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Amazon slammed for selling products that ‘chip’ or ‘tune’ e-bike motors to allow higher speeds

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Alex Bowden's picture

Alex Bowden

Alex has been editor of ebiketips since 2021, switching to a world with motors after seven years working on sister site road.cc, where he contributed news, reviews and the occasional feature. These days he combines his road riding with electric bike testing and a dash of ongoing cricket writing (his first book's due out in 2025).

8 comments

2 years 3 weeks ago

Here in Cambridge there are many e bike delivery fleets where the bike is really an electric scooter. The rider clearly doesn't need to pedal at all.

The police do nothing.

2 years 4 weeks ago

I'm very much in the up the limit to 20mph camp. With so many roads moving to a 20mph limit it simply makes sense. A bike going at 20 will still be seen as an obstacle because so many drivers break the limit, but far less of one than bikes going 15.5mph. Personally I also think that upping the limit to 20mph would make a massive impact on the chipping of bikes, reducing it to near zero.

2 years 4 weeks ago

Limit should be 20mph and the speed limit fopr motor vehicles in residential areas should also be 20mph. Enforcement of this should make our roads much safer for non car drivers

2 years 4 weeks ago

Limit should be 20mph and the speed limit fopr motor vehicles in residential areas should also be 20mph. Enforcement of this should make our roads much safer for non car drivers

2 years 4 weeks ago

Is there even a car on sale that's restricted to 70mph?

Maybe they are all used on private land too

2 years 4 weeks ago

Either pedal harder, or get a moped licence.

I think the 15.5mph assistance limit is spot on, because it lifts the performance of those less fit or able to about that of a typical able bodied rider, possibly even a little above in fact. By largely retaining that equality with unassisted riders e-bikes can enjoy the same legal freedoms accorded to ordinary bicycles.

 

Ebikes enjoy the same legal privileges as ordinary bikes precisely because they share much the same limitations in speed and power as unassisted bicycles. If you want to rub shoulders with mopeds then you'll need to take what comes with that, and it's already available.

 

That is irrespective of your points about struggling to keep up with traffic on a loaded cargo bike, or the dangers posed by motorists.

2 years 4 weeks ago

Let's be honest, 15.5mph is too slow. I feel much safer doing 20+mph on my road bike than crawling along at 15.5mph on my electric cargo bike, which weighs a metric ton and has the aerodynamic properties of a brick. It's not fast enough to properly integrate with urban traffic, so you just get tailgated and overtaken far more often.

I did chip it, briefly, but removed it when I purchased insurance, as a chip invalidates the policy.

In an ideal world, the legal speed would be increased, and the law would be enforced more strongly. Until then, we'll have legal riders like me plodding along at a speed that's not suitable for the traffic around them, and riders who don't give two hoots zooming along at 40mph without turning their pedals.

2 years 4 weeks ago

The food delivery riders round where I am all seem able to zip along at 20 mph+ without pedalling, many civilians also. I think they're mainly using kits to bolt on to a cheap MTB but presumably the same legalities apply. Judging by the numbers of such bikes I see, I think this bird has flown.