NYC Bills Could Ban the Sale and Use of Class 3 E-Bikes, EU Group Pushes to Outlaw Tampering Kits, Giant & Liv Add Traction Control to New eMTBs │ TWR Ep 104

The New York City Council has introduced 23 bills aimed at micromobility and e-bike regulation. One of them would prevent the sale, rental, and use of Class 3 e-bikes within the city.

The bill also includes a trade-in program built in collaboration with e-bike retailers. Riders would be able to exchange a Class 3 bike for a Class 1 or Class 2 model rather than simply losing the bike they already own.

Council Member Crystal Hudson, who introduced the legislation, said her bill would stop the sale and rental of Class 3 e-bikes and then phase out their use after a two-year implementation period, with the goal of giving current riders, and delivery workers in particular, time and options to transition.

This lands on top of an already complicated set of rules in New York. The city recently introduced a law separating e-bikes from eMotos, which we covered on a previous episode.

Our Take:

Twenty-three bills is a lot of legislation to drop at once, and very few packages this size survive intact. We’ll be watching to see which pieces actually become law.

The trade-in program is the part worth paying attention to. If the city is going to take Class 3 bikes off the street, giving riders a path to a legal replacement is far better than leaving them to eat the cost. Delivery workers in particular depend on these bikes to make a living, and a ban without a transition plan would hit them hardest. Whether the program gets funded and how it actually works in practice is a different question, and that’s usually where these things fall apart.

A European trade group called European Cycling Industries is asking the European Parliament and EU member states to pass new laws around e-bikes. Its focus is non-compliant e-bikes, meaning illegal products that exceed the region’s speed and power limits.

The headline request is a ban on the sale of tampering kits. These are the hardware and software tools that let riders bypass or change the speed and power limits on an otherwise legal e-bike.

ECI also wants to build an evidence base on the safety and economic impact of illegal bikes, strengthen the rules governing which products can be sold online and in stores, and improve enforcement of those rules. It’s asking for better training for law enforcement as well, so officers can identify non-compliant bikes and step in.

The group laid out these points in a published manifesto, and it released a separate paper covering the steps manufacturers should take to prevent tampering in the first place. ECI argues the stakes reach past individual companies, pointing to an EU cycling value chain that spans manufacturing, infrastructure, cycle tourism, rentals, logistics, and related services. By its count, that chain supports 1.3 million jobs, contributes €21 billion to EU GDP, and covers more than 1,000 small and medium-sized businesses.

Our Take:

Europe’s e-bike laws are meaningfully different from ours, so this isn’t a one-to-one comparison with anything happening stateside. The underlying idea still holds up.

We support efforts to crack down on illegal products, here and in the EU. Tampering kits are a problem precisely because they take a bike that was designed, tested, and certified to behave a certain way and push it past those limits. Going after the kits rather than the riders is the right order of operations. Safety first.

More power has been the running theme in the eMTB world lately, and this follows closely behind Avinox’s M2S motor. Giant and Liv have introduced new versions of the Trance and Intrigue, and both bring the numbers up.

The new bikes deliver 120 Nm of torque and 850W of peak power, but the bigger story is control. The SyncDrive Pro 4 motor was developed in-house in collaboration with Yamaha and uses a torque-based, zero-cadence design. The goal is instant response the moment you push down on the pedals.

Traction control is new here, too. When the extra power comes on hard enough to threaten rear tire grip, the system steps in and manages it to keep things settled.

Suspension travel has gone up as well, now at 160mm in front and 150mm in the rear. The Giant Trance carries an 840 Wh battery, while the Liv Intrigue runs a 560 Wh battery with an optional 280 Wh range extender.

Both bikes come in several build tiers, starting at 6,000 Euro and topping out at 10,000 Euro. There’s no US availability yet.

Our Take:

Traction control is the detail we keep coming back to. Torque numbers have been climbing fast across the category, and at some point raw power stops being the limiting factor and tire grip does. A motor that can back off when the rear wheel is about to let go is more useful on a technical climb than another 10 Nm.

The zero-cadence design is worth watching as well, since instant pickup off the pedals changes how a bike feels in slow, awkward sections. We’d like to find out how both systems hold up on real trails. That requires US availability, which we don’t have yet.

Four Urban Arrow models are affected by a new recall: the Family, Shorty, Cargo L/XL, and Tender 1000/1500.

The issue is a faulty bolt in the seatpost clamp mechanism that holds the saddle to the seatpost. The bolt can break, leaving the saddle loose and creating a fall hazard. No injuries have been reported, though there have been 9 reports of damage or wear at that connection point.

The recall covers 1,032 e-bikes sold in the US and 134 sold in Canada between 2016 and 2022.

If you own one of these bikes, stop riding it and contact Gazelle USA for a free replacement saddle and seatpost. There’s a recall registration form linked on the CPSC’s webpage. Installation doesn’t require any special tools, so owners can handle it themselves, but an Urban Arrow dealer will do it free of charge if you’d rather not.

Our Take:

This is a recall handled the way recalls should be. The problem was caught before anyone got hurt, the replacement parts are free, and the fix is simple enough that most owners can do it in their own garage with a dealer option for anyone who’d rather not.

The detail to pay attention to is the date range. These bikes were sold between 2016 and 2022, which means a fair number of them have changed hands at least once since then. If you bought a used Urban Arrow, you’re not on Gazelle’s list, and nobody is going to email you about it. Check your model against the CPSC listing.

Monarc has built out a set of accessories that talk to its bikes, and the Smart Helmet is the centerpiece. It’s a one-size-fits-most lid with a dial adjustment, and it packs in integrated lights, speakers, and a microphone. Pair it with a Monarc bike and the helmet syncs with the bike’s turn signals and brake lights, so riders behind you see your signals at eye level instead of just down at the rear rack. An ambient light sensor switches the running lights on automatically when it gets dark. The speakers handle music, phone calls, and turn-by-turn navigation. At the time of filming, Monarc was shipping a helmet free with every bike along with an extra battery. Bought on its own, it’s $229.

The Rear-Vehicle Alert System mounts to the back of a Monarc e-bike and watches traffic coming up behind you. It pairs with the bike’s display or the Monarc app and shows color-coded distance indicators that adjust in real time. It can track up to five vehicles at once and has a range of 460 feet. If you’re wearing the Smart Helmet, it can send audio warnings straight to your ears. It’s priced at $89.

The TPI Sensors replace your existing valve caps and monitor tire pressure and temperature, pairing with the bike’s display and the Monarc app. They’ll notify you if pressure drops below or spikes above safe levels, and they work across a range from 14.5 to 188 PSI. They’re rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, they’re battery-powered with an advertised life of months to years, and they come with security locknuts so nobody walks off with them. Also $89.

• How do Swagman’s bike racks compare to Hollywood Racks’ Sport Rider and Crosstrack?
• Is the battery on the Aventon Current EXP actually removable, and what are the tradeoffs of a fully integrated battery?
• Can you use the throttle on the Aventon Level 4 REC without pedal assist turned on?
• Should integrated turn signals be mandatory on e-bikes, and what makes them work well or poorly?