this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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So bikes with combustion engines by law need tags and insurance, but bikes with electric motors should not, despite being as fast and dangerous as their counterparts?
No? None of the vehicles covered by this law are as fast as gas powered motorcycles or whatever it is you're talking about. They're also much lighter.
Not to mention you know this is just an excuse to do more police brutality and racial profiling. They won't police the "good boys" (rich white kids).
I meant motorised bikes in the same speed range as ebikes. Mopeds, not motorbikes. You need a licence, insurance, tag for them. Why not for an equally fast (and dangerous) ebike/pedelec?
F = m * a
Mopeds are at minimum 2-3 times heavier than electric bikes, making them 2-3 times more dangerous since they have 2-3 times more force, without taking speed into account at all. Taking speed into consideration, class 1 and 2 e-bikes top out at 20 mph, while a 50cc moped (based on some preliminary searching, someone please correct me here) tops out at 30 mph, multiplying the force by 1.5x in comparison.
Tell that to the people run over or nearly hit by reckless ebike riders in the pedestrian shopping zone.
For velocity you want kinetic energy .5(mass*V^2)
That’s why braking distance scales exponentially with velocity. 30 vs 20 mph is over twice the energy at the same mass.