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news
Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)Cyclist fined after attaching petrol engine to bike to help him ride up steep hills
A cyclist has been fined after he attached a petrol engine to his bike to help him get up steep hills.
Lee Middleton, 37, admitted to using a motor vehicle without insurance, driving a vehicle without a licence and riding a motorcycle on a road without protective headgear at Teesside Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Teeside Live report that Middleton was stopped by police officers on January 11 after hearing a 'loud pitched engine noise'.
Middleton had fitted the bike with a small petrol engine to help him manage the steep gradients in his local area.
However, he was told that his modifications meant the bike was now classed as a motor vehicle and therefore required a licence, insurance and a helmet.
An engine powered by a petrol tank was moving the rear wheel, justices were told.
Paul Dixon, mitigating, said Middleton 'has some difficulties' getting up and down a steep hill on his bike, and the engine was designed to assist him when he was caught by an officer in Errington Street.
He said: "The engine is such a small engine it assists a little bit going up hills but would not take you to any great speed.
"The offence was committed out of ignorance of the law."
Magistrates sentenced Middleton, of Brotton, to a £120 fine, £34 victim surcharge and £85 costs - a total of £239.
He was also handed eight penalty points.
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41 comments
I honestly don't see what the differance is between a petrol fueled motorbike and an electric motorbike according to the report ... EBikes are just as damaging as the petrol varient this guy was using.
about 2250 watts as far as I can tell.
presumably this is what we are talking about here, or something similar.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ambienceo-Stroke-Bicycle-Conversion-Motorized/d...
Looking at this, I'd suggest modifying a bike to incorporate this is not a simple task and could easily be done badly.
2.5kw = 10x what is allowed on an e-bike
this 'tiny engine' exceeds what is allowable for a 16 year old to ride on a motorbike, which would have better brakes and more robust frame.
I've sen ads for these 'pedal and pop' bikes on Facebook. You'd have to be a bit dim to spend good money on one. If you need some assistance up a slope, get an e-bike. It's not that hard.
There's a few of these near me. They're ridden by teenagers on pavements and the greenery, and there's no police enforcement at all.
Not a petrol one but an illegally modded E bike. But the other day I was cycling home from work and the dual carriageway had been turned into a narrow single track lane up a 6-8% hill. I decided for my own safety I would cycle up the pavement in that section (not legal per se but I wouldn't be doing my normal road bike speeds by 8mph max so based on Home Office Advice).
There were two girls further up the pavement so I was adjusting my path to go onto the large grass verge to give plenty of room when the modded ebike sailed past me at about 25mph with no warning and then did the same to the peds with no attempt to give them space. I apologised to them as I went past for the twats actions. At that speed he could have matched the cars on the road easy enough.
Plenty of these machines - and suped-up scooters - on the CS3 which traces the Thames in Central London.
If the police could be bothered they could seize a dozen-a-day. No need to fill out any complicated forms: just seize it - give 'em a pre-filled out ticket with a matching code-number telling them where to come and collect it (together with a fine, obviously) and an assurance that it will be scrapped if not collected within 48hrs - then let them walk home.
It'll soon deter them.
This is the sort of thing that makes me despise cops. I think they are scum.
"Paul Dixon, mitigating, said Middleton 'has some difficulties' getting up and down a steep hill on his bike, and the engine was designed to assist him when he was caught by an officer in Errington Street.
He said: "The engine is such a small engine it assists a little bit going up hills but would not take you to any great speed. "
Doesn't sound like the bike rider was doing any harm yet that cunt cop decided to throw the book at him. Why? Because that cop is a fucking bully. A lot of them are like that and will prey on easy targets such as that biker.
Someone explain to me why that poor sod couldn't be left alone? Would it have resulted in puppies catching fire? fuck sake.
Someone explain to me why that poor sod couldn't be left alone?
Because he's deliberately breaking a well founded law. I would have prosecuted him myself. I yield to no-one in my desire to see the correction of the police, but I want them corrected in the opposite direction to the one you are advocating. We will have to disagree.
So if his motorbike is electric thats ok then ...why ?
Seriously?
An electric motorbike would be built to standards and have to pass an MOT. It would have to be insured. The user would need to be licenced.
Are you Lee Middleton?
So if his motorbike is electric thats ok then ...why ?
As this is intended as a response to me, but doesn't bear any relation to my post, I'm assuming that this is a trolling account specifically set up for this topic.
Electric motorbikes would need to be type approved for use on the road, and taxed and insured, also MOT would apply.
Electric assist bicycle (e-bike) is limited to 250w and 15 MPH.
This does not fall into either of those categories. Anyone who builds a kit car must have it inspected prior to use on the road https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-registration/kitbuilt-vehicles. But anyone can bodge one of these petrol motors onto a bicycle frame not intended to work with it, and race around the roads at up to 30mph.
Total nonsense
Are there any other laws which you don't agree with and which you think shouldn't be enforced? If we all choose which laws are just and applicable then that's anarchy.
Chavs and the like think they can do whatever they want without regard for others.. here in Australia, they are called bogans and demand the right to live on welfare, because working doesn't suit them and don't bother with licences or vehicle registration, along with a myriad of other requirements of civilised life.
1) motorbikes should be licensed and insured
2) these bikes are not sold in this country so this is a retrofit, and any errors in assembly could be extremely dangerous.
I am all for getting these dangerous machines off the road
The defence was blaming a guy for travelling on his bike instead of being stationary when he was assualted as his "injuries would not have been as serious" forgetting that the defendent also picked up up and threw him down again. They also regularly mitigate about depression, sun in the eyes, being distracted by a shiny thing and others to minimise the sentence for their client which is their job unfortunately.
So I wouldn't take the bit about only needing it for the hills when it wouldn't have been pedal assist and could easily hit 30 -40mph as no harm.
For a look at how dangerius this home made motorbikes are, look at this cycling gaz video from 2018 of one. (Although Gaz himself is doing no favours for him and the peds around him by bombing through the park at 25mph and ignoring the peds at the giveway in his rush.
I can' thelp thinking that he could have just got an e-bike for those reasons..... Either the cost of modifying his bike, or the ingenuity required, could probably have lead him on a path that didn't break the law
I'm not a fan of the rozzers, but this seems a fair cop to me, and it was the magistrates that imposed the fine in any case.
This all falls on whether you want the police to enforce the laws or not. You should take issue with the law, not the person enforcing it.
good points but mind your language please
"Lee Middleton, 37, admitted to using a motor vehicle without insurance, driving a vehicle without a licence and riding a motorcycle on a road without protective headgear at Teesside Magistrates' Court on Thursday."
Admits breaking the law and riding a potentially dangerous untested unregistered motorbike on the road with no isurance or licence.
But the police are wrong to stop him?
8 points and a fine. That seems reasonable for fitting one of those eBay petrol motors to your bike.
The driver who turned his Range Rover into my friend without looking, hitting her bike and killing her, wasn't even arrested.
I thought 8 points was high, but there were a number of offences involved.
Yeah but, no but - compared with killing a cyclist it is high but killing a cyclist needs the be dealt with properly.
Did this person get the correct sentence?
Probably, lowish fine and a lot of points.
It will harm his car insurance when he comes to renew.
Hopefully a lesson has been learned, and if the news goes around it might stop others from thinking about adding an ICE to their bicycle, if they are a car driver.
Though of course I would hope that some driving transgressions would result in as many points. A close pass without the motorist holding insurance, VED or current MOT, perhaps...
Misleading headline - cyclists don't get fined for riding without insurance or licence or helmet. Motorcyclists do.
I wonder what would be the legal position if I had an ebike and carried a petrol or diesel generator on the rack so I could stop and top up the battery if I ran out of charge.
And what if I ran the generator and charged the battery while I was riding the bike?
Asking for a friend. Or maybe I've just invented a different kind of hybrid bike.
If the petrol engine isn't powering the bikes movement and the bike is still regulated at 15 mph when electrically assisted pedalling is used, then I suspect it would be fine on that stage. Of course the Police could still stop you for how roadworthy it is though if you added it yourself. It is the pedal assist and top speed limiting that means e-bikes are not needing license and registration, nothing to do with the motor powering it. Hence the reason Electric scooters are legally allowed on roads and pavements.
But they are not. It is illegal to ride any electric scooter in any public place, on roads, on pavements, or in grounds of privately owned premises which are open to to the public. It is only legal to ride them on your own property, or in one of the designated trial-areas.
Wow, thought I had typed not legally allowed. Oops.
You'd never know that was the case, though. Look around in any vaguely urban area and those electric scooters are all over the place.
In Bristol there's a legal trial of rental scooters: this has muddied the waters enough that the police have just exclaimed "Meh!" and don't bother about distinguishing between the legal rental scooters and the illegal privately owned ones, as far as I can tell.
In London they are everywhere. Every 30 seconds will see someone merrily whizzing around on a scooter. I had one last year but swiftly sold when I realised they weren't going to legalise. It was great fun but quite scary at bike zoom speed with the small wheels and also I didn't like being told off by the police when riding in a bike lane! So got a nicer bike instead to enjoy exercise a bit more. Lucky I had that option though of course.
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