So I saw a post about e bike legality. Been trying to figure it out.

The e-bike I’m building does not fit into any of the classes. It will have a throttle so it has to be a class 2 e-bike and go less than 20 mph. However it will go faster than that at around 35 mph.

So does having a governor on that limits it to 20 mph make it a legal class 2 e-bike even tho it can go faster?

If so where do you get the sticker for it ?

Also would like to get insurance on the bike and carry liability in case I accidentally hit someone or damage someone’s property.

However I saw that someone had said to watch out for insurance companies bc a lot of the time they will sell you the insurance, and then to get out of covering say that since you don’t have manufacturer specs saying the max speed and that the bike can go faster than a class 2 e-bike. So it was actually a motorcycle technically. Or something similar I saw a few people talking about how that happened to them.

Another thing I saw was that since you use gears to shift, the bike can go over 30 mph, and because it’s a 2 wheel vehicle with a motor that a lot of states will technically classify this as a motorcycle.

This would mean that if you get involved in an accident and the person presses charges. The cops could (likely wouldn’t) but technically could treat it as though you were driving a motorcycle.

If that were the case you could be charged with; Driving an unregistered vehicle, driving without a motorcycle license, driving without insurance, and things like not having blinkers or mirrors etc.

My thought was to get avoid all this by getting my bike register as a motorcycle. This way I could go max speed I would just have to get proper insurance. And to just get the bike registered, get plates, make it road worthy, and get a motorcycle license. Costly I know, but maybe worth the peace of mind.

However then I couldn’t ride in the bike lane or on sidewalks to get to bike racks and things like that. It would also make taking it on trails illegal.

A good work around to all this is to get it registered as a moped instead. You wouldn’t need a license could still go 35 mph and use a bike lane. And you could also carry full insurance, with things like liability and theft protection. Now the problem is that since the bike can switch gears it can’t be classified as a moped.

I honestly don’t know it seems dumb and I know that 99% of people don’t think about this or worry they just ride the bike.

I just always wonder about the worst case scenario.

Basically I would like to have insurance and be within my legal limits on things.

That way I don’t accidentally hit a pedestrian on a sidewalk one day. And he sues then I get charged with illegally driving an unregistered motorcycle in a bike lane without insurance and become a felon. Who has to pay everything out of pocket.

If anyone has advice I would love to hear it. It just seems like this is a gray area and while there is a 99.9% chance it doesn’t matter I would like to hear some other perspectives.

Thanks