First poll here in the eMopeds sub

[Smaug]

Let's say you have a heavy eMoped. It has pedals that are functional.

Hmm, too bad there's no poll option here. We'll have to do it the old-fashioned way:

Would you rather it be geared:
A) low, so that you can limp home in case you run out of juice? or
B) high, so you can pedal at speed and help the motor out a bit? or
C) Have a range of speeds through a rear cassette, so you can do a bit of both? or
D) Who cares? Give it short cranks and a high gear ratio, since it is obviously for "riding the loophole" only

 

[Anton]

Poll options added above! (My bad, when I was creating the eMoped forum I forgot to check the "Poll" option.)

 

[Tacticooldennis]

My bike is pretty heavy, but only has one gear, most of the custom stealth bikes I see either have a default-sized "Prowheel" 48 tooth sprocket. or some time of fancy 34T sprocket anodized in the their favorite color (usually red).

 

[m@Robertson]

Here in California if it has footpegs and is electrically powered its perfectly legal as a moped. Getting the license plate and insurance is dirt cheap. Just say no to vestigial pedals

 

[Smaug]

Here in California if it has footpegs and is electrically powered its perfectly legal as a moped. Getting the license plate and insurance is dirt cheap. Just say no to vestigial pedals

Then, you're allowed 4 hp instead of 1, and no speed limit. That lack of a speed limit is a huge loophole in CA... No insurance requirement and the license is a one-time thing. That is VERY uncharacteristic of CA, in my experience!

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/new-registration/motorcycles-mopeds-and-scooters/

 

[m@Robertson]

Then, you're allowed 4 hp instead of 1, and no speed limit. That lack of a speed limit is a huge loophole in CA... No insurance requirement and the license is a one-time thing. That is VERY uncharacteristic of CA, in my experience!

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/new-registration/motorcycles-mopeds-and-scooters/

It doesn't say it on the page you linked, but mopeds cannot exceed 30 mph in CA. Which is stupid. Because California.

https://www.damfirm.com/california-... moped may have pedals,it is the second type.

 

[Tacticooldennis]

I think it's taking longer for the laws to catch up to the e-bikes out there. Take my bike, for example, kits go from 1000w to 16kw hub motors, all same frame. No stickers, no indications. No one is going to know what's under the hood. Cali is in the renaissance period for bikes, wanting more electric vehicles to replace gas ones. but the laws catch up eventually. Just like when the first electric cars took off, Cali gave EV's the carpool lane. but that isn't the case anymore. Enjoy it while you can.

 

[Smaug]

It doesn't say it on the page you linked, but mopeds cannot exceed 30 mph in CA. Which is stupid. Because California.

https://www.damfirm.com/california-... moped may have pedals,it is the second type.

That page is four years old now, not sure it’s still up to date. I think CA revamped its laws this year already.

 

[biknut]

I want to be able to pedal home in a power loss situation, and have had to do that a few times. My bike weighs 120 lbs, and has 9 pedal speeds, but only the bottom 3 are low enough to use without power. The top 2 are tall enough to pedal up to about 35 mph. The middle 4 are basically useless, because I'm usually going to fast to use them. That being said, I almost never pedal anymore.

 

[m@Robertson]

That page is four years old now, not sure it’s still up to date. I think CA revamped its laws this year already.

I went straight to the source. This is the CA current Vehicle Code section 406(a) which governs mopeds. 4 hp and 30 mph.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=406.&lawCode=VEH

 

[CrossRoads]

What I'm into is really an "e-bike" (bicycle frame, parts, traditional drive-train) but with moped power (over 1000 watts).

When you're really gettin up to the moped power band (1500 watts, 2000 watts...) you're really asking for trouble if you send that kind of torque through a traditional bicycle chain, so a mid-drive is pretty much out of the question. That leaves two options, hub motor, or a single-speed heavy-duty-chain chain-driven motor like is often seen on electric go-carts or electric motorcycles.

Seems to me a direct-drive hub-motor is the automatic win win as far as versatility, simplicity, availability, affordability. The added advantage of a hub motor is that you can keep your three-chainring crank, a full cassette or freewheel, two derailleurs, and have gears to suit all of these purposes (A,B,C,D). This is pretty simple to achieve actually. The only customized detail is getting a large chainring so that you can still pedal at high speeds. A large chainring (60T - 70T) might cost you $100.

I like being able to put pedal power in at high speeds. True, at 40mph my motor is probably doing more than 90% of the work, but it still feels good, increases efficiency, and it's fun to try to max out the speed on the high end. And of course, it's nice to be able to slosh home on a dead battery, so yeah, all the gears are nice, and again, it's not hard to acheive this, so why not?

Again, to me the best "e-moped" isn't really going to be the traditional moped-looking design (tiny wheels, sloshy suspension, banana seat), but more of a high speed electric bicycle.

 

[CrossRoads]

biknut, you want to explain your drive-train? looks like a single speed with mid-drive motor plus rear hub-motor? where are the gears?

 

[CrossRoads]

The regs in california are confusing and seem to be changing always and i'm pretty sure cops do not understand them any more than i do. I've been riding my unregistered technically it's a moped (1500 watt 39mph) but looks like an ebike for a year at this power-setting and never been pulled over. That's the advantage of living in Oakland where the police are more concerned with murderers and dealers. If i ever do get pulled over i'll be leaning on "yeah i was just pedaling that fast".

I heard a rumor some states may be offering tax rebates for e-bikes. I mean, it makes sense, if they're going to hand out hand-outs to someone who, lets be honest, if you're buying a tesla, do you really need help from the government?, then they should do the same for ebikes, which offer a considerably loftier moral high-ground from every standpoint when you calc the footprint math. But if you ask me, it's all too complicated and they could keep their hand-outs in their pockets and just get the rules and regs the f*** out of the way and let the markets work their magic. I think it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg who said "we ask for no special priveleges, only that you take your boots off the back of our necks.

 

["A"]

Get a fast one while you still can:

https://electrek.co/2023/07/07/police-crackdown-on-illegally-fast-electric-bikes/

 

[biknut]

biknut, you want to explain your drive-train? looks like a single speed with mid-drive motor plus rear hub-motor? where are the gears?

The bike is powered by a common QS205 hub motor. The pedal power goes through a 9 speed Suntour gear box called a VBoxx. The VBoxx is totally human powered, and independent of the motor. The first 3 gears are low enough to allow a human to pedal this 120 lb bike in case of a power failure. The top 3 gears are tall enough to be useful up to about 35 mph. The middle 3 are basically useless.

 

[Smaug]

Guys, you're derailing the thread. Can you take these offshoots to PM please?

Also, please vote if you haven't voted yet. :-D

 

[ezl]

Let's say you have a heavy eMoped. It has pedals that are functional.

Hmm, too bad there's no poll option here. We'll have to do it the old-fashioned way:

Would you rather it be geared:
A) low, so that you can limp home in case you run out of juice? or
B) high, so you can pedal at speed and help the motor out a bit? or
C) Have a range of speeds through a rear cassette, so you can do a bit of both? or
D) Who cares? Give it short cranks and a high gear ratio, since it is obviously for "riding the loophole" only

I've got a Shimano gear set on my EMoped and any speed over 12 mph is "Ghost Pedaling." Granted, the pedals will get you home
if you run the battery down to cutoff on the controller BUT, on my EMoped I got tired of messing with pedaling with the gears and
disconnected the PAS. I have a "Cruise-Control" activated if I want to pedal plus a EMoped is heavy like mine which as a steel
frame. If I want to save battery I can run 10-11 mph and lock the Cruise-Control at that speed and pedal with it up to 15 mph
otherwise the EMoped is really made for throttle use only since the pedals on Ebikes and EMopeds are only to comply with Ebike laws.