Proposed new helmet standards for electric bikes.
There is currently a submission before standards Australia that may create a different standard for helmets required for use on electric bicycles.
If such a modification is adopted, current bicycle helmets will not be legal to use on electric bikes on Australian roads
E-bike helmets
- il padrone
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E-bike helmets
Postby il padrone » Fri Nov 07, 2014 6:23 pm
Just got wind of a proposal emanating from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to Standards Australia recommending a new helmet standard solely for e-bikes. Source came from a BIA email.
Mandatory helmet law?
"An unjustified and unethical imposition on a healthy activity."
"An unjustified and unethical imposition on a healthy activity."
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Re: E-bike helmets
Postby myforwik » Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:59 pm
Surprise surprise... they want to cripple e-bikes before they get off the ground.
Its looks like they want to be tricky as well... normally when they right a new Australia Standard they have no legal basis at all. Standards have to be enforced by acts and/or regulations and thus approved by parliament.
However it seems that they are going to try and updated the existing helmet standard to have a different requirement for e-bikes. So they can update a standard already required by laws.... pretty sneaky.
Either way I don't see how they can possibly enforce this.
(Wouldn't be surprised if they used the helmet laws as an excuse for e-bikes to be registered).
You wonder how on earth they can even say better helmets are needed since the whole point of the e-bike laws (250W pedalic) is that they don't provide any more power than a healthy fit cyclist can do themselves.
Its looks like they want to be tricky as well... normally when they right a new Australia Standard they have no legal basis at all. Standards have to be enforced by acts and/or regulations and thus approved by parliament.
However it seems that they are going to try and updated the existing helmet standard to have a different requirement for e-bikes. So they can update a standard already required by laws.... pretty sneaky.
Either way I don't see how they can possibly enforce this.
(Wouldn't be surprised if they used the helmet laws as an excuse for e-bikes to be registered).
You wonder how on earth they can even say better helmets are needed since the whole point of the e-bike laws (250W pedalic) is that they don't provide any more power than a healthy fit cyclist can do themselves.
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Re: E-bike helmets
Postby geebee » Thu Jan 01, 2015 8:24 pm
On what possible basis?
An ebike is slower than a good rider and the weight of current ones is not much higher than an Xmart BSO.
Any links to the report/info on this.
An ebike is slower than a good rider and the weight of current ones is not much higher than an Xmart BSO.
Any links to the report/info on this.
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Re: E-bike helmets
Postby Robinho » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:27 pm
tell that to the guy who overtakes me on my ride home every day doing 40kph+ with relatively little effort, into a headwind whilst the rest of us mugs are doing turns trying to average 30kph, although I reckon his might have been adjustedgeebee wrote:On what possible basis?
An ebike is slower than a good rider and the weight of current ones is not much higher than an Xmart BSO.
Any links to the report/info on this.
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Re: E-bike helmets
Postby Xenon » Sat Jan 17, 2015 5:28 pm
tell that to the guy who overtakes me on my ride home every day doing 40kph+ with relatively little effort, into a headwind whilst the rest of us mugs are doing turns trying to average 30kph, although I reckon his might have been adjusted[/quote]Robinho wrote:Any links to the report/info on this.
So you never go 40kph+?
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- TonyMax
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Re: E-bike helmets
Postby TonyMax » Mon Mar 16, 2015 3:51 pm
I am 95% sure I saw one over the weekend that was doing at least 80km/h and the guy was just wearing a normal road cycling helmet. Rather him than me, but I'm guessing there are some seriously quick e-bikes out there and they should be wearing more than just a stackhat if they're going that fast.geebee wrote:An ebike is slower than a good rider...
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Re: E-bike helmets
Postby cj7hawk » Mon Mar 16, 2015 4:00 pm
Unfortunately the truth is that the banning of petrol PAPCs in NSW was a bad thing and foreseeably leads to this kind of outcome - Pedelecs will nearly always be slower than a human on a normal bicycle and even 250w PAPCs such as will soon be legal in WA are often still slower than a normal human-powered bicycle.TonyMax wrote:I am 95% sure I saw one over the weekend that was doing at least 80km/h and the guy was just wearing a normal road cycling helmet. Rather him than me, but I'm guessing there are some seriously quick e-bikes out there and they should be wearing more than just a stackhat if they're going that fast.geebee wrote:An ebike is slower than a good rider...
Now that petrol is gone ( which was effectively limited to about 300 to 400 watts even in non-complying models due to mechanical limitations of mating a petrol engine to a bicycle ) the replacement of choice for many who want a fast powered bicycle is 1000w Electrics which don't have these limitations and can easily break 50 kph.
The are not legal of course - All legal powered bikes can't really go faster than around 25kph unless you're pedaling really hard, but in the absence of a will to enforce the laws as they are, and political reasons not to, this is the kind of mess that results.
Electric bikes should have a lower requirement for helmets due to the lower speeds, but the situation as it stands will likely see standards change - and not for the better.
David.
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