Barnaby, Brussels and Out of Control E Bikes | The West Report

Fifty-year-old kids on souped-up bikes are tearing up the trail. Lithium batteries are exploding in bedrooms. Politicians shrug their shoulders and say it’s a state matter. In this episode of The West Report, we look at how a quiet piece of legislation from Barnaby Joyce helped turn Australia into the wild west of e-bikes – and why kids are paying the price. 

we are falling apart
• How Australia once enforced strict European e-bike standards and why they’re being scrapped in 2021
• Boom in cheap, overpowered imports and increase in hospitalizations, deaths, and lithium battery fires
• Why do Dirodie-style bikes and easy modes make it easier for kids to exceed speed and power limits?
• The mess of state rules and what Catherine King and Sophie Scamps are trying to fix
• How can we make the most of e-bikes, freedom and accessibility without turning every high street into a crash site?

As an e-bike owner, I’m not here to blame kids for throwing wheelchairs on Boxing Day. The real story is a decade of poor regulation, poor enforcement and governments waiting for tragedy rather than acting when warnings first came.

If you’re thinking of buying an e-bike for yourself or your kids this Christmas, watch this before you tap buy now.

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