“Officials who should know better, don’t”: Sadiq Khan criticised for describing electric police motorbikes as “e-bikes” as BBC amends misleading headline; ’50km climb’ awaits Vuelta peloton in finale
E-bike inaccuracy
We wouldn’t normally cover stories on the rollout of electric motorbikes. After all, that’s not really our job. The Met Police’s announcement yesterday then that it was rolling out a new fleet of Sur-Ron motorbikes to help tackle mobile phone theft in the capital largely passed us by. Until we saw the Mayor of London talk about it…
Phone thieves and robbers: we’re closing in.
Backed by record City Hall funding, the Met’s new fleet of Sur-Ron e-bikes is targeting criminals who use illegal, modified bikes to evade police and commit crime.
That means more arrests and fewer escape routes.
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@london.gov.uk) 27 August 2026 at 09:07
E-bikes? Wow I didn’t realise the bobbies on the beat would be pedalling in pursuit of their suspects…
Oh, never mind, just another bit of misidentification and conflation.
There are, admittedly, some difficulties in classifying these machines, when Sur-Ron themselves describe their machines as “the original e-bikes”. But that description does not match the law which – everybody say it with me – must ensure an electric motor is restricted to speeds of 15.5mph and only assists the act of pedalling. See, it rolls off the tongue.
Otherwise it is not an e-bike. We have had multiple conversations in our office over what we should call these machines. Illegal e-bikes? Illegal electric mopeds? Illegally-modified electric motorbikes? Something in between?
We’ve actually settled cautiously on the phrase “illegal bikes”, both for the simplicity and the fact that non-legal e-bikes should be insured and licensed but rarely are, hence them falling foul of the law. Besides, bike is a universal word that can also be applied to motorbikes, not that we care too much about them either.
Our first big story using the phrase was published yesterday:
Ultimately this grey area will persist for a little while. But that doesn’t stop us identifying when its black and white, like the BBC article initially headlined: Met Police expands e-bike patrol fleet to tackle phone snatchers.
This isn’t the first time the BBC has been caught conflating e-bikes and these illegal vehicles, though the title of this article was changed pretty swiftly to refer to ‘e-motorbikes’.
In a social media thread, public policy lecturer Sarah Bickerton criticised both the mayor and the BBC’s choice of language:
“*sigh* unfortunately this shows how even officials who should know better, don’t.
“It feeds into the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) around e-bikes, which are electric BICYCLES. And as such contributes to misinformation about actual e-bikes, which so many use rightly as bicycles and can enjoy the freedom those provide. E-bikes aren’t the problem here at all.
“These kinds of e-motos can be a problem indeed because our regulatory systems haven’t quite caught up with that technology (especially so given how easy they can be derestricted). Especially in urban settings. But having & using the right language around e-motos is a good step towards such.”
And @london.gov.uk keeps spreading misinformation about these e-motos, despite being repeatedly told by so many others on this platform that these are NOT e-bikes.
I genuinely like & admire Mayor Khan, but this kind of misinformation FUD is part of the problem here.
bsky.app/profile/lond…— Dr Sarah Hendrica Bickerton 🏳️🌈 (@sarahhbickerton.bsky.social) 27 August 2026 at 21:49
There we are then, the latest, but certainly noy last chapter in this story.
Pfeiffer Georgi signs for UAE
A little bit of British transfer news this morning, with former national champion Pfeiffer Georgi swapping Team Picnic PostNL for UAE Team L’Imad, the first move of her pro career.
In her eight years on the team formerly known as DSM, Georgi won the Classic Brugge-De Panne and podiumed Paris-Roubaix in 2022. She also finished 5th in the women’s road race at the Paris Olympics and has ridden all three Grand Tours.
In the statement announcing her transfer, Georgi said, “I have been in the same team for my eight years as a professional and am excited to enter a new environment at this point in my career. I have gained a lot of experience and I am now looking to develop further as a rider.
“I have seen the development of the team over the last few years and the depth of success it’s had. I wanted to be in a place where I can reach my full potential and I believe UAE Team L’IMAD is the best place for that.
“I am really excited to get to know all the girls and first want to focus on fitting into the team. My main goals in the first part of the season will be the Spring Classics. I [also] want to continue to improve my climbing ability to open up more opportunities in races and perform better in longer stage races.”
Georgi has signed a three-year contract and will join one of the biggest teams in the women’s peloton, with star riders such as Elisa Longo Borghini and Dominika Wlodarczyk. However, breakout star Paula Blasi, fresh from winning the Vuelta a Espana earlier in the year, is set to leave the team.
An aero front mudguard?
Just when you think you’ve seen it all…
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Driver arrested after swerving into cyclists and firing gun
An utterly shocking incident from across the pond…
> SUV driver arrested after swerving into cyclists and firing gun in shocking US road rage attack
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Technically, these e-motorcycles aren’t illegal in themselves, unless used on public roads without necessarily licenses etc. they can be legal in other circumstances, e.g. on private land. Not sure if this helps or hinders the debate, but it does put the focus on the user not the vehicle/bike.
@Bungle_52 And you can participate! In fact, you are doing so already - your digital footprint is in the mills grinding out the design of our new digital successors. Albeit a handful (in many ways) of very rich guys have more direct control on the direction of travel. At least, at the start...
Soo very sad, stay safe out there 👍 - I thought my time was up once, recently on the roads, it's not good enough, as driving a car is too easy, in my work I get itinarised so why can't driving be equally managed in some way, it's a death weapon, is a car and they need sorting out!
As "bike" is usually used to refer to pedal-only bikes and "motorbike" the (untill now) term for petroleum fuel based internal combustion engine powered bikes... Wouldn't the easiest way be to refer to them as "Illegal Electric Motor-Bikes"? Shortened to "IEMB" which easily rolls off the tongue. We have used "car" for those that are ICE based and nowadays use "electric car/EV" when talking about the differences between the old and new technologies. So why not "EMB" (and "IEMB") for electric motorbikes?
I'd rather see fewer motor vehicles, never mind what colour they are. Failing that, I'd like them to *actually* be soft around the edges, rather than just coloured that way.
To be clear, the police are perfectly legally using electric motorbikes. So in that context, it's not accurate to call "these machines" "illegal bikes" (which is what is implied in Callum's post above).
@jackcycles I would like to see more motor vehicles in blurred pastel shades, without well-defined outlines, like in a Monet painting. Perhaps driving through a water meadow or a blurred, misty river scene. I think it would reduce driver aggression.
Well the one on the right is twice as biggerer, obviously has to be substantially more dangerous!
So to illustrate the nonsense that this is, it's perfectly acceptable in their eyes to take the thing on the left onto the train, but you can't even bring the Giant on the right into the car park? But hey, what do I know. Maybe the Randride YX20M is the greatest bike ever to take to the road
No - he was a son of God, dedicated to unmasking the alien conspiracy. Unless that was all a clever double-bluff.
3 thoughts on ““Officials who should know better, don’t”: Sadiq Khan criticised for describing electric police motorbikes as “e-bikes” as BBC amends misleading headline; ’50km climb’ awaits Vuelta peloton in finale”
To be clear, the police are perfectly legally using electric motorbikes. So in that context, it’s not accurate to call “these machines” “illegal bikes” (which is what is implied in Callum’s post above).
As “bike” is usually used to refer to pedal-only bikes and “motorbike” the (untill now) term for petroleum fuel based internal combustion engine powered bikes…
Wouldn’t the easiest way be to refer to them as “Illegal Electric Motor-Bikes”?
Shortened to “IEMB” which easily rolls off the tongue.
We have used “car” for those that are ICE based and nowadays use “electric car/EV” when talking about the differences between the old and new technologies.
So why not “EMB” (and “IEMB”) for electric motorbikes?
Technically, these e-motorcycles aren’t illegal in themselves, unless used on public roads without necessarily licenses etc. they can be legal in other circumstances, e.g. on private land. Not sure if this helps or hinders the debate, but it does put the focus on the user not the vehicle/bike.