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E-bikes are the fastest-growing segment of the bicycle industry. They're popular with commuters and baby boomers who might not otherwise be able to get out on a bicycle.
The bikes, which can cost $2,000 or more, combine the frame of a regular bike with lightweight batteries and electric motors for extra zip.
Their sales jumped 72% to $144 million in the U.S. last year, helping to breathe life into bicycle sales that have been relatively flat, according to the NPD Group, which tracks retail bike sales nationwide.
Their popularity has led to conflict.
In bike-friendly southern California, as local land managers take cues from agencies like the National Park Service, some are banning e-bikes from bicycle paths. That has angered riders, said Morgan Lommele, of PeopleForBikes, a bicycle advocacy group and trade association.
[...] Maine and 21 other states have adopted laws that classify e-bikes into categories. Most are treated like regular bicycles under such laws, said Lommele, who has been working with states to create uniform definitions. Only the fastest e-bikes are restricted to roads.
At Acadia National Park, the e-bikes are welcome on paved roads inside the park and even on dirt roads where cars and trucks are allowed.
But they're not allowed on the 57 miles (92 kilometers) of carriage roads funded and built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. that meander throughout the park, offering stunning views of lakes, mountains and the ocean. The carriage paths are popular with bicyclists.
The only exceptions for e-bikes are for people who qualify for mobility devices under the Americans With Disabilities Act, said Christie Anastasia, park spokeswoman.
Should E-bikes be treated like bicycles or motorcycles when it comes to roads, bike paths, and access?
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(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @10:23AM
Careful! Some trails forbid cyclists; the trails are too soft and sensitive. Most trails forbid motorcycles and dirtbikes, because even if a trail can handle a bike, it might not handle a motorbike. You don't disagree with these limits, do you?
The trail impact of an ebikes is somewhere between bike and motorbike. No human can sustain a 2,000W burnout on a trail kicking dirt and digging a gouge. An e-bike or a dirtbike can. So while I love ebikes, some trails are simply not built to withstand the damage which an ebike can put out, and which a human on a bike (absent a pickaxe trailing attachment) cannot.
Yes, there are dumb people dissing ebikes for dumb reasons. But some limitations - no ebikes on sidewalks, on spongey trails, etc - seem clearly in-bounds.