Need to keep your head down in New Zealand

[flyinmonkie]

A sign of the future for us here in NZ.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6780529/Petrol-powered-pushbikes-perplex-police

Police will soon be looking for fast moving bikes. The petrol converters will probably switch to electric as the next step.

I like how they say take them and get them registered as mopeds. A simple bike conversion will never meet the requirements.

Clay

 

[boppinbob]

New Zealanders are going to have to get good at stealth builds it looks like.

 

[richirich1113]

A sign of the future for us here in NZ.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/6780529/Petrol-powered-pushbikes-perplex-police

Police will soon be looking for fast moving bikes. The petrol converters will probably switch to electric as the next step.

I like how they say take them and get them registered as mopeds. A simple bike conversion will never meet the requirements.

Clay

Do not feel bad, that is exactly what has happened here in Washigton, USA

To many people with dui thought they would get around it, and screwed it for everybody. Same thing here, now a licence and moped registration required for all gas powered bikes.

This was my ride before i had to go electric:

 

[boppinbob]

This was my ride before i had to go electric:

I always thought the idea of a motorized bicycle was cool, I just didn't like how they sounded like a 2 stroke lawnmower. I liked how electric bicycles were quiet and stealthy. Hence I sought info on electric bikes which landed me here.

 

[flyinmonkie]

They did a story on it on the national news last night as well. They interviewed a worker from a road bike shop in town that said bikes were never meant to go 50 kph. Funny coming from a road biker who probably does close to 100 kph down one of the favourite hills to ride in Christchurch.

The police and the reporters were very one sided and called motorized bikes unsafe and a hazard on the road.

I do understand the issue of people who have lost a license do to drunk driving and are ridding them drunk. But it is bringing attention to all "motorized" bikes.

I now live in a town of 4000 and there are at least 3 electric bikes (including mine) and 2 gas powered ones. Before I left Christchurch, I was seeing gas powered bikes almost every other day.

Clay

 

[MattyCiii]

The police and the reporters were very one sided and called motorized bikes unsafe and a hazard on the road.

It's all just ignorance and fear on the part of the reporters (ignorance) and coppers (fear). In reality, automobiles kill more people under age 30, and more healthy people of any age, than all other causes. Citing safety as a reason to persecute something is a lie, and opens the door to debate about the real killer, the motorcar. But mainstream people drive cars, and they don't want to hear that they too can be a killer. People want to vilify the unfamiliar - that reckless thug on the powered bike.

I do understand the issue of people who have lost a license do to drunk driving and are ridding them drunk.

This is worth exploring, but ends at the same place as as the 200 watt AUS power limit. Limit the speed, not the power. Limit the BAC, not the mode of transport. When a drunk surgeon maims a patient with his scalpel, we don't ban surgery. We punish the drunk.

God how I hate stupidity in politics, but sadly they seem to be inextricably tied together.

Then underlying truth of what you say Clay is something I see here on the other side of the world. Bikes in general, and powered bikes, threaten the common folk, and the police will crack down on that which upsets the mainstream. My second bike build will have stealth as its number one criteria as a consequence.

 

[flyinmonkie]

@Matty

I totally agree with punish the wrong doer for doing wrong. Don't punish everyone because some people use a tool in the wrong way. I do understand why the police are concerned though. One of the people they pulled over was drunk at the time.

I have heard several people use the argument that going 50 kph or over is dangerous "on anything". Well, I have yet to drive a car that doesn't go over 100 kph and everyone that drives a car goes over 50 kph every day. That means the entire car driving world is in danger every day. Do these people even hear what they are saying. Their arguments can be used back at them for not driving cars or anything that goes over 50 kph. Of course they would think you are nuts and just playing devils advocate.

The moral of the story is the few can ruin it for the masses. And places that have been quite easy to ride in can change to places hard to ride in. It hasn't fully happened here yet. But I feel it will go that way. A precedent is being set with gas bikes in one of the biggest cites in the country.

Clay

 

[Sunder]

Especially loved the guy in the comments who thought the limit was 300kw, not 300w, and therefore his 2.3kw bike was fully legal...

One could only wish the limit was that high. I have a spare SR20DET in my parents back yard... 200kw+, here we come!

 

[MattyCiii]

The moral of the story is the few can ruin it for the masses.

There it is - the source of my fear. Powered bikes of any kind are extremely rare around here. Heck, it's extremely rare to see bikes of any kind on nearby roads. I'm in suburbia, where long ago cars literally drove cyclists off the streets and into dark corners of the community, where only paved paths in parks, or riding loops in the driveway are safe.

But cycling is starting to come back. Cyclist numbers are growing. What concerns me is that the nascent movement towards bikes is getting a rough start. People ride the wrong way, or go ninja at night, and ride the sidewalks. All very dangerous. I'm afraid for these riders - what they are doing places them at unnecessary risk, and sooner or later someone will get hurt or killed. I'm also afraid for me - because let's face it, 99% of the community cannot relate, they drive and thing the roads belong to them. I fear the backlash, the demand the "something be done about those damn cyclists!" And it matters not whether the law is on my side - if stopped by the police and issued a summons, to fight the ticket and win is still a waste of my time and energy having to even fight at all.

And I'm not even talking about powered bikes. Powered bikes of all kinds will, at least until there's a change in the culture around here, be that much more persecuted - as soon as the police and drivers become aware of them.

 

[Sunder]

I posted something similar (about keeping our heads down), when John in CR recommended we all enjoy the highest power eBikes before legislation made it hard to, but the majority disagreed with me. They didn't think a few could ruin it for the majority.

I guess we'll see.