lostforawhile

I just noticed there is an elctric bike forum, I dont know how this one would be classified, I rescued a '72 Aurathetic charger from a dumpster a few years ago, havent gotten around to restoring it yet, it's stored safely in my garage, around here, it's classed as an elctric moped with no pedals, but they also class electric bikes the same way, does anyone know if it's considered an electric bike? it's 24 volt and they would hit about 30 MPH max, they were originally designed to go on the road, so come equipped with light,taillight,brake light, turn signals etc, they are such an oddball vechicle it's hard to say what they are, they even had a trike, but I dont know of any that survived, I'll see if I can finda video, they were all made in Cali during the life of the company, oh the charger plug and volt meter are cleverly hidden in the "tank", it kind of reminds me of an old stingray

lostforawhile

this is what they lok like restored

cerewa

It's not an e bike according to how e bike is defined here and elsewhere. To be classified by law as an e bike it must have pedals and must have limited speed (many places limit you to 20mph). As a consequence, you probably can use it legally only if you follow whatever license and insurance rules apply to motorcycles or mo-peds.

But it's still really cool and I would enjoy having something like that for myself.

Scaliboy62

My friend found an NOS one @ a Swap Meet, it was a roller frame, wheels everything but motor & batteries, sold it for good money , pretty cool old shcool electric mini bikes but not a legal E-Bike, no pedals

Robert C

First, I agree, it is really cool looking; but, it is not a moped by many state regulations. In the motorcycle community the term moped gets widely used without regard for what it means.

Many motorcyclists will insist that any motorcycle under some chosen threshold (usually 600cc-1000cc) is a moped. In fact, most stated require mopeds to have functional pedals; get it, moped, mo-ped, motor-pedal?

Mopeds also do, typically have engine size and power limits.Most states restrict mopeds to fixed, or automatically adjusting, gearing. There are also other rules; however, the point is that "moped" is not a synonym for "small motorcycle." There is often a lot of debate in this forum about what is, or isn't, a bicycle. Some people sometimes drop in to troll, or share their ignorance, by claiming that they consider all electric bicycles (a category that probably does not include the thing in the picture) to be mopeds, or motor vehicles (just like 2ton SUVs'); however, we do not define vehicles based on what they look like to us.The law defines the classes of motor vehicles.

So, no, the thing in the picture does not look like a bicycle to me;however, it also does not look like a moped. But, to make things more confusing, some states define a limited number of low power two and three wheel electric vehicles as bicycles even if they do not have pedals.

Unless we happen to know where a picture is from and what the law in that state states, we are pretty much left taking people at their word when they define the class of their vehicle, unless we happen to know that they are wrong. However, the operative word there was "know," not, "feel."

And yes, it is pretty cool looking, I often think of doing something similar with my old mini-bike just for a bit of fun.

Scaliboy62

The cool thing about building an " Off Road " Electric mini bike in my mind is you can buy small diameter mag wheel/hub motors which = no spokes to break so they can take a beating on the trails. I would be building one but I dont have trails near me & wouldnt ride it in the street, one day when I move to a more rural place I'm going to build one.

lostforawhile

I couldnt do that with this, I have copies of the factory owners manual, and it's very emphatic that driving it off road would cause damage, why it has knobby tires,who knows, I looked up moped in the Georgia state laws and it says it can be with or without pedals, and has to be limited to so many CC or so many miles per hour, I think 30, which is what this ones top speed is. the only other rule is a helmet is required and you have to be 16, no insurance or registration is required. I have plans to finish it, most people with them replace the high low switch with a golf cart controller and twist throttle, better battery life and longer range, they got 50 miles per charge on 70's deep cycles, mine is complete other then the batery box, which I can mold out of fiberglass, and the original rear taillight got broken when it was dumped into the garbage. somehow even the ape hanger style mirrors survived unbroken