“The focus is on illegal modifications, not every day cycling”: Met officers trained to distinguish between legal e-bikes and e-motorbikes in bid to “protect positive perceptions of cycling”; work starting as part of £752m plan + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Cycling UK meet with police to discuss modified e-motorbikes
Cycling UK have spent the day with the Metropolitan Police to see how they are tackling modified e-motorbikes through Operation Lexand.
The charity called the experience a “valuable opportunity to build connections, share insight and work collaboratively to improve cycling for everyone.”
The day involved meeting with Superintendent Luke Baldock and partners to “understand the work underway, ” which includes battery safety, retail practices and the challenges facing delivery riders.
> Concerns for vulnerable road users as Met disbands specialist cycle and motorcycle safety units
They added: “It was clear the focus is on illegal modifications and dangerous riding, not everyday cycling.
“Officers are being trained to distinguish between legal ebikes and illegally modified e-motorbikes, and there’s strong awareness of the need to protect positive perceptions of cycling.”
Commenters on the Facebook post have praised the charity’s emphasis on the distinction between legal e-bikes and illegal e-motorbikes.
“Thank you so much for calling these ‘illegally modified e-motorbikes’ when the gutter press (and even sometimes the Police) refer to them as ‘E-bikes’,” said Mike Doyle.
“They are totally different types of machine, and those people who use e-bikes as legitimate mobility aids or everyday transport become stigmatised when these two types of machine are conflated.”
However, Ash Filmer added that the difference is not that black-and-white. “Let’s not pretended they are built as motorcycles. They are built as bicycles with bolt on kits. As long as bicycle can be modified so easily, it needs to be registers with DVLA, and the riders need licencing and insurance.
“Cyclists have been trying to defend the motion of e-bikes for years. Technological advances mean the mods are dirty cheap now and can be added to almost any BSO.
“Motorcyclists can’t get away with the grey areas, and those who abuse the law on Surron type bikes need their plums felt by the boys in blue. This will continue to be a festering sore, and will only get worse with time.”
Other commenters believe that there is more that can be done. Andrew Beta added, “As great as it is, Police crack downs or operations like this take the sticky plaster approach, dealing with the lack of government legislation. For example, making the delivery companies directly responsible for the riders they employ instead of exploiting them would be a good start.”
The cycling media may be struggling and shrinking… but that’s not an excuse to shill for murderous regimes and crap cycling routes
In an opinion piece, George Hill weighs in on a partnership that has left him less than impressed.
He said: “There has been an issue in the UK cycling media for a few years, namely that it is shrinking. We had a huge surge in the decade following Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France, but pretty much since Team Sky became Ineos, we have seen a significant drop-off.
“Of course, many other issues affecting the media and publishers worldwide have also contributed to the struggle, but as I see it, this is an extra problem specific to the bike industry and cycling media in the UK.”
Zoe Backstedt wins Vuelta a Extremadura opening time trial
Zoe Bäckstedt powered to an impressive victory in the opening individual time trial of the Vuelta a Extremadura, finishing nearly 20 seconds ahead of the rest of her competitors.
The 21-year-old, current British National Time Trial champion, completed the 18-kilometre course 17 seconds faster than Maëva Squiban of UAE Team ADQ.
With rain falling steadily throughout the stage, riders faced a short but punchy out-and-back route that started and finished in Herrera del Duque.
Despite spending much of the stage in the hot seat as the provisional race leader, Mackenzie Coupland of Liv AlUla Jayco finished third, 20 seconds behind.
Coupland, a first-year professional, set the early benchmark time. The 20-year-old produced an impressive ride, beating double French National Time Trial champion Marion Borras by eight seconds when the Cofidis rider crossed the line.
For a time, the Australian looked set for a podium finish, with the rest of the field more than 40 seconds behind her leading time. However, her time was later challenged as more of the race favourites and time trial specialists began to arrive.
Ema Comte moved into provisional third, finishing 31 seconds down, before Fee Knaven of UAE Team ADQ came closer with a ride 24 seconds behind Coupland, briefly threatening the Australian’s hold on a podium place.
“Very, very few people can break the speed limit on a bike”: James May slams Mr Loophole’s call for clampdown on ‘speeding’ cyclists, claiming problem is with illegal e-motorbikes and “nothing to do with cycling”
James May has criticised calls for a police crackdown on ‘speeding cyclists’, arguing that “very, very few people” can break the speed limit on a bike and that campaigns focused on speed “always demonise” cyclists.
“30mph on the flat on a bicycle is Tour de France stuff… These campaigns always demonise ‘speeding cyclists’,” the former Top Gear host said.
Mercedes driver caught not giving way to a cyclist to spend £120 on driver awareness course
Here’s that video of the driver turning across my path into a petrol station, and forcing me to brake and stop. He took a driver awareness course. Solid Karma. AAAAAAhhhhahaaahahahahaha! pic.twitter.com/6IhIKK6SKo
— CyclingMikey the Unspeakable (@MikeyCycling) March 5, 2026
In yet another video by Cycling Mikey catching dangerous drivers, you see a driver overtake him while cycling at 26km/h, then fail to give way when turning left.
The YouTuber encourages the driver to “look it up in the highway code” and clarifies in the comments that due to this, the Met police “forced the driver to choose between prosecution and paying for his own driver retraining course. 4 hours of his own time and £120.”
Despite including screenshots from the Highway Code, commenters on X were quick to defend the driver. WCB said: “In this instance, the car driver indicated and slowed in plenty of time to show you their actions. In this case, YOU are in the wrong.”
CyclingMikey responded: “Wrong. You have to wait for the cyclist, and if you drive like this, you too would be dealt with by the Met Police as this driver was.”
> The Highway Code for cyclists — all the rules you need to know for riding on the road explained
He was further criticised by Michael Merrifield, who said, “He made a mistake. Road users do it from time to time. Even cyclists. Most other road users shrug and move on, because they know they are less than perfect themselves; they don’t dob them in with the old bill.”
However, CyclingMikey responded: “The idea that anyone anywhere could video you any time takes all the fun out of anti-social driving. The sense of paranoia really eats away at you. The public made 150,000 video allegations across England and Wales in the last year, and most were prosecuted.”
If you are curious about the actual wording of the Code, Rule H3 for drivers and motorcyclists states:
“You should not cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse-drawn vehicles going ahead when you are turning into or out of a junction or changing direction or lane, just as you would not turn across the path of another motor vehicle. This applies whether they are using a cycle lane, a cycle track, or riding ahead on the road, and you should give way to them.
Do not turn at a junction if to do so would cause the cyclist, horse rider or horse-drawn vehicle going straight ahead to stop or swerve.
You should stop and wait for a safe gap in the flow of cyclists if necessary. This includes when cyclists are:
- approaching, passing or moving off from a junction
- moving past or waiting alongside stationary or slow-moving traffic
- travelling around a roundabout”
Back when ineffective brakes were “elegant”…
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If they look cool, do they really need to work?
Glasgow’s e-bike scheme has travelled the equivalent of 13 laps around the globe, with 170,000 rides in four months
Glasgow’s Voi riders have travelled over 520,000km, the equivalent of thirteen laps around the globe, since the launch last November.
The 170,000 rides are a 114% increase from the same period a year ago.
Councillor Angus Millar, the City Convener for Climate and Transport, said: “On-street cycle hire is rapidly becoming a go-to way for people to get around Glasgow, and the surge in use since Voi took over shows just how quickly e-bikes have become part of everyday travel.
“The response has been remarkable, even through the winter, and it underlines how strongly people are embracing cleaner, healthier ways of getting around. With Glasgow’s growing network of safer cycling routes taking shape across the city, e-bikes are establishing themselves as a core transport choice, helping Glaswegians move easily and more sustainably every day.”
Harry Foskin, Voi’s Senior Public Policy Manager, added: “Reaching more than 170,000 rides in just a few months shows how quickly Glaswegians are embracing Voi e-bikes as an easy, affordable and sustainable way to get around the city.
“However, we are so far only scratching the surface – we’re committed to working with the city to keep improving the service, expand access by providing more parking and make it even easier for people to choose sustainable transport every day.”
The rollout of the Voi-operated scheme began in November 2025, replacing the previous Nextbike-operated system, and forms part of Glasgow’s broader strategy to expand access to affordable, sustainable transport.
Heading into the weekend like...
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… maybe not like this if you don’t want to spend the weekend in the hospital.
Manchester Evening News accused of stoking anti-cycling sentiment after “incorrectly” claiming new bike lane set to be “ripped up again”
The Manchester Evening News has been accused of “sensationalism” and stoking anti-cycling sentiment after publishing a story on modifications to recently-installed cycling infrastructure – by claiming in its headline that the bike lane was being “ripped up again”, as part of the latest instalment in a long-running “insane saga”.
Tadej having fun on the gravel
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Tadej Pogačar is having fun reconning the roads ahead of his first race of the season, the Strade Bianche. We’ll see if these good spirits are carried into the race tomorrow…
Work to start in historic city centre as part of £752 million plan to take "the West out of the slow lane"
Work starts on a new walking, wheeling and cycling scheme in Bath city centre next week. The scheme, which involves constructing 300 meters of new cycle paths and eight new crossings, will connect existing and proposed routes across Bath.
It will begin on Charles Street before continuing through the city centre via Upper Borough Walls to Pulteney Bridge, and will also include improvements on 800 meters of pavements, roads and drainage.
Councillor Lucy Hodge, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Transport Delivery, said: “This will improve travel options in the city centre for our residents and visitors. Making it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle helps cut pollution and reduce car dependency in the city, benefiting everyone’s health.
“This will connect to a number of other schemes as we set out to improve travel options, reduce traffic and create great quality places for residents across Bath and North East Somerset.”
Helen Godwin, the Mayor of the West of England, added: “Working together with the council, this latest regional investment will cut pollution and give local communities better choices for how to get around.
“Getting the basics right now by improving our walking and cycling routes here in Bath, making it safer for everyone with new crossings, will lay the foundations for a better transport system overall for the West of England.
“We’ve secured a record £752 million for that next stage from the national government. That means that the West can get out of the slow lane on transport and start to catch up with other regions, with better buses, more trains, and mass transit plans – as well as active travel and street improvements, as recently set out in our new Transport Vision.”
The work will start on the Upper Borough Walls on Monday, 9th March, with the works across the whole route expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
It will link to other planned schemes in the city, such as the proposed Weston to city centre route, the Bath River Line project, the National Cycling Network and the Bath Quays Links scheme.
Giant unveils “lightest Propel ever”, shunning the trend towards more radical aero road bikes
Giant says the new Propel is its lightest yet, so where does that leave its own very popular TCR all-round road bike? Emily Tillet has ridden the new Liv EnviLiv – the women’s version of the Propel – to see how the updates feel on the road
> Giant unveils “lightest Propel ever”, shunning the trend towards more radical aero road bikes
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@chrisonabike True, things went back to normal once the pandemic was over. In this case, however the problems are still ongoing, and aren't likely to be resolved in the near future. If anything, they're going to get worse. Food shortages are predicted because of the effect that the heatwave has had on crops. This is bound to push prices up. The Straits of Hormuz aren't likely to reopen anytime soon and the strategic oil reserves are running low. Russia is having to import petrol because its own refineries have been badly hit, so that's even more competition for an even more scarce resource. I think that more and more people are going to see cycling as a way of cutting household bills.
I think if "grown up" cyclists * are quibbling about ASLs we've very much missed the road safety point anyway. (Not to mention the wider "better transport choices" picture). ASLs are poor-to-useless "cycling infra", even for their design intent. If the idea is "for less confident cyclists" then a design that requires that you re-position in front of the motor traffic - waiting to accelerate - seems unhelpful. Of course they're only designed to help when traffic is stopped, and you can reach the front in time and if vehicles aren't already occupying them. As we're noting here drivers frequently ignore them - whether that be deliberate, a lack of road craft, because they were concentrating on following the vehicle in front, or because the paint has rubbed off. * Aside: shouldn't cycling also be safe and accessible for kids? Or should they only be allowed to do this when accompanied by sufficient qualified adults? Or be limited to parks and otherwise being driven around by their carers? Perhaps there is another way...?
Hi Bungle, I saw you follow-up comment. I can't imaging there's a tolerance of 4 seconds on camera enforced lights, seems an odd decision - an offence is committed if a vehicle starts crossing on a red, any tolerance is discretionary. There does seem to be some odd thinking about 'advanced stop lines' where the rules relating to them are identical to a regular stop line, as explained correctly elsewhere in the Highway Code. It does seem a regular offence. Where I live it doesn't help that some of them are very faint and disappear in rain.
@ktache Not sure he's totally ruled out of the worlds yet (though I think it would be best if he doesn't), normal recovery time is about eight weeks but surgery can halve that...depending on the nature of the break he could be just about fit to ride by the time of the elite men's race, but he'll have missed a lot of training. Hopefully his managers and team will persuade him to wait until Lombardia, if not just to knock it off for the rest of the year.
@Bungle_52 The Met told me a couple of years ago when rejecting a submission that they needed a clear three seconds of red visible before they would consider it for an RLJ prosecution. I pointed out to them that this meant that at 30 mph a driver could see a light change to red from 40 metres away and still get through without sanction, or 55 m if they accelerated to 40 as most do. They just replied "them's our rules..."
@Ben Graham I have just checked the footage from my report. The driver crosses the 1st stop line 4 seconds after the light turns red. All on camera from behind the vehicle. No further action. So I assume the margin is at least 4 seconds.
Oh, and active travel funding per head (in England at least) is laughable compared to other places. Plus it is delivered intermittently. It's more like a Blue Peter contest...
Yup, I see those opportunities being missed all the time in Edinburgh. When it gets really bad, dig it all up and put it back down again how it was. Contrast with what seems to happen in NL - when things are dug up the whole thing seems to get a "let's redo this according to the current standards" treatment. They even coordinate with the utilities, so that after a refurb the street isn't immediately dug up again because of leaking pipes / we suddenly realised the new estate being planned for round the corner will want broadband etc. Pros and cons of course - you may wait longer there for changes as smaller changes may be deferred until a major redo is due. (Though in the UK case you likely wouldn't get them at all...) It seems we "can't have nice things" in the UK in part because a) we have greater motor traffic speeds/volumes spead across "streets" / within urban areas b) the funding and organisational responsibility differs. Are we in the "Sam Vimes boots" territory (being too poor to afford better products which not only save money over time but actually work)? There is long term money pressure on LAs and it seems that due to poor construction and maintenance we have to regularly pour money into (pot-)holes in the road. And it seems there's no budget to check up on or enforce adequate standards from utilities work or even private building.
Shame about the world champs defence. Speedy recovery. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/30/tadej-pogacar-vuelta-a-espana-cycling-crash-hospital-stage-nine
I believe the accepted form for this kind of argument is "I know you are, you said you were, but what am I?".
17 thoughts on ““The focus is on illegal modifications, not every day cycling”: Met officers trained to distinguish between legal e-bikes and e-motorbikes in bid to “protect positive perceptions of cycling”; work starting as part of £752m plan + more on the live blog”
Progress. Keep up the good work.
However, I suspect that the gutter press and its readers don’t want to understand the difference between electric motorbikes, illegally modified e-bikes, e-bikes or bicycles. It simplifies and strengthens their pro-motorist arguments.
It’s good to see that the police are actually being more aware of the distinction, at least, but do they really need training to identify illegal electric motorcycles? If the hub motor is bigger than a brake disc, if the rider is going more than 15 mph on the flat or uphill whilst only gently turning the pedals, or they are not turning the pedals at all, then it’s illegal. That covers 99% of illegal electric motorcycles (yes it’s possible to hack a legal 250W bike by overriding the restrictor but virtually nobody bothers). It’s not identification that’s the problem but the willingness to act. I’ve mentioned on here before that the Pret A Manger at the bottom of my road always has a crowd of delivery riders waiting outside for orders, without exception using illegal bikes, and the police regularly drive up (parking illegally, but that’s another issue), go into the establishment for coffee and snacks and come out and consume them in their cars, all the while gazing on what could be an easy pinch of half a dozen illegal riders, and then drive off.
I was reading in the Harlngey local rag this week that a copper was sacked after going into a local pret, taking a sandwich, leaving without paying, getting back into his (illegally) parked car and driving off. It was all caught on camera.
The comments on the “e-motorbike” story by “Ash Filmer” are … remarkable!
So much so I wonder if they’re as they proport to be.
However, while generally “we know them when we see them” I believe it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish, certainly for folks like the police for whom this is probably a niche policing subject.
RE Bath cycle improvements – on my one foray about Bath on bike I noticed two things – first the usual UK incongruity of a “historic tourist attraction” with large flows of motor traffic round and through it.
And second their odd “bus stop plus cycle lane” designs, which build out the whole area but ramp up the cycle lane to the level of waiting passengers. (No idea why they couldn’t just have a standard bypass round the back of the bus waiting area if going to that much engineering anyway…)
If I visit again I’d be delighted if somehow there was less of the first (fat chance). But ideally there would be no more of the second (just use standard designs already…)
CyclingMickey is a white knight on two wheels who rights the wrongs done by motorists. One can only admire this level of dedication.
Does he also teach self-defence moves for extreme situations like when cyclists are mugged at knifepoint?
I have sorted of given up my cyclingmikey habit, but his “brays with laughter” vid is well worth a watch.
I’ll deny it…
Singletracks fresh goods Friday had this, it would seem to tick many boxes, though it does appear to almost be good value….
https://absoluteblack.cc/titanium-disc-brake-caliper-alignment-tool-pad-spacer
Looking at the absolute black shop they do a carbon fibre 4 pot caliper press, which looks good. Their graphene lube looks tempting too, roadcc reviews it well, for which the comments, weirdly, are closed. Is that going to be a thing now. So how will we revive zombie articles?
If kiwimike is reading this, which do you prefer for the proper filth? Absolute black graphene or silca synergetic? Please.
True all illegal ebikes should be removed from the road as much as possible. Including bikes with a throttle that can go speeds over walk assist speed.
There needs to be more legislation and enforcement on selling ebikes and the restrictions should be hard coded into the bike and no possible way to increase the speed, even if the software is hacked. Hydraulic disc brakes as standard on any ebike over 15kg. Etc.
Hydraulic disc brakes for all? I have riden moterbikes capable of 70mph with cable operated drum brakes.
So have I, they were a bit crap though, weren’t they? However our new village idiot/troll’s suggestion is obviously nonsense (even leaving aside the fact that virtually every new ebike will have hydraulic disc brakes anyway), lots of non-electric bikes weigh more than 15kg and anyway the braking power required depends much more upon rider weight than bike weight, a 110 kg rider on an 8 kg bike needs much better brakes than a 60 kg rider on a 15 kg bike. There’s no more reason to mandate hydraulic discs on legal ebikes than there is on standard human-power-only bikes.
Indeed. While there are certainly benefits to discs (modulation etc) IIRC David Hembrow had a video of him plus 25kg+ of velomobile showing that the two drum brakes on the front wheels can happily lock those wheels.
https://dutchbikebits.blogspot.com/2010/10/improving-velomobile-braking-efficiency.html
Not that locking up is good, just that even such “old” tech could apply enough force.
I suspect it has as much to do with weight distribution as the braking force available.
Cable drums can be very powerful particularly with multiple leading shoes as they provide a servo effect but can lack modulation as mentioned and suffer from overheating.
CyclingMikey responded: “Wrong. You have to wait for the cyclist, and if you drive like this, you too would be dealt with by the Met Police as this driver was
Hilarious! Mercedes driver should move to Lancashire, the police couldn’t care less about whether the driver charges straight onto the roundabout the cyclist is already on and forces him to ‘hard stop’ to avoid a collision while almost certainly being ‘on the phone’- no response, no action
Begone, foul revenant.