zach Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 I was just waiting outside the Chemist on East Bank Road and a man came up going at a good speed, about 10 minutes later he came back down going much faster. I could hear the whirring of the motor so I'm assuming it was running on the motor. I looked quite good fun, even if a bit dangerous. So the question - How fast do these bikes go? Or do they "alter" them to go much faster than they were designed for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorpist Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 15mph is the legal limit with power assistance. As fast as you want without. I believe the ones that work without power assistance were made illegal a few years ago, although ones made before the law change are OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altus Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 The government's summary of the rules. A more detailed explanation. Basically 15.5 MPH before the motor has to stop assisting. There are also pedelecs that go faster but under UK law they count as motorbikes and have the same restrictions they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 Thanks for the info. The bike in question looked like a mountain bike but was going way faster than 15mph up the hill and he wasn't using his legs for power! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJRB Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 I assume you can go as fast as the speed limit downhill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altus Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 4 minutes ago, RJRB said: I assume you can go as fast as the speed limit downhill If you can get up to that speed by pedalling. The bikes have to stop assisting you if you exceed 15.5 MPH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zach Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 2 minutes ago, altus said: If you can get up to that speed by pedalling. The bikes have to stop assisting you if you exceed 15.5 MPH. I wonder how they came to the .5? I've not looked on Google but as a guess it probably matches a metric speed. The bloke on the one I saw must have "tinkered" with the limiting hardware. More speed but less miles from the battery. As they say, you learn something new every day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altus Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 6 minutes ago, zach said: I wonder how they came to the .5? I've not looked on Google but as a guess it probably matches a metric speed. The bloke on the one I saw must have "tinkered" with the limiting hardware. More speed but less miles from the battery. As they say, you learn something new every day! It does - it's about 25 km/h Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bargepole23 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 17 minutes ago, zach said: I wonder how they came to the .5? I've not looked on Google but as a guess it probably matches a metric speed. The bloke on the one I saw must have "tinkered" with the limiting hardware. More speed but less miles from the battery. As they say, you learn something new every day! Pretty sure that for some suppliers, if you sign a waiver that it's for off road use only, they will send you whatever is required to delimit the speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halibut Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 I achieved 30.1 mph on my pushbike going downhill earlier this week, without using my legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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