E Bike Classes 4K

Hey everyone. Peter here. Sixthreezero and E-Bikes. Are you as confused as everyone else is, about the different classes of E-Bikes? Let's go through and clear it up.

Okay. So in my opinion, sixthreezero bikes are the classiest E-Bikes, but all E-Bikes have class. One, two, or three. Ours are all Class Two, and let me help you understand what those different classes mean. A lot of people get confused about it and I think it took me about three years to fully comprehend what it actually meant. Because there's also a lot of confusion, not just in the industry, but I think also in general, maybe with law enforcement, et cetera. Also city councils, about what that means and why there are even classes for E-Bikes.

So, first of all, why are there classes for E-Bikes? Well, the reason is because we all know about the bicycle. The bicycle's been around for a long time and you know that it can ride with traffic on street roads. So we know about a bicycle, it's human-powered.

And then we have other vehicles that are powered usually by gasoline in the past, cars, and motorcycles. Those obviously require a driver's license to operate. They also usually require insurance, et cetera. Then you have to pay registration fees to keep track of it.

Well, when the E-Bike came along, it was somewhere in between, like a moped. It matters about how powerful the vehicle is, how fast it can go, and how much power it has. Some mopeds also have a special classification, but at a certain point, you need a license to operate certain vehicles. You have to be a certain age, register and get insurance, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So obviously with bicycles, you don't have to do that. Same thing with E-Bikes, as long as they have a certain class. If they exceed the class, then they become something else. They become motorized vehicles.

And then you do have to get some sort of legal registration, license, et cetera. So somewhere along the line, they decided to classify E-Bikes as Class One, Class Two, and Class Three. And these are really just limitations on speed. And so, it's really quite simple if it's explained right. And hopefully, I can do it.

So first of all, there are two ways to power, the E-Bike using the electricity. One is with a throttle. And a throttle is really just like the throttle on a motorcycle. You can just use that to make yourself go faster. You can go ahead and throttle it and give yourself as much power as you need. You don't need to be pedaling. Just like on a motorcycle, you can go ahead and twist the throttle there and you'll go faster. There's also pedal assist.

We have another video on the difference between pedal assist and throttle, and also how they work. If pedal assist is something you don't understand yet either, which takes a little while also to get the gist of what the pedal-assist means. But with pedal assist, that means that it's going to give you a steady stream of power while you're pedaling. And so it's like you have super legs.

And that's one of the best things about E-Bikes, is that you can ride them like a normal bike, but you can go much farther, usually faster. You can go places that you couldn't go before, that may be too steep for you. So it's a wonderful way for a lot of people to get the bicycle riding experience. And obviously, E-Bikes are exploding in popularity for that reason, because riding a bike is a wonderful, wonderful thing for so many ways. But, riding a regular bike sometimes is difficult to keep up and to go up steep hills, et cetera, et cetera. Go as far as you'd like to.

So the pedal assist will give you that extra assist and just push you right along. So we have throttle and we have pedal assist. So two different ways of powering the bicycle. Like I said, with the throttle, it's kind of like a motorcycle. Where you're not using any of your own physicality to power the bike. You can just use the throttle and it alone will push you.

So, with Class One, it only has the throttle. There's no pedal assist on it. So Class One has a throttle and is limited to 20 miles per hour. That's what Class One is. It has a throttle and it's limited to 20 miles per hour, with no pedal assist. And you can't go any faster than that unless you're going downhill and you're really pedaling. You can exceed the 20 miles per hour, but the motor and the battery will not assist you beyond 20 miles per hour.

So above 20 miles per hour, you're adding that with your own body, with your own body's power. That's Class One. We don't see that a whole lot. Because a lot of people really like to have pedal assist. And most bikes quite frankly, have pedal assist and the throttle. Because having both is a really wonderful thing. Explain that in another video, or you may find that in someone else's video.

But it's really great to have a bike that has a pedal assist and a throttle. That's Class Two. So Class Two is the main one that has pedal assist and throttle. So Class Two has pedal assist and throttle and is also limited to 20 miles an hour. So it's the same as for Class One with the addition of pedal assist. That's Class Two. That's usually what you find.

So you have a bike that's limited to 20 miles per hour, and you can use pedal-assist or the throttle. The throttle will not get you past 20 miles per hour. But you can possibly get beyond 20 miles per hour, if you're going downhill or if you're riding really hard with your legs. But as soon as you reach 20 miles per hour, the assist will cut off and you'll be either coasting or coasting downhill faster than 20 miles per hour. Or you'll be just pushing it with your own legs beyond 20 miles per hour. It will help you up to 20 miles per hour and give you that much assist. But then to go beyond that, you're on your own. So, then we can move on to Class Three.

Now the one thing that differentiates Class Three from the other two, is that whereas Class One and Class Two are both limited to 20 miles per hour. Class Three can go up to 28 miles per hour. 28 miles per hour is pretty darn fast. So on a regular bike, you see the racer guys, the people that we call cyclists. Which that's the world that I used to come from, will average about 20 miles per hour.

That's about the average speed of a fit athletic racer. But we can often hit speeds of 28 miles an hour, 30 miles an hour, even like 40, 45, or 50 miles an hour. But I think that the thinking behind these different classes was to keep the E-Bikes in what would be a reasonable range of bicycle speed. I think that's probably the thinking behind it. To keep it in a class where you don't have to have insurance or a license, but you can still have a bike that will get you farther than you would on your regular bicycle. So in terms of the law, E-Bikes are generally considered the same as a bicycle.

So now Class Three is different from the other two. And what differentiates it mainly is, that it can go up to 28 miles an hour with the assist. The assist will assist you up to 28 miles per hour. Now, here's how it works, though. Generally, with Class Three, it only has a pedal assist. So as long as you're pedaling and you can pedal fast enough, you will also get assistance up to 28 miles an hour, which is a pretty fast speed on a bicycle. So usually the Class Three will not have a throttle. So you can't just use a throttle to get up to 28 miles an hour. You can use the pedal-assist to get you up to 28 miles an hour.

So it's like riding a regular bike, but then you're getting that extra assist to get you up to 28 miles an hour. 28 miles an hour is really quite fast for a bicycle. A lot of times, when you see a cyclist out there, the racer guys, they're probably averaging about 20 miles per hour. And then they may get up to 28. Of course, they can exceed that when they're going downhill. Get up to 40, 50 miles an hour.

But a good average speed for a fit athletic cyclist will be somewhere between say 18 and 25, to 28 miles an hour. So, the Class Three replicates that. Now, with that 28 miles per hour, it can't use a throttle to give you that 28 miles per hour. You have to do that on the pedal assist. So you have to be using your body to get up to that speed.

There are Class Three E-Bikes, as it's understood currently, that can use throttles. But the throttle itself will be limited to 20 miles an hour. So even though you can get up to 28 miles an hour with your pedal assist on Class Three, if there is a throttle on, it will be limited to 20 miles an hour.

So just to recap again, the classes are made, so that it's a way to kind of classify E-Bikes as a regular bikes in terms of the law. And having to register and get a license to operate it. And not have to get insurance and all that. So that's all for more powerful vehicles, like a car, motorcycle, or more powerful mopeds.

So, the E-Bikes kind of fall into a little bit of a gray area. And where we've landed is with these three classes. Class One, it's pedal-assist only, and can get up to 20 miles per hour. Class Two has pedal assist and/or throttle and can get up to 20 miles per hour. Also limited to 20 miles per hour. And then Class Three can go up to 28 miles per hour. But you can only get up to 28 miles per hour with the pedal assist. If it has a throttle, the throttle will be limited to 20 miles per hour.

So again, it's a little bit confusing and I'm not sure exactly how they came up with these things. I think it's, with all laws, you just kind of have to draw a line somewhere. And that's just kind of where they found it. In the law, they have to make these distinctions all the time. Like with the drinking age, 21, maybe an arbitrary number, but it has to be somewhere.

I'm sure that these things may also be probably modified as time goes on and people get more familiar with E-Bikes and how we use them. Because E-Bikes are very much a new phenomenon. And a lot of people are kind of confused about where they can be ridden, how they can be ridden. And then also, there are other folks that are getting concerned about where they can be ridden.

So for now, we have Class One, Class Two, and Class Three. And I hope that cleared it up for you. It's really not a big deal. And most E-Bikes will be Class Two. They'll have pedal assist, and they'll have a throttle, and they will be limited to 20 miles per hour, for the power that they give you. You could always exceed that if you're able to power beyond that, with your own energy.

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