Fellow Canadians and Ontarians - What are you doing about the motor wattage laws?

Posted by krakenLackenGirly22@reddit | ebikes | View on Reddit | 13 comments

Recently got on the research journey for a folding e-bike to rehab my knee.

My understanding of the law is the motor should be capped at 500W with a max speed of 32kph

No reputable vendor sells anything that’s capped to those specs. Everything is ‘tunable’ to the specs.

I understand enforcement is lax, but I’m just curious what yall are using.

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Due-Ad7893@reddit

You're not looking in the right places. My wife and I both have Cube Class 1 e-bikes.

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krakenLackenGirly22@reddit (OP)

They don’t sell foldable?

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krakenLackenGirly22@reddit (OP)

Thanks for responding! I’m getting exhausted with this search, tbh. So. Thanks for helping out.

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I have two ebikes, one with a 350W motor and soon one rated for 250W with 500W max. After an accident at 25 km/hr where I cracked the helmet I decided fast bikes aren't for me. 20-30 km/h is the sweet spot for travel in my case, but go 35 if I wanna beat a light.

If you have a bum knee take an honest look at the use case for a folding bike. If you do any carrying at all more than a few feet I suggest going no more than 30lbs. It seems comparatively low to whats on the market but even just carrying that amount puts a lot of stress on the knees, especially inside buildings. Healthy adults usually carry 50 lbs as part of labour and then usually briefly.

In the foldingbikes community we're generally settling around 20lbs non-ebike and 30lbs ebike as the gold standard. Rolling while folded too. There are quite a few bikes on the market hitting this range but you'd be hard pressed to find one over 500W.

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krakenLackenGirly22@reddit (OP)

I don’t intend to go anywhere over 15kph.

Do you have folding bikes recos?

Everything is 50 ish pounds and 600W+.

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Ok-Many4195@reddit

Brompton Electric T line ($$$$)

Helix Foundation Ebike (made in Toronto, $$)

Dahon K feather ($)

Bike Friday ($$)

There are others. There are a lot of people modifying trifold bikes to be ebikes (look up trifold ebike kits). I'm waiting for the helix atm. I put it in $$ not $$$ because its pricey but punches above its class (titanium).

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krakenLackenGirly22@reddit (OP)

This was incredibly helpful. Thank you

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DarkVoid42@reddit

ive never needed or bought anything over 250W.

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_HillCruiser@reddit

I started with a 500w Canadian bike.
On level ground and small to medium hills, it worked fine.
32kph was OK for the first year.

When I ventured out into the big hills, the 500w didn't
have enough power to get me and my heavy bike to the top.

So I replaced the motor core and controller/display and
ended up at 750w (1200w max). The new controller was
unlocked and I could reach speeds near 50kph.

After the upgrade, the bike could summit even the monster
hill in the area and being able to cruise at higher speeds,
the rides just got more and more fun.

I'm in a small community with mostly elderly riding the ebikes.
I'm very careful with my speed around town but when I hit
the city limits I can open it up a bit:)

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gravelpi@reddit

Which reputable vendors are you looking at? The speed is Class 1 in the US system, and there are on quick check a pile of Specialized bikes that are 350W. Aventon Soltera I think would meet it too. I'd be pretty surprised if the other bike brands were selling bikes in Ontario that didn't meet those requirements too.

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krakenLackenGirly22@reddit (OP)

Also - I did a quick google, Specialized doesn’t have folding bikes at all?

Can you perhaps link one?

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krakenLackenGirly22@reddit (OP)

Velotric and Aventon both have folding bikes that don’t meet 500W.

All bike stores around me in GTA are stocking 500+

I’m having more trouble finding something with less power than otherwise.