Biking in Boston

[guitarguynboston]

The trails don't go everywhere so you wa

No class 2 is up to 20mph with throttle

I can hit 40\45mph with throttle and pedaling but I only go that fast if I'm alone or on the road competing with traffic. You can always get a 2nd or 3rd battery with that speed and travel pretty far. So much better for the environment and safer than cars.

 

[KCasiglio]

The trails don't go everywhere so you wa

I can hit 40\45mph with throttle and pedaling but I only go that fast if I'm alone or on the road competing with traffic. You can always get a 2nd or 3rd battery with that speed and travel pretty far. So much better for the environment and safer than cars.

Your bike won't even be class III it will (and currently does) require a license, registration, and insurance at those speed capabilities.

 

[TheRatmeister]

Your bike won't even be class III it will (and currently does) require a license, registration, and insurance at those speed capabilities.

As it should, mine peaks at ~22mph if I go down a hill (or bridge, there aren't many hills here) and I pedal real hard. That's already terrifying if there's anyone else around or anything but a dead straight road with green lights.

 

[Stlin]

Yea as someone who currently owns a small selection of 2 wheel electric devices... Anything capable above 30 or so really does need to be classified as a moped/ motorcycle/ e-moto and not a bike. I currently have a class 2/3 hybrid, (pedal up to 28, throttle to 20) and a scooter capable of 25ish and I think that's fine. That said, if you also gave the plated group the legal ability to filter (at or below a defined speed), it'll at least give them another option to beat traffic than bike paths.

I remain skeptical of hardware speed capabilities based limits on paths however, especially since most are not easily distinguished at a glance, and unlike proper motorcycles and mopeds, I can order something fully illegal right now on Amazon, and change in MA law most likely won't change that. Unfortunately, I don't know how you enforce it unless you go full-on "these are vehicles" and require VINs on them to be sold, and even then that has never stopped people from riding not-street legal dirt bikes.

 

[KCasiglio]

I remain skeptical of hardware speed capabilities based limits on paths however, especially since most are not easily distinguished at a glance, and unlike proper motorcycles and mopeds, I can order something fully illegal right now on Amazon, and change in MA law most likely won't change that. Unfortunately, I don't know how you enforce it unless you go full-on "these are vehicles" and require VINs on them to be sold, and even then that has never stopped people from riding not-street legal dirt bikes.

Entirely agreed, and folks from the commission I've spoken with acknowledge it's imperfect and that in practical terms it's almost entirely going to be enforced retroactively on people who are getting in trouble for speeding or other behavior. If you ride a class III on a trail and are riding respectfully/under the speed limit you're almost certainly never going to be bothered.