Here’s your latest digest of notable events in the world of e-bikes this week. Highlights include more fines for poorly parked London e-bikes, Fox’s latest treat for people who can’t decide what height their saddle should be, and a heartwarming story about a guy who just can’t stop riding his e-bike.
City of London e-bike operators face fines of up to £10,000 for poor parking
The City of London is the latest part of the Big Smoke to crack down on nuisance e-bike parking. According to the BBC, the Square Mile has issued a new Memorandum of Understanding to operators Lime, Forest, and Voi, explaining that they could face fines of up to £10,000 for failing to meet parking enforcement standards.
The companies are also expected to make increased financial contributions to the City, while meeting standards on affordability and data sharing, presumably so bankers can see if they’re worth investing in.
Trek calls for rest of US bike industry to adopt ‘voluntary e-bike speed standards’
With disputes over legal and less legal e-bikes, the speeds they can go and the safety of their batteries cropping up on both sides of the pond numerous times in the past few months, Trek has established its own voluntary e-bike standard that it has urged other bike brands to adopt in the US, to provide clarity and prevent bikes being banned from trails due to fears over their safety.
All Trek mountain bikes sold in the US will now have a 20mph maximum pedal-assist speed and no throttle: “As an industry, we’ve worked for decades to earn access to trails and bike paths,” said John Burke, Trek’s president.
“We’d rather lead with responsibility today than explain tomorrow why riders lost access to the places they love and to a sport that makes the world a better place.”
As mentioned on the road.cc live blog today, Trek’s other electric bikes will be limited to 20mph at the throttle and “limit pedal assistance to 20mph or 28mph, depending on model” – which is pretty punchy compared to the UK and Europe’s 20km/h max assisted speed, but Trek insists this strikes “…the right balance between delivering the benefits of electric bicycles, respecting shared spaces, and protecting the trails and paths riders depend on.”
It follows MTB legend Hans Rey’s open letter to the bike industry calling for proper e-bike standards to protect trail access: “If we keep making the pedal-assist e-bikes more and more powerful, we will eventually outclass them,” Rey told off.road.cc back in March.
“…they will be ‘officially’ or ‘legally’ become motorcycles, while for the time being, they are considered and treated like bicycles, but we can’t take that for granted; laws are already changing against our best interests, and the biggest fear is that we could lose trail access – as well as bike lane access.”
Fox’s new electronic dropper runs off e-bike battery
Electronic dropper posts are a (very expensive) thing now, but most feature discrete batteries, which makes little to no sense in the world of e-bikes. To tackle this, Fox has released the (expensive) Transfer Neo E-Optimized post, which takes its Transfer Neo wireless dropper and plugs it directly into your e-MTB’s battery. The post features up to 240mm of travel, and is activated via a remote trigger that Fox claims uses the fastest wireless protocol in cycling.
The Fox Transfer Neo E-Optimized dropper post is available in the US now for $589, with the lever tacking $219 onto the price.
Neuropathy patient e-bikes across America
More from ‘Murica: The Washington Post features the uplifting tale of Gregory Maassen, who was diagnosed with a rare form of neuropathy in his early 50s. His doctor prescribed drugs and exercise, and Maassen found the perfect form of relief in e-biking.
And he didn’t stop. Maassen completed a 4,685-mile ride in 2022, raising $179,000 to benefit people living with peripheral neuropathy. Thanks to the positive effects of e-biking, he’s been able to quit the drugs his doctor prescribed. Now, he’s cycling the 7,250 miles from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Los Angeles.
“I never had a day that I said, ‘Oh no, I have to do it again,’” Maassen told The Washington Post.
Free e-bike rides for tramless Mancs
Manchester commuters affected by repairs to the city’s illustrious trams have been offered 20 minutes of free e-bike hire. Residents of England’s second city (depending on who you ask) are able to use Starling e-bikes for two ten-minute journeys (there and back, apparently) every day until 2 August.
“We know that this vitally important work on the Metrolink will have a big impact on passengers and we apologise for the disruption,” said Danny Vaughan, Chief Network Officer at Transport for Greater Manchester, “We’d also like to encourage people to try walking, cycling and wheeling for part of their journey where possible. That’s why we’re offering up to 20 minutes of free travel on Starling Bikes every day, from and to stops in areas affected by the Metrolink works.”
Or Mancunians could take advantage of a £2 bus ride courtesy of their former mayor. Whatever happened to that bloke?
