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Re:First 100 miles on my E-Bike by amiga-workbench on Saturday December 30, 2017 @12:11PM (#16036127)
Its a DC rear hub motor, I can throttle it fully up and still hold my bike in place. It accelerates poorly and has relatively little torque. I can get my bike up to the same speed manually with the benefit of the gearing all bikes have.

On even terrain I don't have any reason to be driving around at over 15mph (and I don't), but we do have morons who will, and that's why the law is so restrictive in the EU.

Re:First 100 miles on my E-Bike by weddpros on Saturday December 30, 2017 @12:32PM (#16036234)
Sure, morons always go by the law...

They don't bother with ebikes anyway, so they're reckless with a moped, which is way more dangerous.

The 250W limit in Europe is stupid (plus it shouldn't be a European law, it's not the correct scope).

Finally, you can be reckless with rollerblades or a bike, you don't need a motor. I guess it's more a problem of "250W is more than enough for people" just like 640kb was, for politicians.

Re:First 100 miles on my E-Bike by eesmith on Saturday December 30, 2017 @12:56PM (#16036360)
Lots of things have a boundary, even if the boundary is somewhat arbitrary. In most places there is a voting age, there is an age of consent, and there is a drinking age. These ages differ, because there is no clear-cut boundary.

Do you think there should be no power limit, or that it should be a different power limit?

I don't see why the regulations for electric bikes should be much different from gasoline bikes (aka, mopeds). If your e-bike is powerful enough, then it's comparable to a more powerful moped.

Do you think we prevent people from drive on the sidewalk because they will be reckless? I think the greater the momentum disparity, the more likely it is that an error, like loss of control, results in injury or death. This is a wider brush than "reckless".