The Internet Won't Fix Your eBike

Shepard Grinker

Shepard Grinker

Shop Owner / Employee
Shop Keep
www.bicycleworkshop.com

The Internet Won’t Fix Your eBike — Tenafly Bicycle Workshop

In recent months, we’ve seen a noticeable influx of kids riding “affordable” or inexpensive electric bikes around Tenafly and greater Bergen County. And when we say “affordable,” we’re being a little generous—many of these are full-powered Class 3 eBikes with throttles, priced around and under $1,50
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Those class 3 ebike riders are everywhere and reckless. Some even ride in the middle of the road with cars through traffic. Then there's one guy that rides it on the sidewalk going around blind turns.
 
tonyride said:
Those class 3 ebike riders are everywhere and reckless. Some even ride in the middle of the road with cars through traffic. Then there's one guy that rides it on the sidewalk going around blind turns.
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Saw a kid zipping around on one last week on a busy road, with another kid on an electric scooter behind him. It was noteworthy because they were both actually wearing helmets, but that is a super rare sight.
 
They've opened a e-bike specific store in Pompton Lakes, the only brand in their lineup that sounds familiar is Segway...not feeling all warm and fuzzy about it especially since the number of kids riding around on those with no clue about how to behave on the road (or the trail) is increasing daily around here, adding to the awesome population of quads and dirt bikes...
 
There are at least two Tellaria/Surrons in my neighborhood. They rip around on the roads, sometimes on the sidewalk. It looks like a lot of fun but I predict it won't be long before the local police put a stop to it.

I was putting around the neighborhood on my track bike a few weeks ago and found one of them on its side with the rider pretty scraped up. I'm guessing he was practicing wheelies. I predict he'll buy some gloves. At least he was wearing his helmet.
 
mfennell said:
There are at least two Tellaria/Surrons in my neighborhood. They rip around on the roads, sometimes on the sidewalk. It looks like a lot of fun but I predict it won't be long before the local police put a stop to it.

I was putting around the neighborhood on my track bike a few weeks ago and found one of them on its side with the rider pretty scraped up. I'm guessing he was practicing wheelies. I predict he'll buy some gloves. At least he was wearing his helmet.
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I was out on one of my motorcycles this evening and saw two kids on "Surrons". I gave them the universal "pull a wheelie" sign and they hopped on the road and followed me, basically keeping up at 40+ mph. Turns out they were riding "e ride pro" bikes good for SIXTY mph. Holy shit. $5800+shipping ($200). Only one of them had a helmet but he did have goggles. 🙂. I asked if the cops hassled them and they said no. I told them "not yet".

$6500+shipping gets you a claimed SEVENTY mph.
 
mfennell said:
I was out on one of my motorcycles this evening and saw two kids on "Surrons". I gave them the universal "pull a wheelie" sign and they hopped on the road and followed me, basically keeping up at 40+ mph. Turns out they were riding "e ride pro" bikes good for SIXTY mph. Holy shit. $5800+shipping ($200). Only one of them had a helmet but he did have goggles. 🙂. I asked if the cops hassled them and they said no. I told them "not yet".

$6500+shipping gets you a claimed SEVENTY mph.
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Last year I had a kid come into the shop and buy 3 Raceface handlebars from me. When I asked why 3, he said they were for him and his brothers. They all broke the bars on their Surrons on a jump they built in their yard.
 
mfennell said:
I was out on one of my motorcycles this evening and saw two kids on "Surrons". I gave them the universal "pull a wheelie" sign and they hopped on the road and followed me, basically keeping up at 40+ mph. Turns out they were riding "e ride pro" bikes good for SIXTY mph. Holy shit. $5800+shipping ($200). Only one of them had a helmet but he did have goggles. 🙂. I asked if the cops hassled them and they said no. I told them "not yet".

$6500+shipping gets you a claimed SEVENTY mph.
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Some of them are even less. It’s absurd what you can buy out there. IBD bikes are like trying to sell dial up internet…
 
Saw 2 kids today at CR, both on the mini-bike frame style e-“bike”. They weren’t able to handle getting them up hill so one kid hopped off and was throttling it up hill spitting rocks all over 🙄 I was debating saying something, but in the end decided staying out of it was probably best. They were wearing helmets at least.
 
Cassinonorth said:
We had a kid in town run a stop sign and t bone a car on a e moto last month. Broke his femur... Was probably going 30+ mph when he hit the side of the car.
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I expect that's how it will go. I assume they're regarded as toys by most people right now even though the ones I mentioned seem to be about equivalent to a Honda CRF150 in performance. Get enough of them and enough accidents and ... I'm actually not sure. Tickets? Impound? Police chases in the suburbs?
 
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