E Bike Safety

The information below is for all NFBC riders to know and understand.

Road bikes and E bikes are blended into our club, and both will continue to evolve. We welcome all riders to focus on the adventure of bike riding.

Guidelines:

• The E bicycle must be pedal- assisted (the bike does not move without pedaling) and legal for use in NYS. It should not have a throttle only option.

• A rider with an E-bike should ride with the same pace rides they would ride without an E-bike. It is unsafe to use an E-bike to ride levels beyond your ability with a regular bike. Beyond physical stamina and capability comes a skill set developed by faster riders that includes paceline space and knowledge of bike handling.

• E bikes and road bikes may ride in pace lines, but each rider should be aware of what bikes each are riding. Additional space (wheel length or greater) should be allowed between E bikes and road bikes to allow for possible bike/rider response variations. The E-bike rider should not need to be in a tight paceline to keep up, so it is much safer to allow more space in front of the E-bike for more response time in case of an event. The E-bike rider should consider letting the non-E-bike riders ride in front, so they can get maximum benefit from being in the paceline with close riding conditions.

• It is considered bad practice for an E-bike rider to turbo past regular bike riders up steep hills and then re-join the team pace line.

• If an e-bike rider is operating their e-bike in an unsafe manner, a Ride Leader or pace line leader has the authority to speak with the e-bike rider to discuss what they are doing incorrectly or to ask that the e-bike rider ride off the back of the group for the safety of others.

This year's club trip has been planned by member Dave Bowman to take advantage of some spectacular scenery and fall foliage. The trip will be to the Pine Creek Rail Trail, in NW Pennsylvania. Dates are 10-13 October, the Columbus Day holiday weekend. The idea is to arrive late on the 10th, ride on 11th and 12th, and return on the 13th with options to ride early on the 13th before departure. Rooms would ordinarily be vacated by 11 a.m. Check your NFBC groups email (nfbc@groups.io) for emails from Dave Bowman with much more information and a video link. Dave's email is davidsbowman@gmail.com.