As Teens Take to E-Bikes, Parents Ask: Is This Freedom or Danger?

Peaces@infosec.pub to Technology@beehaw.org – 107 points –
As Teens Take to E-Bikes, Parents Ask: Is This Freedom or Danger?
nytimes.com

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I was going to say, when I was a kid, growing up in the 70s, I had a dirt bike with a spedometer and I regularly pushed that thing to 25mph just with the pedals.

My first thought was "faster than 20? No big deal..."

But then I hit this:

"in fact, the Talaria can hit 70 miles per hour. His mother gave him her blessing, she said, and even helped him clip a wire that removes the speed “governor” that ordinarily limits the vehicle to 20 miles per hour."

Having an eBike that can go that fast with relatively no modification at all does not seem wise to me, and it's irresponsible of the parent to assist in that.

1 year after graduation, one of my high school friends got into an argument with his girlfriend, was riding his motorcycle too fast without a helmet, and crashed straight into the back of a garbage truck, killing him instantly.

A bike helmet wouldn't have helped, maybe a DOT approved motorcycle helmet would have.

Edit I looked up the mod, it brings the bike to 70Kph, not mph. So about 45. Still faster than I'd want my kid going.

FWIW, I used to have an ebike that went up to 70, as an adult, that I used to commute to work and do shopping. New regulations came in restricting all new ebikes to 25 km/h, and now a shopping run takes an hour one-way.

How long did it take before?

I never actually timed it but I can work it out. Back of the hand maths says 25 is a third of 70, roughly, so the journey used to take a third of the time, twenty minutes.