as it nears the half-century mark. Which is only four years older than my ’81 Trek. 

 

State

The California Transportation Commission continues to flush the overwhelming majority of a newly released $1 billion transportation fund down the highway-expanding induced-demand toilet, while giving a small boost to transit and active transportation.

Volunteers maintaining the La Jolla Bike Path are calling on the city to post more signs to discourage people from building their own unauthorized bike trails, after discovering a number of such trails carved into the hillside. Because as we all know, posting a sign is almost as effective as a sternly worded letter to the editor in deterring scofflaw behavior. 

The annual Tour of Palm Springs rolls this weekend, resulting in a number of street closures in the area. Or openings, actually, since they’re only closed to cars.

Hats off to Alameda, which was elevated to a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community.

There’s a special place in hell for the man who attacked a ten-year old boy in Valley Springs and stole his bicycle, as the kid was riding with friends. Or for anyone else who’d attack or rob a little kid to steal their bike.

 

National

Like Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, Trek goes electric with a 28 mph “car-replacing” ebike. And yes, I’m going to keep trotting out that reference until I find someone else old enough to remember it.

An opinion columnist for the Seattle Times relates how he took his stolen ebike back from someone who claimed he bought it for 400 bucks, recognizing it as the man rode by and confronting him at a red light.

Well, no shit. The annual Minneapolis Frostbike trade show was cancelled due to ‘current law enforcement activities.’ Apparently, they didn’t want to risk anyone getting inadvertently deported or shot by ICE agents. 

No surprise here. Immigrant advocates and older adults decry New Jersey’s draconian new ebike law as discriminatory; the law requires licensing and registration for every ebike, without distinguishing electric motorbikes and dirt bikes from ped-assist commuter bikes.

The Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition complains about snow removal from bike lanes, saying the city’s winters are comparable to Copenhagen, which does a much better job. Although that’s not a problem Los Angeles riders usually have to deal with. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 73-year old Georgia man is planning to ride 950 miles to Washington DC to honor fallen service members and support the families they left behind. As we’ve noted before, however, there’s a big difference between planning to do something and actually doing it. So wake me when it’s over.

A Florida design website profiles local artist JC Franchevich, who paints images of Fort Meyers when he’s not off on long distance bicycle rides, including Bolivia’s famed Death Road.

 

International

Welcome to 1890. A 25-year old London man faces charges of “wanton and furious driving” for killing an ebike rider while driving a horse and cart. Yes, the original one-horsepower vehicle. 

Bicycle production in Spain was off 8.1% last year, while ebike production plummeted by 21.4%, even as the bicycle market in the country booms.

Sun’s out, buns out. An Aussie writer says now that the sun is out Down Under, it’s time to consider how to not feel the burn and stay comfortable while you ride. Which seems to be good winter advice here in sunny California, too.

 

Competitive Cycling…

Hi-viz and a flashing light didn’t seem to help Italian WorldTour cyclist Gianmarco Garofoli, who was run down from behind by a hit-and-run driver doing around 60 mph while on a training ride; fortunately, he wasn’t badly injured, and spotted the car as he returned to his hotel and alerted authorities.

Jens Voigt says we live in a golden era of cycling, adding “Every now and then you have Pogacar or Einstein being born.” Although I’d take Pog over Einstein on a hilly descent any day. 

USA Cycling announced the return of the Collegiate All-Star Program, mentoring colleges stars as they take the step up to elite cycling, and compete as a team in this year’s Redlands Bicycle Classic.

 

Finally…

Who really needs actual, factual bike news, anyway? Now you, too, can visit the world’s first hotel catering strictly to mountain bikers, though you may want to start boning up on your conversational Norwegian.

And you gotta eat sometime.

Let alone catch up on the day’s — hopefully factual — news.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7vpdxcialxa6j5s7yh5g5jhf/post/3me2gommmjc2t?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Froad.cc%252Fcycling-live-blog-5-february-2026

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Thanks to Jordan for an unexpected donation to help support this site, and keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

And thanks especially for the nice comment that accompanied it.

If you’d like to join him in supporting this site, just click here. Kind words optional.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

 

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

Long Beach traffic deaths doubled since 2015; LADOT installed pathetic 30 lane miles of bikeways, ignores Vision Zero

January 22, 2026 / / No comments

Welcome to our world.

Traffic fatalities in Long Beach have more than doubled in the ten years since the city vowed to eliminate traffic deaths within a decade, rising to the highest level in the last ten years.

That corresponds with the City of Los Angeles, which adopted a Vision Zero program that promised to end traffic deaths by last year.

And you know how that worked out.

Now LA’s Vision Zero is a forgotten program, trotted out only when the city wants to assure us that they are really, truly doing something to reduce traffic violence, without actually holding themselves accountable for it.

Like Los Angeles, most of Long Beach’s traffic deaths have been inflicted on people who weren’t encased in a couple tons of steel and glass.

According to the Long Beach Post story in the above link,

Their greatest toll has been on people outside of cars. Last year, 32 people were killed while walking, biking or riding an e-scooter. That eclipses the number of people murdered here last year: 29.

At least in LA, it’s only the total number of traffic deaths that exceeds the city’s murders.

Photo by Zariflavin from Pexels.

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LADOT has released their 2026 Annual Report, touting their usual list of successes for the past year, modest though they may be.

Including a rather underwhelming, if not pathetic, total of 31 lane miles of new bikeways installed during the last fiscal year. Which includes 1.3 lane miles of sharrows, which studies have shown are literally worse than nothing.

So make it a little less than 30 miles.

And since lane miles count each side of the roadway separately, that amounts to less than 15 miles out of the city’s 6,642 miles of city streets.

Just 0.23 percent.

I also challenge you to find a single mention of Vision Zero anywhere in the report.

If you can, you’re a better reader than I am.

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Interesting idea.

An Idaho legislator is trying to close a loophole in the law, after a judge dismissed a case where a driver hit an ebike rider.

According to the judge, the law in Idaho defines a bicycle as a “human-powered” vehicle, and it wasn’t clear to his or her honor if an ebike is actually human powered.

And that’s the problem. Some ebikes are human powered with an electrical assist, while others are strictly throttle controlled, or a combination thereof.

So defining an ebike as human powered could be the solution to the current dilemma of cities cracking down on ped-assist ebike riders for the problems caused by people on electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.

Something which was made clear by New Jersey’s new law that requires a driver’s license and registration to ride even the slowest ped-assist bike.

Meanwhile, Vermont legislators say the state’s ebike laws can’t keep up with technical advances leading to ebikes that can easily exceed the state’s 28 mph limit.

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We mentioned last month that you can, in fact, use an HSA/FSA — Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account — to buy an new bicycle or ebike, as well as bike gear, using pretax dollars, resulting in an average savings of 30%.

Now Marvin forwards word that Trumed will be the source you’ll have to use.

He adds,

The reason I really like this is because it supports the middle class. if I was poor, I could get help purchasing an e-bike. If I was rich, I could get help purchasing an EV. Finally, with FSA/HSA benefits, I can finally qualify for something that helps me.

The only downside I see is that no one can establish a new or add to an existing FSA/HSA until Nov 2026.

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Streets Are For Everyone will hold a die-in on the steps of City Hall this Saturday to protest the unacceptable level of traffic violence in this city.

In 2025 alone, 286 people were killed on our streets — deaths that were preventable.

This Saturday, SAFE and partner nonprofits will gather to honor lives lost and demand action after a decade-old City pledge to eliminate traffic deaths was missed.

4th Annual Die-In for Safer Streets
📍 LA City Hall Steps, 232 N. Spring Street
🕙 Saturday, January 24 | 10:00–11:00 AM

Signing up is appreciated, but walk-ups to the event without signing up are also welcome.

Lives are on the line. Inaction is no longer acceptable.

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Streets for All invites you to register for all their upcoming mobility debates/discussions this month.

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Local 

The LA Chinatown Firecracker will be back for the 48th consecutive year on weekend of February 28-March 1, marking the lunar new year with running, walking, bicycling and dog walking events.

Glendale is very slowly moving forward with plans for the Glendale-Los Angeles Garden River Bridge Project, a landscaped bridge, currently in the environmental review stage, connecting with Griffith Park across the LA River.

Santa Monica police will conduct yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation tomorrow, as usual, ticketing anyone who commits a violation that endangers either one — even if you’re only endangering yourself, at least in their eyes.

 

State

A San Diego bike shop owner is still trying to cope with Trump’s tariffs, after a near year of uncertainty.

Residents of San Diego’s Pacific Beach neighborhood are calling for safety improvements following the death of six-year old Hudson O’Laughlin, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he and his family were riding bikes on the sidewalk — even though all the previous traffic calming measures introduced in recent years were removed following complaints from residents.

A travel website says Northern California’s Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is “a rather secluded and uncrowded haven” for hiking or biking surrounded by towering redwoods.

 

National

A nine-year old Washington State boy got a new bicycle from a local group after his broke down, nominated for his leadership and friendship to others — and he immediately named it for his favorite soccer star.

A Texas family is coping with the grief of losing a baby by attempting a long-distance bike ride to raise funds to support families facing high-risk pregnancies. Although how long they consider long-distance isn’t clear.

That’s more like it. Students, faculty and employees of Cincinnati’s Xavier University can now use the city’s bikeshare system for free.

 

International

Road.cc recommends the year’s best road bikes.

Cyclist offers recommendations on the best insulated water bottles. Which I misread as “the best insulted water bottles,” which would make for a much more interesting article.

Tragic news from Peru, where 29-year old Florian Berg was killed by lightening on Saturday when the German climate activist was caught in a severe thunderstorm in the Andes, after more than a year spent riding around the world.

Next City says Victoria, British Columbia is one of the best bike cities not traditionally known for it, after tripling its rate of bicycling in just 11 years. Although they can’t seem to spell Victoria correctly. Or British, for that matter. 

A Scotsman resigned from the rat race, quitting his high-stress job as a communications director for a renewable energy company for a much calmer career fixing bicycles. As I know all too well after a career in advertising, the problem with the rat race is the rats usually win. 

 

Competitive Cycling

Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen outsprinted the sprinters to win the first stage of the Tour Down Under.

Bike Radar asked the pros at the Tour Down Under how to make pro cycling safer, and was told the solution is slower bikes and safer courses.

The first stage of India’s Tour of Pune was temporarily halted due to a crash involving around 30 riders; fortunately, no one was seriously injured, though three riders were forced to withdraw.

French cyclist Simeon Sebastien Green is still competing at twice the age of many his competitors.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you’re a legendary British DJ, and the best bike ride of your life started in West Hollywood. Or when the local golf club is infested with ebikes of the non-bicycle variety.

And waxing eloquent about a blue touring bike bought on an informed impulse — for the equivalent of just 270 bucks.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Update: Man riding an ebike killed, apparently by hitting a median in solo Long Beach crash

January 17, 2026 / / No comments

A man was apparently killed riding an ebike in Long Beach Friday night.

Apparently, because the victim was found lying unresponsive on the center median of Artesia Blvd.

And because it’s not clear what kind of electric bike he was riding, or how it happened.

According to My News LA, police responded to reports of an unconscious man in the median on Artesia Blvd near Indiana Ave around 9:40 pm.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, the victim, who was not publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators speculated that he somehow lost control of his ebike while riding in the left lane and hit the median, and was thrown from his bike.

The belief that he was riding in the left lane and hit the curb with enough force to cause his death suggests he may have been riding an electric motorbike or dirt bike, rather than a bicycle.

However, it’s also possible that he was on a ped-assist bike, and may have been forced into the median by a motorist or hit a pothole.

With the limited information available, all we can do is speculate. Hopefully, we’ll learn more soon.

This is the third bicycling fatality that I’m aware in of Southern California this year, and the third in Los Angeles County.

Update: The victim was identified as Robert Neal, but no age or city of residence was given. 

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Robert Neal and his loved ones. 

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

WeHo bike lanes going green, and new CA bill would cap ebike speeds and reclassify more powerful ebikes as motorbikes

January 15, 2026 / / One comment

West Hollywood will paint existing bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd, Fairfax Ave and San Vicente Blvd green to increase their visibility.

It will be that particular shade known as “Hollywood Green,” allowing filmmakers to work around the color to avoid the disastrous rollout when Los Angeles first went green.

Painting the lanes is probably a good idea, given that most drivers seem to think the Fairfax bike lane is only there to bypass backed-up traffic, seemingly never occurring to them that there might be a bicycle in it.

And usually there isn’t, for exactly that reason.

Green paint isn’t likely to stop those drivers. But at least they’ll have a better idea what law they’re breaking.

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That’s more like it.

A new bill in the state legislature would cap ebike engines at no more than 750 watts while imposing new speed restrictions.

AB 1557 would also reclassify more powerful electric motorbikes as motor-driven cycles, which would require a license to operate.

Maybe then we can finally get everyone to stop calling the damn things ebikes, and blaming all of us for the actions of a relative few teen knuckleheads.

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Streets For All will host a mobility debate for the candidates for city controller next Thursday.

Only one of whom has corgis, which should be a key consideration.

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

An English borough clapped back when drivers complained about paying for the roadway as well as bike lanes, only to be rewarded with a 20 mph speed limit to protect vulnerable road users, replying that motorists don’t pay any more than anyone else and the country hasn’t had a road tax for nearly a century.

No bias here. A British news channel breathlessly announced that bicyclists now think illegally modified ebikes pose a bigger risk to their safety than motor vehicles. Except they left out the word “some,” because only 8% of the people polled believe that — and only 500 people were polled.

No bias here, either. Aussie commenters set their hair on fire when a photo showed a bicyclist riding in a bus lane, insisting that the single rider was somehow “inconveniencing hundreds” during rush hour. Must have been a damn big bus, because no one else in the photo seems to be even a little bit inconvenienced.

………

Local 

The Eastsider reminds us that Metro is looking for your comments on closing the gap in the LA River bike path through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood.

Calabasas bike-themed restaurant, bike shop and coffee bar Pedaler’s Fork is opening a second location in LA’s Frogtown, near their existing 10 Speed Coffee and close to the LA River bike path.

Santa Monica will conduct yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation from 2 pm to 8 pm today. So ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits so you don’t get ticketed. Or just avoid the city entirely this afternoon and evening if you can.

 

State

Calbike has opened registration for April’s biennial California Bicycle Summit in Sacramento.

Oceanside police are pushing for a change in the city’s ebike regulations to prohibit carrying a second rider and allow cops to temporarily seize the ebikes of scofflaw riders. Although once again, they seem to be conflating ped-assist ebikes with illegally modified electric motorbikes and dirt bikes.

A 73-year old Rancho Bernardo man is bicycling around San Diego with his son to interview random people they meet and post the videos online. The story is paywalled, but you can see their videos on their website.

 

National

A New York news site says bicyclists and ebikers continue to exceed Central Park’s 15 mph speed limit, endangering lives, while the speed limit is almost impossible to enforce. Yet the photo shows a couple kids on e-motorbikes with full face helmets, one pulling a wheelie, making it clear that regular bicycles and ped-assist ebikes aren’t the problem. And speed guns work just as well on them as they do with motor vehicles.

Streetsblog says the way to solve the problems in Central Park is to build better bike lanes around the park’s perimeter, so non-recreational riders don’t have to use it as the only safe route across town.

Proof protected bike lanes work. Ridership on a contested Brooklyn bike lane went up 60% after it was protected — even though the former mayor ripped out three blocks of the protection.

Justice denied, as a Salvadoran immigrant faced up to 12 years behind bars for killing a Long Island bike rider in a drunken crash, but was deported before he could be sentenced.

A group of Tampa, Florida mountain bikers are building their own trail, the city’s firstl.

 

International

Bike Radar explains why your ebike battery loses power when it’s cold, with a lithium ion battery having just half the power at 4 below zero Fahrenheit that it does at 77 degrees. Which is not a problem most SoCal riders are likely to have. 

The state of Mexico will invest the equivalent of $6.3 million to build four new bike lanes, as well as six protected intersections in high traffic areas.

London’s Telegraph recommends the ten European bike routes for all skill levels that you should tackle in your lifetime. Particularly if you feel an uncontrollable urge to circumnavigate Iceland. 

A London writer experiences the culture shock of moving from an air-conditioned office to a bicycle delivery service following his fourth layoff in six years, saying he hadn’t counted on get hit by cars and skinheads — let alone seeing the city in a whole new light.

Ireland’s Taoiseach, otherwise known as the country’s prime minister, condemned a judge’s comments that bike riders have made Dublin a nightmare, while the country’s Labour Party filed a formal complaint with the courts.

Cycling Weekly recommends the “unknown” climbs of the Austrian Alps, calling them harder than those of the Tour de France.

More proof protected bike lanes work. A year-old protected bike lane in the Australian state of Tasmania hasn’t had a single bicycling crash since it was installed, despite seeing 6,000 trips each month, while overall crashes on the street have dropped nearly a third.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can turn your kid’s balance bike into an electric snow trike. That feeling when you have a need to prove you really did it.

And building your granddog his own bike seat. Or a mobile dog house.

Or something.

@louie_and_grandpaw

Spoiled little daschund ! Grandpaw built this custom snoopy inspired dog house from scratch for his grand dog Louie! #daschund #dogsoftiktok #dogtiktok #dogmom

♬ Linus And Lucy – Take 1 – Vince Guaraldi Trio

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Why this isn’t e-BikinginLA, New York’s new mayor puts his money where his bike is, and new San Diego Fondo this June

January 5, 2026 / / 7 comments
Welcome back!
And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated to the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to all those who gave this year to support this humble site.

So thanks to John, Norwood, Mary, Robert, Jim and Glenn for their generous donations in the final days of the fund drive to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

In the end, more than 60 people opened their hearts and wallets to donate this year, falling just just a few hundred short of breaking that elusive $5,000 barrier for the first time — far more than I expected after what was such a difficult year for so many of us.

Now the holidays are finally over, and I’m tanned, rested — or maybe rusted after all this rain — and ready to get back to work.

And hey, happy new year! Let’s hope it’s a better one for all of us. 

………

Let’s start with a recent email exchange with someone who seemed to think I write too much about ebikes, suggesting I should change the name of the site to e-BikinginLA.

He warned that things would look a lot different to if I was a parent riding a “real bicycle” with child passenger, and then someone zoomed by in the curb lane or on the sidewalk at 28 mph.

This was my response, which I’m sharing to clarify where I stand on the great ebike debate.

I write about ebikes because that’s what’s in the news these days, just like I’ve written about any number of things that have been in the news over the years.

I’m not a fan of high-speed, throttle-controlled ebikes, which I believe should be recategorized as motorbikes and require a license to operate. I do like ped-assist ebikes with a max speed of 20 mph, simply because they expand the potential for bicycling from the proverbial “young and healthy” we always hear about, to virtually everyone. And provide the potential to trade a car for a bicycle for countless people who might not otherwise even consider it.

I also believe every bicycle should be ridden within the limits of the law whenever practical, which would generally prohibit passing on the inside or riding on the sidewalk at an excessive speed. Everyone should ride in a safe and sane manner, regardless of how their bike may be powered. And no one should ever have a sense of entitlement on the streets, whether walking, biking or driving.

Personally, I’d like to have an e-cargo bike just so I can bike to Costco or the hardware store, and take my service dog with me wherever I go, which doesn’t exactly work on my 18-speed racing bike. However, I’ve never actually ridden one yet, after being a lifelong roadie, and don’t know if I’d really like it or not.

Meanwhile, on a related subject, The New York Daily News says the city could end its “vicious cycle” with high-speed ebikes by requiring them to be licensed and insured as mo-peds, like they do in the Netherlands.

But apparently, they don’t want you to read it, because the editorial is locked behind a paywall for subscribers only.

And a Bay Area woman says she’s all for ebikes, and the problems everyone seems to be complaining about are caused by people on electric motorbikes, not Class 2 ebikes like hers.

………

It didn’t take long for New York’s new mayor to demonstrate his transportation bona fides.

Just days after Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office, he announced a Complete Streets makeover of McGuinness Boulevard, including parking-protected bike lanes the full length of the corridor, considered a key bicycling route connecting Brooklyn and Queens.

The project was killed by the previous administration following a corruption scandal, when a top aide to former Mayor Eric Adams accepted “a relatively small sum of money” and the promise of a speaking role on a TV series to kill the project.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette is sponsoring the Giro di San Diego Gran Fondo this June, complete with cash prizes and KOM kits.

………

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

A Cathedral City man can be grateful a local driver is a bad shot, after a Palm Springs man is accused of deliberately hitting a man on a bicycle with his car following an argument between the two men, then making a U-turn to fire off a gunshot at the 40-year old victim before fleeing; 47-year old John Nicholas Duran was arrested later in Cathedral City, and faces charges of attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon.

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

A Florida man was knocked off his bicycle by the cops while carrying a sackful of stolen mail, after a year of posing as a mail carrier to break into people’s mailboxes. Although riding his route on a bicycle should have been a dead giveaway wasn’t a real mail carrier.

Bicyclists in London will now have the option of paying a fine equivalent to $67 if they’re caught running a red light, or watching video of a red-light running bike rider who was in a coma after he was hit by a bus driver. Personally, I’d rather just pay the fine.

Police in the UK are looking for a 20-something road-raging ebike rider accused of threatening and racially abusing a van driver, after being told he was riding too close to the van with no lights on his bike.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his predictions for the coming year, including a 50% drop in new bike lanes in Los Angeles, as the city puts on the brakes to avoid complying with Measure HLA and ADA-compliant curb cuts.

Burbank has closed a section of the Channel Bike Path between Verdugo and Providencia avenues for an undetermined period to conduct repairs.

San Pedro’s Bike Palace is now boarded up after more than 50 years as a local mainstay, while the owners deal with the aftermath of a devastating pre-Christmas fire; a crowdfunding page has raised more than $62,000 to help the rebuilding efforts. Unfortunately, the Daily Breeze story in the first link may be hidden behind a paywall, so you’re on your own if they block you.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 79-year old Long Beach man rode his bike every day for more than 18 years, through an appendectomy and the death of his wife, going so far as to pay a man 20 bucks to borrow a kid’s bike after attending the Kentucky Derby.

 

State

Sad news from Fremont, where someone riding a bicycle was killed when a semi driver turned into a driveway in front of the victim. Although someone should tell NBC Bay Area that they might want to at least mention the driver, because the damn truck didn’t do it on its own.

The bikelash is real. San Francisco’s transportation pendulum appears to be swinging back in favor of motorists, as the people on four wheels claw back their political power.

 

National

A Las Vegas writer says the city could be safer for biking and walking if it just invested the same effort into building paved trails as it does for stadiums.

An 18-year old Utah man rode his bicycle 14,000 miles from Morocco to Singapore in five months. At that age, I was happy just to drive across the state line to buy booze. 

Colorado’s state ebike tax credit will be cut in half this year, dropping from $450 to just $225, as bike shop owners understandably question whether that will result in a drop in sales.

For the second time in just two weeks, a Texas driver ran down two people riding their bikes, this time in Houston, killing one person and critically injuring the other. But at least the driver stuck around this time.

A 73-year old man was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide for killing a 44-year old Toledo, Ohio man as he was waiting on his bicycle at a red light, running him down from behind before fleeing the scene. The next time someone asks you why so many bike riders run red lights, remind them about cases like this. 

Tennessee drivers will now be expected to know bicycle hand signals as part of the driver’s test. Although they probably already understand the most common one. 

New York’s street safety efforts seem to be paying off, after 2024 was the safest year on city streets since they began keeping stats 116 years ago.

A 40-year old man from El Cajon, California has been charged in the hit-and-run death of a 49-year old man riding an ebike in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, after spending three days on the run.

New Orleans is the latest city to offer a rebate up to $1,200 to buy a new ebike. Which compares favorably to the $0 offered by Los Angeles.

A 20-year old hit-and-run driver in Louisiana also faces a vehicular homicide count, among other charges, after the 64-year old bike-riding man he ran down while allegedly driving drunk died in the hospital a day later.

Once again, an advocate for safer streets was killed while riding his bike, this time when a Macon, Georgia man was run down from behind by a 73-year old woman, who claims she didn’t see him before the crash — yet police still blamed the victim for simply riding in the roadway, instead of on the shoulder, and not yielding to traffic.

Sad news from Florida, where Joe Montgomery died of apparent heart trouble, 55-year after he founded Cannondale above a Connecticut pickle factory, naming the bikemaker after a nearby train station; he was 86.

 

International

Momentum offers their resolutions for a “very bicycle new year,” including embarking on more aimless, social bike rides, and always make bicycling the first choice.

British Columbia bike riders say winter weather doesn’t stop them, but “snow-packed bike lanes and impatient drivers” can.

Bicycling has hit an all-time high in Flanders, with an increase of 40,000 bicycle trips per day since 2022 in the Dutch-speaking region of northern Belgium.

Take a bicycle tour of Transylvania. But maybe wear a garlic necklace just to be safe. 

Over 1,000 people turned out in Vadodara, India on Sunday for the 55th annual Fit India Sundays on Cycle, just one of the 5,000 bike events held across the country yesterday.

A Zambian woman says the gift of a Buffalo bike from World Bicycle Relief has allowed her to double the profits from her small shop, and help her children dream of a better future.

Bicycling has become a hugely popular form of recreation in China, accounting for a whopping $42.9 billion in bike sales in 2024.

Next time you find yourself in Osaka, Japan, make plans to visit the Shimano Bicycle Museum, where you’ll find a century of exclusive bicycling history from the earliest Safety Bikes, to a rain-proof electric trike and a five-seat racing bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

British Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy made his first appearance just weeks after suffering a severe leg injury in a mountain biking crash, hobbling out on crutches to present a trophy to the winner of the World Darts Championship.

Double Olympic medalist Wout van Aert had surgery to repair a fracture and a sprained ankle after crashing on a snowy ‘cross course.

A Rwandan website considers the role a mother played in the rise of her daughter in junior cycling.

 

Finally…

Who needs an ebike when you’ve got an exoskeleton? Or a camper van when you’ve got a postal ebike?

And doing the Stranger Things bike thing, without that whole downer Upside Down thing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

The true cost of California’s cancelled ebike program, and how to know ebike classifications and still get it wrong

December 19, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 352 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Just 5 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

 

Thanks to Brian, Joel, and Robert for their generous donations to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

But time’s running out! Just seven six days left to give! 

So stop what you’re doing, and donate right now through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

And happy Chanukah to everyone wrapping up your celebration this weekend!

………

This is the cost of cancelling the state’s ebike voucher program.

According to a paywalled story from the Sacramento Bee, republished by Governing, the California Ebike Incentive Program was literally life-changing for residents of a low-income neighborhood in the city.

Dewayne McDaniel, who got a bike he uses to get to the store to buy food, praised the scuttled e-bike program: He couldn’t afford a car but, with the bike, he could easily pick up groceries for himself and for his neighbor who was unable to walk. Another neighbor in his complex, AJ Ortiz, walks with a cane but loves the e-bike he purchased with a voucher. Ortiz’s bike gives him a low-impact way to incorporate more exercise and movement into his life, and he can visit friends downtown and get to the bank without having to rely on the bus.

The money remaining in the program, about $23 million, was shifted to California’s Clean Cars 4 All vehicle trade-in program, which only helps if you can afford a new car.

And many low-income Californians can’t.

But Ortiz, McDaniel, Crespo, Emery and Sala were disappointed that the e-bike program was ended rather than retooled.

In a lot of our families in our community, those old 15-year-old cars, that’s the only car they have, and they’re not gonna give it up,” Sala said. The Clean Cars 4 All program gives up to $12,000 toward the purchase of an electric or hybrid vehicle made within the last eight years, but participants have to trade in their old, less-efficient car. “To give it up for an e-vehicle that costs more money, that will — they’ll have to get a loan — they’re not gonna do that. … The program the way they’re designing it now will not work for poor communities. It just won’t.”

Not to mention that the vehicle program is a trade-in program, so it only works if you already own a car.

So if you don’t have a car or can’t afford one, you’re screwed. And without the voucher program, many low-income Californians would even struggle to afford a used bicycle, let alone a new ebike.

Sala said that many people in low-income neighborhoods would love to get an e-bike if they could afford the initial purchase: The $2,000 voucher could cover the whole cost of a bike as well a helmet and locks. The California Air Resources Board reasoned that an e-bike can replace many shorter car trips for far less money.

As the story points out, not only can an ebike replace shorter car trips, they can also serve as mobility devices for people who might not otherwise be able to get around.

McDaniel uses the bike to get food, too. He said he couldn’t afford a car and — because he has congestive heart failure — he couldn’t walk very far or carry much weight. “I can only do a limited amount,” he said. But now with a new form of transportation, he can go to the store and pick up food for himself and one of his neighbors.

“It makes life simpler,” he said “It gives you a better quality of life.”

Even with his health issues, he can get around with the help of the bike.

This is what CARB took away from us with their money grab that took ebike vouchers from low-income Californians to redistribute to people who can afford a car, actually want one, and are able to drive one.

But according to CARB, they didn’t have a choice, arguing that the state’s budget crisis required them to transfer any available funds into the car program.

Which may or may not be true.

But if they hadn’t had their heads so far up their own asses so badly mismanaged the program for three years, the funds would have been distributed to people in need long before the state budget became an issue.

I’m not the only one who’s called for a state investigation into the whole damn thing. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta apparently is too busy suing Donald Trump to look into problems closer to home.

So we’re stuck with waiting for legislature to find the funds, and the will, to restore the program.

And hopefully find another state agency to manage it.

………

They get it. And they don’t get it.

Simultaneously.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the problem of ebike-born hooligans who attacked a man in Hermosa Beach, leading to charges against at least two boys in their early teens, along with alleged South Bay teen ebike gangs, and others who engage in aggressive behavior.

Some beach cities residents say the teens’ aggression reflects a broader attitude: that e-bike riders, emboldened by their protected status as minors, increasingly act as if they own the streets.

“They run stop signs, they’re speeding, they’re flipping people off. They’re on their phones or filming themselves for social media,” said Redondo Beach resident Darryl Boyd. “It’s a circus — a psycho circus.”

Then the Times carefully makes the point that there are differing types of ebikes.

The machines cost anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000. Type 1 e-bikes, which are pedal-assisted, and Type 2 e-bikes, which are pedal- and throttle-assisted, can reach up to 20 mph, while Type 3 e-bikes can go up to 28 mph and may only be ridden by those 16 and older in California.

Pocket bikes, electric motorcycles and electric dirt bikes, which are generally not street legal in California, can reach speeds of 45 to 55 mph. These devices are particularly popular among teen boys, who use them to perform high-speed stunts.

So far, so good.

The problem comes in the rest of the whole damn article, which never bothers to point out that the misbehaving lads aren’t riding Type 1 or 2 ebikes. Or even Type 3, for that matter.

Instead, they’re roaming the streets on the bikes discussed in that second paragraph above. Mini bikes, e-motorbikes, dirt bikes, and other assorted fast and high-powered machines of questionable legality, too often purchased by indulgent parents.

Which wouldn’t matter, except when the inevitable crackdown comes — as it has in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo and now Torrance — affecting everyone on any type of ebike, from middle school students and working class bike commuters, to the dirt bike-riding miscreants who caused the problem in the first place.

So congratulations to the LA Times for being one of the first media sources to crack the code on the various ebike classes.

But maybe they could be just a tad clearer on which riders actually cause the problems.

………

‘Tis the season.

A Christmas bike giveaway started by a late police officer will donate 44 bikes to kids in Sinton and Corpus Christi, Texas.

A restaurant in Big Sandy, Texas is hosting a bike giveaway tomorrow, asking donors to just show up with a new bicycle, and kids who want one to just show up with a parent. Apparently, they just have to trade their parent to get a new bike. 

The 18th annual Arkansas Stop the Violence bicycle drive hopes to give away 500 new bicycles to children in need this year, after already collecting 390.

The Tampa, Florida Habitat for Humanity teamed with onbikes to give away 50 bicycles to kids in need, while 25 families will move into new homes built by volunteers.

This one belongs here too, as the kindhearted employees of a Florida school pitched in to buy a new bike for a coworker who rides 17 miles to work every day.

………

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

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An alleged road-raging driver who chased an Irish bike rider and pinned his bike to the curb, just for the crime of being told to get off his phone behind the wheel, had his two-year driving ban for failing to cooperate with police investigators lifted, after convincing the judge that it was just too darn inconvenient.

………

………

Local 

Metro has released the draft environmental report on extending the LA River Bike Path south from Elysian Valley through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood; the comment period began yesterday, and will continue to February 2nd, with a series of public hearings at the end of January.

 

State

Huntington Beach has designated September 18th of each year to be Kolby Aipa Day, marking the birthday of the 20-year old surfboard scion killed when the ebike he was riding was being towed by a friend’s car.

This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two. A Fresno man walked without a single day behind bars after pleading no contest to killing a bike-riding college professor and mother of five, after the CHP helpfully testified that it was just really, really hard to see her due to a hill; the judge sentenced him to 180 days split between work release — which doesn’t have to be served in jail — and home vacation.

San Francisco Streetsblog helpfully suggests six projects that fit with the mayor’s new safety initiative, which replaces the city’s failed Vision Zero.

 

National

If your kid is riding in a Schwinn Ovation Bicycle Child Carrier stop using it immediately, after they were recalled for a risk of falling off; meanwhile, about 400 Pedego Fat Tire Trikes have been recalled due to risk of the frame breaking.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is addressing a troubling number of bicycling deaths by installing the city’s first protected bike lane, though only as a pilot project. Because apparently, something that has been repeatedly proven to work to improve safety doesn’t count unless it’s proven again here, wherever here happens to be. 

Once again, someone has been killed in a dispute over a stolen bicycle, this time in Austin, Texas, where police allege a 30-year old man shot another man after accusing him of stealing his bicycle. How many times do we have to say it? No bike is worth a human life. Just let it go, and let the cops handle it.

Suspected ICE agents, who refused to identify themselves or who they work for, tackled a Columbus, Ohio man off his bicycle as he was riding by. Which begs the questions of whether they had a warrant for him, and how could they tell if he was here legally by how he rode a bike? 

The Plymouth, Massachusetts Select Board showed a little common sense by rejecting even a watered-down crackdown on ebikes. By all means, go after the kids on illegal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes, but leave ped-assist bikes out of it. 

Adding a shared use bike path to a replacement for Baltimore’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge could add more than a billion bucks to the total cost, which is already double previous estimate of $7.8 billion. Maybe if they didn’t pave the pathway with gold and diamonds it might lower the cost a bit. 

Woodstock, Georgia — no, not the one where the famous music festival took place — is considering a crackdown on minibikes and ebikes after two men on the former caused $7,000 in damage by doing burnouts on their e-minibikes in a shopping mall elevator. Once again victimizing all ebike riders for the actions of a few on e-motorbikes.

A Florida website considers why the Sunshine State remains the nation’s most dangerous state for people on bicycles, and what can be done about it.

 

International

Momentum says Canadian bicyclists are, like the eponymous geese, migrating south for the winter, but opting for spots in South and Central America rather previous sunny spots like Arizona and Florida, which may seem questionable in the current environment.

A British tutoring firm examines some of the people who have ridden a bicycle around the world.

Ghost bikes have made their way to Cape Town, South Africa to honor the victims of traffic violence.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo doesn’t seem to be fans of the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team’s new orange and whitish kits, either. I mean, we all know what happens when you sweat through white bike shorts, right?

A UK pro cycling site considers the psychology and history of the 21 hairpin bends that make up the legendary Alpe d’Huez.

Bike Radar considers the rich and ever-changing tapestry of WorldTour cycling team sponsors.

The legendary Eddy Merckx hopes to be able to ride a bike again, after the 80-year old Cannibal broke his hip, and underwent a third hip replacement.

 

Finally…

Doesn’t everyone ride a century on a Penny Farthing dressed as Santa? So much for riding a new Porsche ebike.

And your new riding glasses could be smarter than you are.

Okay, maybe just smarter than me.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Torrance tries to overregulate ebikes tonight, what comes after Vision Zero fail, and CD12’s Lee fails ethics ruling

December 16, 2025 / / Comments Off on Torrance tries to overregulate ebikes tonight, what comes after Vision Zero fail, and CD12’s Lee fails ethics ruling
Day 349 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Just 9 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

So far we haven’t had a single day without at least one donation. So thanks to Bonnie and James for their generous support for SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy! 

But time is running out. Seriously, what are you waiting for already?

Take just a moment right now to donate using PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

Don’t wait. Give now!

………

Last week, we mentioned that Torrance will consider new ebike regulations at tonight’s City Council meeting.

Make that over regulating, once again lumping ped-assist ebikes together with electric motorbikes, and safe bike commuters with overly entitled teen gangs on high-speed dirt bikes.

It’s hard for me to effectively evaluate proposals in cities I barely know, and haven’t ridden in for years.

Fortunately, North Torrance Bike Bus organizer Kyle Richardson has shared an open letter to the Torrance council that clearly spells out just how far overboard this proposal goes.

So if you live or ride in the area, give this a close read. Then attend the meeting if you can, or submit your comments before the meeting.

Because this crap is just ridiculous. And dangerous.

………

What comes after Vision Zero?

That’s the question San Francisco is attempting to answer after the expiration of the city’s Vision Zero program, which was supposed to end traffic deaths in the city by last year.

But didn’t.

In fact, according to public television station KQED, the city saw 41 traffic deaths last year, the highest total since 2007. This year has been better, with 23 traffic deaths to date, although pedestrians account for over two-thirds of those deaths.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced the new approach will involve streamlining the decision-making process into a new Street Safety Initiative Working Group.

Which doesn’t quite have the same ring as Vision Zero, but still.

Lurie framed the city’s initiative as a more aggressive implementation of the “Safe System” approach, of which zero deaths on the roads is the goal. Lurie said the policy directs streets to be built to handle human error, managing vehicle speeds so that common mistakes don’t become fatal tragedies.

“Too often, traffic injuries are the result of predictable patterns and preventable conditions,” Lurie said. “This initiative will make streets safer for everyone … In San Francisco, safety is non-negotiable.”

The problem is that the Safe System is based on the concept of shared responsibility, which means a seven-year old kid biking to school has the same responsibility for safety as the people in the big dangerous machines.

Even though only one of those is likely to kill anyone.

And it ain’t the kid.

KQED reports the main difference between the new Street Safety Initiative Working Group and Vision Zero — aside from having an actual defined goal — appears to be the involvement of the mayor’s office.

A primary task within the first 100 days of this directive is to confirm and publish the 2025 High Injury Network — the map of the specific streets where the vast majority of severe crashes occur. Once confirmed, the city is tasked with identifying a priority list of “quick-build” projects, which use paint and physical barriers to rapidly improve safety in high-risk areas.

Within six months, the working group is required to release a Traffic Enforcement Strategy Report identifying the top crash-causing behaviors to target.

For advocates who have spent years pushing for safer streets, the directive represents a hopeful, yet overdue, step. White noted that while the Bicycle Coalition sees this as an extension of previous work, the direct involvement of the mayor’s office offers a new level of accountability.

All of which should have been done already, of course.

Still, it’s worth watching, in case Los Angeles ever decides to take another stab at reducing traffic violence, let alone traffic deaths, after the abject failure of this city’s Vision Zero, which was supposed to end traffic deaths a whopping 349 days ago.

Although streamlining doesn’t seem to be a strongpoint in Los Angeles these days.

Never mind accountability.

………

No surprise here.

An administrative law judge ruled that CD12 Councilmember John Lee violated Los Angeles ethics laws by accepting expensive food, alcohol, hotel stays and other gifts from three men trying to influence City Hall, in the same case that put his predecessor behind bars.

If you can call a Club Fed minimal security camp “behind bars.”

The judge recommended a $43,730 fine for violations committed when Lee was chief of staff to then-City Councilmember Mitchell Englander, who ended up sentenced to 14 months for his role in the pay-to-play scandal.

Lee was never charged by prosecutors, however, despite being the notorious “City Staffer B” referred to in Englander’s federal indictment, and won re-election last year despite the scandal.

The city Ethic Commission will make a final determination on any penalty for Lee tomorrow. I’m tempted to say that if Lee had any ethics, he’d step down if the commission rules against him.

But if he had shown any ethics, he wouldn’t have gotten caught up in the scandal in the first place.

………

‘Tis the season.

Chance the Rapper teamed with chicken strip outlet Raining Canes to sponsor a bike giveaway for 100 kids in Chicago Ridge, giving back to the community where he grew up.

An annual holiday bike giveaway program in Newport, Massachusetts matched 85 local kids with new bikes, helmets and safety lessons.

The sheriff of Louisiana’s Lafourche Parish is asking people to nominate kids to receive a refurbished bicycle; the program gave away 225 bicycles to families in need last year, and more than 5.700 since 1992.

Bike giveaways aren’t limited to the US, either, as more than 90 refurbished bicycles were distributed to kids in County Clare, Ireland.

………

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

‘Nuff said.

Clearly there was just nowhere else to park.

— (@jaj991.bsky.social) 2025-12-14T20:12:41.067Z

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

An Amazon delivery driver in an unidentified city says he “went postal” on a road raging bike rider who allegedly called him an “idiot” and the n-word, then spit in his face, after the delivery driver reportedly got too close for comfort by edging out into the rider’s path. Look, we all get pissed off by dangerously obtuse drivers who just don’t get it. But spitting, and spitting out racial slurs, is going too damn far. 

London’s former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, aka the head of Scotland Yard for those of us over here, is urging a crackdown on “rogue cyclists,” saying too many pedestrians are being injured by people on bicycles. Just wait until someone tells him about all the pedestrians injured, or worse, by people in cars. 

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Local 

Boyle Heights Beat offers photos from the inaugural two-day Camino City Terrace open streets event this past weekend; Streetsblog’s Joe Linton provides his photos, as well.

 

State

UCI Health offers advice to teens on how to stay safe riding an ebike. Once again conflating the dangers of throttle-controlled electric motorbikes with ped-assist ebikes. 

We discussed this one last week, but it’s worth mentioning again as Steven forwards the Cal Matters License to Kill investigation alleging that California leaders looked the other way as more than 40,000 people died in roadways in the state.

A writer for Planetizen says San Diego’s car-centric planning makes the city a paradise for cars, but it’s literally killing children. Then again, considering the toll of school shootings as well as traffic violence, our society doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. 

San Diego may follow the example of other SoCal beach cities by banning the use of ebikes for kids under 12.

A 62-year old driver was arrested in Palm Springs for the drunken hit-and-run that left a bike rider with moderate injuries Sunday night; no word on how they tracked him down.

 

National

No news is good news, right?

 

International

How holiday boozing affects your biking. Aside from the obvious risk of falling off it. 

Ghost bike takes on a different meaning in Mexico City, where two “ghost” bike parking facilities remain abandoned for as long as five years after they were built to improve urban public space.

Residents of Havana, Cuba were up in arms after a man was killed when he hit a massive pothole on his bike in broad daylight, and his body was just left lying in the roadway next to it for hour afterwards.

A Welsh truck driver is on trial for careless driving after killing a woman riding a bicycle, claiming the sun was in his eyes. Which should be seen as a confession, rather than a defense; if you can’t see, pull over and wait until you can. 

British foldie maker Brompton continues to suffer from falling sales after the pandemic bike boom went bust.

The Emerald Isle now offers the first cross-border bikeway between Ireland and Northern Ireland, providing a 12-mile route along fjord-like coastal landscapes.

Prosecutors in the Netherlands are calling for the makers of Stint cargo bikes to spend five years behind bars for a 2018 train crash that killed four children riding in a cargo bike, alleging that the bike’s many technical flaws caused the rider to lose control and fall onto the tracks.

A new public survey shows a plurality of New Zealanders support investing in bikeways by a 6% margin over opponents, with the highest support among younger people, Māori, and people in the highest income bracket.

Speaking of New Zealand, mountain biker Samuel Shaw set a new record for biking across the country, covering the 396 miles from Aukland to Wellington in 17 hours and 21 minutes, breaking the previous record of 18 hours, 26 minutes set by Lachlan Morton in February.

 

Competitive Cycling

Longtime pro cyclist Peter Stetina is calling it a career after the coming gravel season, calling it his “Farewell Tour.”

Outside profiles the Gaza Sunbirds paracycling team, composed of Palestinian amputees who deliver aid to refugees as well as racing, “turning loss into resilience on and off the road.”

 

Finally…

What to put in your kid’s stocking, if a new bike doesn’t fit. Turning lost hubcaps found on bike rides into art.

And your next ebike could be kinda car-adjacent.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

The abject failure of Vision Zero in America, the dangers of conflating ebikes and e-motos, and Calbike’s 2026 agenda

December 5, 2025 / / Comments Off on The abject failure of Vision Zero in America, the dangers of conflating ebikes and e-motos, and Calbike’s 2026 agenda
Day 339 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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It’s Day 8 of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Phaedrus and Michael for their generous support to keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day, and ensure the corgi will find a little kibble in her stocking this year.

So don’t wait. It only takes a few clicks to donate via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo. 

And no, she won’t stop staring until you give her something. So start clicking. 

………

They get it.

The Washington Post takes a hard-hitting, and heartbreaking, deep dive into the abject failure of Vision Zero in the United States, with a focus on Los Angeles.

And deadly Vista del Mar, aka Deadly del Mar, in particular.

And I do mean heartbreaking.

LOS ANGELES — As the sun set over the Pacific Ocean one Sunday this past spring, Cecilia Milbourne returned from a walk on the beach with her dog, Gucci. To reach her parked Tesla, she had to cross a road that city officials have known for years poses a danger to people on foot.

Eight years ago, as part of a national initiative to stem traffic deaths called Vision Zero, the city shrank the number of lanes on the road, Vista Del Mar, and several connecting streets in the shoreside community just south of Venice. But they restored it to four lanes after an uproar by drivers — among them Octavio Girbau, who railed against a city official in a 2017 Facebook post stating he was stuck on one of those intersecting roads “in the traffic hell you created.”

On March 16, Girbau was driving south on Vista Del Mar as Milbourne was about to cross in a spot with no crosswalk and no sidewalk — just a concrete curb separating her from the moving cars. Girbau bumped another car, lost control and struck Milbourne on the side of the road, sending her flying as his Mercedes flipped onto the beach, according to a police report. Milbourne, 29, a hairdresser and actor who had moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her dog died with her.

Deadly del Mar, to refresh your memory, is where then-Councilmember Mike Bonin ordered a road diet after the city settled with the family of a 16-year old girl killed crossing the roadway from Dockweiler Beach for a whopping $9.5 million.

Just one of the eight people killed on the little four-mile street since 2015.

Then gutless former Mayor Eric Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin by ordering the roadwork ripped out, and restored to its dangerously high-speed previous state, in the face of outraged pass-through commuters, mostly from wealthy Manhattan Beach.

Which effectively marked the death of Vision Zero in Los Angeles.

In addition to pushback from outraged, or even slightly peeved, motorists, WaPo cites too little funding for the death of Vision Zero.

Like the $80 million called for initially in Los Angeles to even put a dent in traffic deaths, which never materialized.

And that has led to endless delays in making the safety improvements the city already knows we needed. Like in Koreatown, for instance.

In some cases, Angelenos have died as planned safety upgrades stalled.

It has been over a decade since the city decided to put a roundabout at the corner of 4th Street and New Hampshire Avenue in Koreatown, a neighborhood where 34 people have been hit by cars and trucks and killed between 2015 and 2023. But there was a dispute between the city and the state over funding, and some objected to the plan to include bike lanes. The roundabout was delayed.

On July 31, Nadir Gavarrete, a 9-year-old, was killed at the intersection while crossing the street on his scooter by a driver in a motor home.

LA guerrilla activists responded by painting their own DIY crosswalk at the intersection days later, working in broad daylight.

Which the city promptly painted over.

Meanwhile, Mayor Karen Bass is busy cutting ribbons at coffee shops, instead of addressing solutions to traffic deaths, which her office says she’s “working on.”

After all, she’s only had three years to come up with something.

Anything.

But back to Deadly del Mar, which Los Angeles is considering for one of the speed cams authorized by a state pilot program passed and signed two years ago.

None of which have yet been installed in the City of Angels, as city leaders continue their usual dithering and obfuscation.

One of the first locations being considered is the spot where Milbourne was killed on Vista Del Mar. This fall, Kevitt and some of his colleagues did their own radar testing on the road. They found that about half of drivers are going above the speed limit during rush hour. In the morning, more than a quarter of cars are going over 50 miles per hour.

Milbourne died near two sets of stairs that lead from the wide expanse of Dockweiler Beach to Vista Del Mar. At the top, there is barely space to stand between the sandy bluff and the road. Cars whip by fast enough to be heard over the sound of planes taking off at Los Angeles International Airport, which sits just east of the beach.

Inevitably, the first response to complaints about speeding drivers is to call for greater enforcement. Except, of course, from the speeding drivers themselves, who fear getting ticketed because they’re unwilling to actually slow down.

But there aren’t enough cops in California, let alone Los Angeles, to patrol every street in LA 24/7. Or even enough to make a difference.

The equation is simple. Lane reductions, aka road diets, slow drivers, sometimes by causing greater congestion at peak hours. But drivers don’t want to slow down, and definitely don’t want to get stuck behind other drivers, blissfully unaware that they themselves are the cause of that congestion.

Not road diets. Not bike lanes.

Not even other drivers.

Even on Deadly del Mar.

………

They get it, too.

Velo argues that the reason ebike injuries are up 1800% has little to do with ped-assist bicycles, and everything to do with e-motorbikes.

When a teenager crashes an “e-bike” at dangerous speeds, communities call for sweeping bans. When batteries ignite and cause a fire in apartment buildings, local governments restrict where electric bikes can be charged. And when pedestrians are struck by riders on sidewalks, cities work swiftly to cut riding speeds or discuss implementing licenses.

The problem? Many of these e-bike injuries and incidents can be avoided if only we defined what makes an electric bicycle.

Several of these incidents involve what cycling advocacy group PeopleForBikes calls an ‘e-moto’: electric motorcycles and mopeds sold as “street legal” e-bikes that don’t need a license or registration.

Many – but not all – of these e-motos sell new following standard e-bike Class 1,2, or 3 speed classifications. But with some modifications, they can reach speeds of 30, 40, or even 50 miles per hour, and are causing growing problems nationwide.

The solution, they say — as does People For Bikes — is federal legislation classifying anything with a built-in capability exceeding ebike specifications to “be classified as a motor vehicle, period.”

That’s just the first step.

They also call for requiring more truthful advertising as to what is actually “street legal,” as well as standardizing state laws regulating ebikes, just like bicycling regulations are virtually identical from one state to another.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read.

Because as long as anything with an electric motor is considered an ebike, regardless of power or speed capabilities, we risk ill-informed crackdowns on, and condemnation of, all of us.

Like this hit piece in the anti-bike New York Post, which says a plan to create a separate lane for ebikes and e-scooters in Central Park is “plain crazy,” once again conflating dangerous e-motos with standard ped-assist ebikes.

………

Calbike posted their recent webinar to unveil their new legislative agenda for the coming year, and answered some of the questions they didn’t have time for.

Although a recap would have been nice, for those of us who struggle to find time to sit through an hour-long video this time of year.

So let me know if there’s anything in there about hit-and-runs.

………

‘Tis the season.

Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves donated 500 new bikes to the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, with Batchelor and Batchelor in Paradise contestant, and season 16 Bachelorette ,Tayshia Adams on hand to help hand them out.

Sixty-two 3rd graders in Fayetteville NC got new bicycles, after telling the assembled that four kids earned one of the new bikes by winning in an essay contest, then announcing that everyone else would take one home, too.

………

………

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

No bias here. Chicago residents complain about new bike lanes causing traffic to overflow onto surrounding streets and alleys — except what’s causing the backup is the construction work to build the bike lanes, not the bike lanes themselves. And a former daily bike commuter says he doesn’t think bike lanes are even necessary, apparently not grasping that bike lanes are for the people who don’t feel comfortable mixing it up with motor vehicles, rather than those who do.

………

Local 

The Snake is once again raising it’s seductive, if ultimately ugly, head, reopening six years after the dangerous 2.4-mile winding stretch of Mulholland Highway was closed due to the Woolsey Fire and subsequent mudslides; the road offers one of the area’s most popular bicycling climbs, while also attracting speeding motorcyclists and supercar drivers.

A CicLAvia-style open streets event is coming to East LA next weekend, when about 1.6 miles of City Terrace Drive and Hazard Ave will go carfree for the benefit of pedestrians, bicyclists, joggers and runners. As well as just plain, you know, people.

 

State

Longstanding Fountain Valley-based ebike maker Pedego has changed hands, and countries, after they were purchased by Chinese intelligent-ebike brand Urtopia.

 

National

Shockingly, the CEO of People For Bikes considers what the world’s happiest countries all have in common, and discovers the answer is — bikes.

Honda wants to move deliveries out of the traffic lane and into bike lanes, as it unveiled its new e-cargo bike storage locker on wheels; meanwhile, foldie maker Tern’s electric cargo bikes have covered more than one million miles of commercial delivery work in New York City. After all, most drivers would tell you no one is using the bike lanes now, anyway.

If your kid is wearing an Outdoor Master bike helmet purchased from Walmart or Amazon in the past year, get ’em a new one, because the feds have issued a recall notice saying they pose a “risk of serious injury or death.”

You know awareness of traffic safety is growing when lane reductions reach even Sparks, Nevada.

Life is ludicrously cheap in Montana, where a driver walked with a gentle caress on the wrist for killing a seven-year old boy riding his bicycle in a crosswalk, after prosecutors reduced a negligent homicide charge down to misdemeanor careless driving, and he was sentenced to a lousy $1000 fine — which the judge deferred for a year, meaning it could be dropped entirely if he keeps his nose clean.

In news that is equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, the family of a 13-year old Huntsville, Alabama boy who was killed by a driver while riding his bicycle have installed a Christmas tree at the roadside memorial marking where he was killed, and asked the public to come place an ornament on it.

 

International

Road.cc argues that the bicycle industry is not sustainable by design, and they could do their part to save the environment by returning to steel frames instead of carbon fiber, without sacrificing performance.

Toronto is moving to get around the provincial government’s prohibition on removing traffic lanes to build bike lanes by narrowing 12 miles of traffic lanes to make room for them.

A “passionate cyclist” from the UK is suing Lime over a crash that snapped his leg in four places, claiming the rear wheel unexpectedly skidded out when he braked to avoid pedestrians, leaving him with life-changing injuries.

That’s more like it. A British distracted hit-and-run driver got nine years behind bars for killing a bike rider, after swearing he didn’t know he hit anyone and just thought his van’s engine had blown up; he’d avoided a previous driving ban for distracted driving by claiming he needed to drive for his job. Yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late.

More on the new Irish study showing that protected bike lanes don’t slow emergency vehicles.

Bicycles provided by World Bicycle Relief are giving Kenyan farmers a route out of poverty by providing a safe alternative to paying for dangerous motorbike trips to get their produce to market.

 

Competitive Cycling

Norwegian pro Johannes Staune-Mittet learned the hard way that riding with earbuds isn’t allowed in Spain, even for WorldTour cyclists, when he was fined the equivalent of $116 after cops caught him using them on a training ride.

 

Finally…

We may stress about LA drivers drifting into bike lanes, but at least we don’t have to worry about who’s going to plow the drifts already in them. Now you, too, could own Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France bike for the low, low price of 70 grand.

And nothing like getting an admitted doper and multi-time ex-Tour de France champ to narrate a doc about an iconic 130-year old bike brand.

………

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 / / Comments Off on Ebike & e-moto injuries rise 2.5 times faster than sales, and two teens busted for leading vicious Hermosa Beach attack
Day 335 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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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: , , , , , , , , ,
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