Canadian Letter Writing Campaign

you can

nobody cares about a bicycle with a motor on it unless you hit a little old lady,then youll need your sticker.contracts rule,so do pro looking stickers.ride and enjoy:cool:
 
Hey Mark

I just came off of looking at ICBC again.

No where do's it say you have to have a sticker!!

What it do's say :

MACs

" As a condition of "initial sale",
all "commercially manufactured" MACs
must bear a permanently affixed label
stating that the vehicle is a "power assisted bicycle."

So what this means to me is if I build it myself, NOT commercially manufactured, I am good to go. NO WHERE do's it say you need a sticker
if you build it yourself. To take that a step futher because it is not Com. Man.
a person do's not have to follow the initial sale rule ether because it was
built in your own shop. Not commercially...POPS
 
E-bike Regulations re: building your own

The regulations do not say that you cannot build your own e-bike. They set forth what standards to which they must be made in order to be compliant with the regulations.

Because the operator is not required to have a driver's license which would indicate knowledge of traffic regulations and behavior, the speed is limited to what a healthy bicycle rider could achieve, although not for very long. It is hard to sustain a continuous speed of 32 km/h, and what about weather conditions such as hot summer weather?

Alberta clarified the definitions of "power bicycle" and "moped" when the regulations changed in July, 2009. Here is link to their advisory.
http://www.transportation.alberta.ca/Content/docType45/Production/MopedPowerBikes.pdf

Building a 10hp e-bike with a power output of 500W does not mean that it would be in compliance with the CMVSA regulation. The regulation clearly states that the e-bike cannot travel at a speed greater than 32 km/h on a dry level surface. If an operator were pulled over because a police officer observed him/her traveling a speed estimated by him to be over the limit, he could call for a test of e-bike. If it is home made and does not comply with the regulations, the operator would likely be charged with operation of a non-licensed motor vehicle, as well as insurance infractions.

The logic behind the e-bike law to begin with was that it is better for the environment to have people operating non fossil-fuel vehicles. However, since they would not be stringently regulated in order to permit larger numbers of people to participate in the initiative, it is necessary that there be rules in place, otherwise the situation would be chaotic.

I would suggest that if you build your own e-bike you make it comply with the federal regulations under CMVSA Subpart 2(1), and put a sticker on it so if you are stopped the police officer will at least know what he or she is dealing with.

Veloteq developed one of the first coherent compliance labels, in cooperation with Transport Canada and Canada Customs, back in 2003. We would be happy to send anyone of sample of this. Just drop us an email to info@veloteq.com with the subject line, 'Canada Compliance Label'.

Happy riding!
 
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That is covered under 2(1)(e) of the Transport Canada regulations: http://www.veloteq.com/laws_canada_electric_bicycles.htm . It does not exempt home made vehicles. There are kits available to convert conventional bikes to e-bikes but they must still comply with the above.

Hey Mark

I just came off of looking at ICBC again.

No where do's it say you have to have a sticker!!

What it do's say :

MACs

" As a condition of "initial sale",
all "commercially manufactured" MACs
must bear a permanently affixed label
stating that the vehicle is a "power assisted bicycle."

So what this means to me is if I build it myself, NOT commercially manufactured, I am good to go. NO WHERE do's it say you need a sticker
if you build it yourself. To take that a step futher because it is not Com. Man.
a person do's not have to follow the initial sale rule ether because it was
built in your own shop. Not commercially...POPS
 
Hey Veloteq

I am not saying that you don't have to comply

with the rules just because it's home made!

What I am saying is that I can NOT find anywhere

that is says you have to have a sticker if its home made...POPS
 
Short Title
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations.

Interpretation
2. (1) "power-assisted bicycle" means a vehicle that:
(a) has steering handlebars and is equipped with pedals,
(b) is designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground,
(c) is capable of being propelled by muscular power,
(d) has an electric motor only, which has the following characteristics, namely:
(i) it has a continuous power output rating, measured at the shaft of the motor, of 500 W or less,
(ii) if it is engaged by the use of muscular power, power assistance immediately ceases when the muscular power ceases,
(iii) if it is engaged by the use of an accelerator controller, power assistance immediately ceases when the brakes are applied, and
(iv) it is incapable of providing further assistance when the bicycle attains a speed of 32 km/h on level ground,
(e) bears a label that is permanently affixed by the manufacturer and appears in a conspicuous location stating, in both official languages, that the vehicle is a power-assisted bicycle as defined in this subsection, and .......

Further (source, The Oxford Dictionary)
manufacture

- verb 1 make (something), especially on a large scale using machinery.

Forget the caveat about large scale, etc. If you make it, you are the manufacturer. The federal regulation does not specify that the bike be commericially made.
 
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...(e) bears a label that is permanently affixed by the manufacturer and appears in a conspicuous location stating, in both official languages, that the vehicle is a power-assisted bicycle as defined in this subsection, and .......


That's it. I'm pretty sure they mean no label = not legal.

Makes sense?

No!

That's what makes me think that is indeed what they mean - it's a Canadian law, so if it doesn't make sense that's probably the way it is :geek:



Anybody know of a place that prints quality stickers in small quantity's?
I saw a "sample label" somewhere, I think that's what we need (how kind of them to put a picture of one online).....

I imagine a worst case scenario like this (at least where I live):

Officer: Where did you get that sticker? Only e-bikes are supposed to have those!
Me: Your kidding?! It came with with the engine kit. There was a note that said "Valued customer please kindly use sticker affix to bike must be on to be legal in Canada". It also came with a sticker for the US but I threw that one out, not planning to ride my bike down to the states Officer.
Officer: Well a sticker doesn't make it legal! Where did you get the kit?
Me: Ebay, I think it shipped direct from Hongkong, might be wrong, sorry it's been a while, never using ebay again it's one big scam, everything is sub par quality.
Officer: Oh... Well it's not legal sir, the motor vehicle act states that............ I better not see you on that thing again or you will face charges, now push that thing back home!
Me: Certainly officer! So sorry, I didn't know....


Of course this would be a tad risky, but what are we to do?


You guys really think that a petition wouldn't help? I remember signing a petition (about a year ago) not to let some criminal of local significance out on parole (don't even know who the guy was) and to my knowledge (word of mouth) they didn't let him out thanks to that! Surely if a petition can be used for that it could be used for a harmless cause such as making MB's legal....
 
Petitions

Near the conclusion of the e-bike Pilot Project last year in Ontario a bunch of manual bike purists with support from a few people in Transport Ontario petitioned the federal government, specifically, Transport Canada, to disallow scooter-type e-bikes from the definition of "power-assisted bicycle" because they did not want to share the bike lanes. What they got was a reaffirmation in April of 2009 on the part of Transport Canada that the law stands and they had no intention of altering it. Ontario subsequently, in September 2009 upon conclusion of the Pilot Project, acquiesced to abide by the federal definition and permitted the operation of scooter-type e-bikes on Ontario roads. Many Ontario owners of scooter-type e-bikes had also petitioned Transport Ontario to continue to permit them after the Pilot Project completed. They won out. The point is, depending on which side you are on the petition can turn out to favorable or unfavorable. In my long experience with Transport Canada, they would not even consider dropping the label requirement, anymore than they would the CMVSS label that is required on motor vehicles. The label is a statement that the vehicle is in compliance with the motor vehicle laws.
 
Veloteq

As you know, the federal transport Canada rules are only

a guideline for the individual provinces to interpert and implement

their own rules. EG: Albertas old rules.

When you go to ICBC and type in MACs in the search box

at the bottom of the page on the left hand side

the only mention about labels I can find anywhere on the site is:

"As a condition of initial sale
all commercially manufactured MACs must bear a permanently
affixed label stating that the vehicle is a power assisted bicycle."

So to me that clearly states that if you are not going to sell the bike you do not need a sticker or it would say ALL MACs need a sticker.

I would also argue about com. man. if I ever ended up in court.

Can you show me anywhere on the ICBC site,( not federal) any other thing
where they mention stickers other than the quote above...POPS

Even if you click on the link " rights and duties of " it omits your quote (E) in the rules.
 
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pops and thanks veloteq

for stickers if someone needs them.icbc does not include in their legislation homebuilt ebikes.icbc says in their jurisdiction that if you are caught with a ice mtor on your bike with it not running and cold you can be fined with a non compliance motor vehicle?well there is a shovel in my backyard maybe they can fine everyone with a shovel for harming a human...with one.babble but i guess we have to know so we can play around with bicycles.ow by the way veloteq,i found after riding motored bicycles on the road for more than 13 yrs that i usually stay around 20 miles an hr,but i will still have 10 horses rthe hills here are gnarley.:cool:
 
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