Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today I'm going to answer the question, should teenagers and younger people ride e-bikes? Stick around.
All right, so today we're going to answer the question, should teenagers ride e-bikes? But before I get into it, hit the subscribe button below. Stay in touch with us here at SixThreeZero. Be the first to know about all the new content we're putting out, giveaways we do, and of course, new product releases.
All right, E-bikes are exploding in popularity, I'm seeing them everywhere. And I'm seeing a vast array of ages riding e-bikes all over the place. Now, the one thing that has me slightly concerned is the amount of children on e-bikes these days, especially children under the age of 16. I'm seeing children eight years old, nine years old, 10 years old, all bombing around cities at very high speeds on e-bikes. And it begs the question, should teenagers or younger be allowed on e-bikes?
Well, this is a very complex question. I have children myself, and I'm sure in a couple of years when my kids are 9, or 10 years old, they're going to be asking me about electric bikes. And I can see so many of the benefits, especially for parents, because now children can get around to places that they couldn't before, without having to have their parents drive them to sports or a friend's house or school. What used to be maybe a mile, two miles, three miles that was doable on a regular bike is now 7, 8, 9 miles or even 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 miles for children to do on their e-bikes, that if they can take paths or stay in a safe bike lane, they can get places almost faster than they could in a car.
And as of today, there's not much regulation going on in terms of e-bikes in cities, in terms of who's riding and where you're going and the regulations. Although I do believe, in some places, under the age of 16, you're not allowed to ride e-bikes. But I think the other issue is the enforcement of these laws.
","heading":"","layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{}},{"id":"cb98c00d-576a-41c8-b82d-d8cd69c150d6","image":{"assetId":"35YvB7HcB0b7BjERXEnLli","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{}},{"id":"7dcf4277-867b-4a60-89ec-89dcb969dec1","body":"Here in San Clemente, California as an example, and I know in other cities, Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch, it's every child, I feel like, in middle school has an electric bike. And so, the question is going to be how can this be regulated in a way where it can still be a benefit to society, in particular to these children and these parents?
But my opinion on the topic is should teenagers be allowed to ride e-bikes? In the current form, my answer would be no. They should be allowed to ride e-bikes. However, I do believe there should be some required training or instruction that kids may have to take. Whether it's even an online course that you have to be certified in, something proving that they've been educated on the rules of the road. Because now, children who normally wouldn't take a regular bike onto streets, are taking their e-bikes, going into turn lanes, going in the middle of the streets, and riding down 40-mile-an-hour streets, and they have no sense of the rules of the road at all, right? They don't know when you need to signal. They don't know how you signal. They don't know double yellow or single yellow. And maybe these questions are coming up now with their parents as they are riding more, but it'd be best to give them some sort of test in advance of riding, in my opinion.
Now, I don't want to see so much regulation from the government that it's going to destroy the e-bike sector. Because we manufacture e-bikes and I love e-bikes and I think they're hugely beneficial, but I have been in circumstances driving my car where there have been teenagers who have inappropriately operated their e-bikes. And I thought to myself, \"Wouldn't it be great if they had some level of education about the rules of the road?\"
Now, I think the other thing that I'm seeing a lot of is children riding with passengers on the back of e-bikes. And there's been several e-bikes now developed to have a seat that can fit two kids. I have a motorcycle license, and I went through the process of taking the driving test actually through an authorized California organization that set up a weekend driving instruction. And after that course, I got my permit. Then I had to go back and take the written test to get my final license.
","heading":"","layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{}},{"id":"123b2caa-4c00-49d6-9665-f1cbdf21ca81","image":{"assetId":"6LtLHvSVpIzlLo15uxzjhr","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{}},{"id":"9ca2aadf-6a6e-446a-b77f-7d61365516b1","body":"There were two things I remember specifically: when you have your motorcycle permit, you are not allowed to do it on a motorcycle. You are not allowed to carry passengers and you're not allowed to ride at night. And two things that worry me right now with teenagers and e-bikes are that they're doing both of those. They are carrying passengers on their e-bikes and a lot of them are riding at night. And there's more to train somebody on when it comes to two-wheel bikes or motorcycles about riding at night, but especially passengers.
When you add additional body weight to the back of a bike or an e-bike, it steers differently, it feels differently, and it breaks differently. And so, it really would be helpful to have training to explain how that weight is going to affect the experience of you steering that e-bike. Without giving anyone a heads up on that, I see dangerous situations all day with teenagers with a friend on the back going down a hill.
The other thing too, in a lot of the manuals for these e-bikes, and I will say they do specifically say, in a lot of these bike manuals, number one, do not operate if it's under the age of 16. And number two, there are weight limits for a lot of these bikes. And I think a lot of these kids don't pay attention to that when they get on with their buddy, and now all of a sudden they've got 300 plus pounds on the bike, and that's not safe to operate whether you're an adult or a child.
And so, it's a very sticky situation because there are so many pros and cons on both sides, that I think it would truly be beneficial for anybody under the age of 16 to get more proper training, more proper instruction, and understand the cause and effect of what can go wrong when you improperly operate your e-bike. So my complicated answer to the question of whether teenagers should ride e-bikes is really, it's yes. However, we need to make some changes, do some training, require some testing, and possibly set some level of minimum age required. I do see eight-year-olds on e-bikes. This begs the question, is that too young? To be determined at this point.
","heading":"","layoutId":"paragraph-section","variants":{}},{"id":"12392f4d-7726-4eb0-b602-3e304ba3195f","image":{"assetId":"hl1qtp1tyb7CvI3rxyyFx","options":{"backgroundSize":"cover"},"mobileAssetId":"","mobileOptions":{"backgroundSize":"cover"}},"layoutId":"full-width-image-with-out-bleed","variants":{}},{"id":"0d5bd9df-4128-4ac4-8905-f2aa707a530a","body":"So if you have any thoughts on the topic at all, I'd love to hear it. Comment below or shoot us an email, at TheTeam@sixthreezero.com or call us at (310) 982-2877. We've got these e-bikes linked in our bio below. Also, you can check out our e-bike selection on sixthreezero.com. We currently don't make e-bikes for children. All of our e-bikes at this point are full-size adult electric bikes. And we do offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don't love your e-bike in 30 days, send it back. No money out of your pocket. We also warranty every e-bike for up to a year.
In addition to that, if you want to talk to other SixThreeZero riders, join our Facebook Pedalers group. You can ask them what they think about this topic, and get their experience with our bikes. If you're interested, they can help you make a purchase and help you decide what to purchase in advance. Then once you have an e-bike, join the club. Post photos, and make new friends, it's tons of fun. So thanks for sticking around and don't forget, it's your journey, your experience, and enjoy the ride.
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