Bike industry site Bike Europe has reported that British police and UK Trading Standards officers are beginning a crackdown on retailers selling de-restricted e-bikes or speed tuning kits for electric bikes.
An unnamed UK e-bike dealer in London claims that the authorities told him that while the e-bikes and speed tuning kits are safe in themselves, “combining the two items constitutes a new product. If the new product does not fall into any exemption class (for example, EPAC [the European standard for Electronically Power Assisted Cycles]), and has not been tested, it is assumed to be unsafe – irrespective of whether the bikes are used off or on road."
The speed tuning kits are widely available in the UK and abroad, and are often advertised as being suitable for off-road or private road use only.
The dealer added: “The promotion and sale of this untested type of e-bike puts huge pressure on other retailers to follow suit. If manufacturers and distributors allow this trend to continue unchecked, the market for compliant e-bikes will shrink as the public shun products built to legal speeds and choose modified models with no speed restrictions instead."
With similar checks also happening in Germany, the fact that UK authorities are following suit and checking dealers would appear to suggest the matter is being taken seriously.
Check out the original article here.
What do you think about de-restricted e-bikes? Sound off in the comments below!
via BikeRadar.com http://ift.tt/1Dr0oIF
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