Thought it was a motorbike initially..

[Hector8]

Came out of the shop and found this enormous monstrosity parked up next to my old Trek..

 

[klunkrider]

It appears to have a throttle so in the eyes of the law it is a motorbike.

 

[JayLC]

It appears to have a throttle so in the eyes of the law it is a motorbike.

Yep, very easy for the police to seize if they wanted to. Currently have 500+ seized bikes at my work being stripped/destroyed. All of them have throttle control of some sort.

 

[novocaine]

Bet it isn't restricted either. And the government have lifted the embargo/tariff on them, so expect floods of them soon.

 

[Jonny69]

Yep, plenty of those around here that seem to be capable of 50+mph. Don’t even need to turn the cranks to make them go. They’re just unregulated electric motorbikes :/

This is where the damn things are coming from:

 

[MattiThundrrr]

It is a bike with a motor....
Internal combustion is an engine, electric is a motor, so technically more motorcycle than a big fat Harley.
I almost got run over by something similar in the streets the other day. That much weight and speed without a warning of sound is a deadly combination

 

[Nolongerable2ride]

It appears to have a throttle so in the eyes of the law it is a motorbike.

That looks very much like it might belong to a guy I know!! He get literally everywhere on it!!
He has similar bikes for his two daughters, who are very often with him!!
I suppose,(in the eyes of the law), it IS INDEED,a "mechanically propelled vehicle; and,as such, would require a licence,insurance, MoT and payment of road tax/vehicle excise duty, to be valid on it; but, policing all that would be a nightmare!!!

 

[bikeworkshop]

That looks very much like it might belong to a guy I know!! He get literally everywhere on it!!
He has similar bikes for his two daughters, who are very often with him!!
I suppose,(in the eyes of the law), it IS INDEED,a "mechanically propelled vehicle; and,as such, would require a licence,insurance, MoT and payment of road tax/vehicle excise duty, to be valid on it; but, policing all that would be a nightmare!!!

On Bristol Centre roads 50%plus of the ebikes are illegal.
In central paris, half the bikes are electric, I didn't see one dodgy lashup or illegal model in several days.
I think if the police (paris) start with 0 tolerance, it's manageable, but if they turn a blind eye (bristol) for a few years, it's a problem.

Several uk cities are starting to clamp down, climbing pedestrian injury numbers, RTCs, County lines dealers.