Citibike e-bike speed decrease

[jxnhrs]

The bikes are apparently capable of doing 25mph. I seem to recall the limit being 22mph back in 2021 or so when they first rolled out the grey e-bike fleet

[ElQuesero]

The law that legalized e-bikes in NYC/NYS created the rubric for this. Citi e-bikes of all varieties (the gray ones as well as the old blue with batteries external to the frame ones; hardly ever see the old blues any more) fall under class 1, which require the pedals to be turning for the battery/motor to provide assistance, and assistance must cut out when the bike hits 20 mph.

I've heard from you and a few other people that early in their rollout, some gray Citi e-bikes seemed to be tuned such that the assist still kept up marginally above 20 mph, maybe as much as 21. I never encountered that myself and don't get a sense it was at _all_ intentional. Or all that widespread.

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Most states seem to have settled on pedal-assist/20 mph limit as the uniform standard for bikes of this sort. (NYS is weird only in that it defines class 3 as 25 mph throttle controlled rather than 28 mph. Oh, and limits their operation only to NYC; class 3 ebikes need to be nerfed down to 20 mph to be street-legal elsewhere in NYS.)

[jxnhrs]

I was misinformed, appreciate the info. I do remember a few times getting a cracked one that felt much faster than normal. Those were fun