LETTER: E-bikes are safe and have the right to share trail with bikes

To Ozaukee Press:

The news story in last week’s Ozaukee Press with the headline “Worries about e-bikes spur call to revive trail council”

reminds us that the advisory council’s mission is to “promote and facilitate safe public use of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail for transportation, recreation, health, education, economic development and

enjoyment of Ozaukee County’s cultural, historic and natural resources.”

  One hopes that when the council meets to decide e-bikes’ role in that mission, it has more factual information and context than was provided in this article, which stated, “County ordinances already ban motorized vehicles, including so-called

e-bikes, from the trail.” No, not really.  The ordinance, written in 2016 before e-bikes became widely available or popular, bans “motor vehicles,” and lists several examples by name, all of which are primarily powered by internal combustion engines. The words electric or e-bike or bicycle do not appear in the ordinance.

E-bikes are not “so-called.” They are precisely defined by the federal Consumer Product Safety Act and Wisconsin Act 34, which grant them generally the same rights and duties as bicycles. The state law includes provisions intended to allow

e-bikes to safely operate as bicycles.

The article quoted an Ozaukee County official saying, “They (e-bikes) are very fast.” Let’s put some numbers on this.

According to state law, Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes have a maximum speed of 20 mph. On a one-hour bike ride last weekend, I averaged 15 mph and

reached a maximum of 27 mph fleeing from an aggressive dog. The dog would

have easily caught an e-bike.

Other state requirements include: Pedal assist mode (Classes 1  and 3) electric

power is only applied when the operator is pedaling; to increase the assistance you must pedal harder.  Electric power cannot exceed 750 Watts (1 horsepower). The manufacturer must affix permanent labels to the e-bike certifying its class, maximum power and maximum speed. All e-bikes must have operable pedals (not foot-pegs).

Electric bikes not complying with Act 34 are increasingly common and can be

quite dangerous. These include illegally modified e-bikes, conversion kits from the internet and high-powered electric motorcycles intended for off-road operation on private property. It would be a mistake and a loss to the community, to conflate legal e-bikes with these outlaws.

The high point of the newspaper story was the quote from Al Krier, a former member of the council, whose use of a legal e-bike fulfills perfectly the mission of the advisory council. He said of the council, “We did a lot of good back then. It was a useful group back in the day.”

Michael Spalding

Fredonia