Can I ride an electric bike in Hawaii?
I’m interested in purchasing an electric bicycle but I read the following on wikipedia:
Electric Bicycles in Hawaii are considered a Illegal motorized vehicle
"Bicycle" [4] means every vehicle "propelled solely by human power" upon which any person may ride, having two tandem wheels, and including any vehicle generally recognized as a bicycle though equipped with two front or two rear wheels except a toy bicycle. [43]
However…. they have at least 10 different stores dedicated to selling electric bicycles and I see people riding around with them all the time, and it there was a new story regarding one of the stores promoting the use of electric bikes/scooters as alternate transportation. Any help would be nice.
Specific as in how? I’m just wondering if I can ride an electric bicycle in the state of hawaii legally, like I said they have many dealers here and I see everyone riding them plus you can rent them, just regular bicycles with motors (max speed is like 15-20mph), however everyone claims they are illegal.
If there are stores dedicated to them and you see people riding them I think you’re safe. Maybe they aren’t technically legal, but lots of great things aren’t. At very worst you might get a small ticket. I’ve heard that its illegal to ride a bike without brakes on city streets but I still ride my fixie because the enjoyment I derive from it is worth more than the fifty or one hundred dollar ticket I might someday have to pay.
If stores are selling them and you see people ridding them they must be legal. Check your states department of transportation.
According to federal law HR727 they are: http://gocarlite.com/page19.php Keep a copy with you when riding.
I was thinking about getting one too and wondered the same thing!! Where are the stores that sell them around the island? I only found one so far and his cheapest is about 900 for one.
as far as i can tell electric bikes are not really illegal but must be registered as “mopeds.”
what i think that means is you cannot DIY/piece together your own electic bicycle because you need a “Certificate of Origin” from the manufacturer which i guess describes the specs and whether it falls with safety/emissions import standards.
all the ones you see i would guess are legal and registered as “mopeds”.
before it was more like every other state defining what it is rather than what it is not. technically electric Razor scooters would be “mopeds”.
personally i think federal law HR727 applies since there is no state law defining a “low-speed electric bicycle”.