Admin

  • Roger Riley
  • Tue February 16 2016
  • Posted Feb 16, 2016
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Leaders in the Des Moines metro are discussing a growing trend in transportation.

Electric assist bikes, or e-bikes, offer a mechanical push to help riders. More e-bikes are being sold in Iowa, which has metro planners looking at how these new bikes should be regulated.

The growing e-bike market is causing governmental planning agencies to look at how to regulate this type of bike. At a meeting Tuesday, leaders with the Des Moines MPO discussed concerns and possible solutions.


Electric bicycles are already regulated by their definition in the state code. The idea is that healthy humans can output about 750W in short spurts, so why not allow that same performance potential from an electric motor? Its essentially the same 'bicycle behavior' as non-electric, and needs no additional regulation.

#2 - gogo posted Mar 2, 2016


Eh....not too sure about this but I can see the one big advantage (in my mind anyway) and that's people with physical issues that may prevent them from cycling much can have a great ride with just a little help. For that, great idea. I'm not too fond of having them on the trail but that really depends how fast these things can buzz. I commute to work when I can and have a system laid out for getting "re-freshed" after arriving at work. If I had to wear a suit and tie, that might be different but there are ways around that like leave a suit and tie and change of clothes at work and figure out a way to "clean-up". I am not expecting to see that much of this around town. Maybe I'm wrong.

#1 - streamdreamer posted Feb 18, 2016


Leave a Comment

You must be signed in to leave a comment.