# Turbo Levo with hub motor



## Moe Ped (Aug 24, 2009)

In deference to the recently closed thread about a modded Giant e-bike; a Levo (or any other 250 watt) could probably be modified with the addition of a small hub motor (500 watt) and still be perfectly legal. Even to the point of adding a throttle; the Calif. law even mentions that all that is needed is for the label to be changed to reflect any change in class.

So in this forum is talk of Class 3 is verboten?


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## tahoebeau (May 11, 2014)

^I still don't get how an ebike is illegal? It is illegal to ride one in certain areas, but the same goes for mountain bikes.

As for the thread that was just closed...


Klurejr said:


> No discussion of modifying a Bike beyond stock allowed on MTBR due to the implications that if it were taken on public land it would be illegal. Please keep all discussion here to legal for trails eBikes, Class 1, Class 2.


How would riding an ebike above a class 2 on public land be automatically considered illegal? Do you not know that many OHV trails are on public lands and in most places ebikes are only allowed offroad on ohv trails?


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## Troy Carter (Dec 7, 2016)

Legal or not, this is too much for me to bother with. I have an ebike but this just goes to far and complicates things without reason. Get a class 1 bike, ride it and enjoy it. They are amazing the way they are.

I know everyone sees it differently but I've got normal bikes, an ebike, and motos and I just don't see how this would even be enjoyable. Class 1 bikes are awesome partly because when set properly they feel somewhat natural. This thing would be a clumsy mess.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

This is not the place for these discussions, the conflict was overwhelming and unproductive, so the forum is being heavily moderated.

Please keep these discussions off line or to yourself.

The focus of this forum is ebikes, not ebike access or defining ebikes.



mountainbiker24 said:


> So where would you draw the line between mountain bikes and electric motorcycles? I think this site is being overly generous as it is in accepting e-bikes at all.


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## Klurejr (Oct 13, 2006)

tahoebeau said:


> How would riding an ebike above a class 2 on public land be automatically considered illegal? Do you not know that many OHV trails are on public lands and in most places ebikes are only allowed offroad on ohv trails?


Ben Answered the question right here:



Nurse Ben said:


> This is not the place for these discussions, the conflict was overwhelming and unproductive, so the forum is being heavily moderated.
> 
> Please keep these discussions off line or to yourself.
> 
> The focus of this forum is ebikes, not ebike access or defining ebikes.


As soon as people start to discuss modifications the conversations veer way off track and are not productive at all. Best to keep the discussion to off-the shelf bikes that are legal on approved trail systems.

Yes even the monster eBikes are allowed on OHV trails, but we also do not discuss motorcycles on the forum, so why would we discuss eMotorcycles?


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

It's important to keep the conversation sane. Many people get emotional about ebikes. There was a time when I was one of them... then I saw my wife's face as she rode around the block on a Levo.

Some things end up making sense only after you experience them first hand.

I'm not an ebike rider myself, but I support rational uses for ebikes.

I commend MTBR for taking this stance and keeping the conversation reasonable. For MTBR to embrace ebikes takes some doing and a set of cajones to make the doing.

There are other forums where people can discuss modifications and there is an off topic mtbr forum to talk about the politics of ebikes. 

I actually got some hate mail from a couple forum members when I suggested keeping the politics and conflict off this forum, crazy right?

This forum has calmed down so much in the past few weeks, amazing, and well worth the struggle.


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## Linktung (Oct 22, 2014)

The rules regarding ebike posts on mtbr need to be just as fear-based, irrationale, and unconstitutional as the rules regarding ebikes on public right of ways


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## ALimon (Oct 12, 2017)

Nurse Ben said:


> It's important to keep the conversation sane. Many people get emotional about ebikes. There was a time when I was one of them... then I saw my wife's face as she rode around the block on a Levo.
> 
> Some things end up making sense only after you experience them first hand.
> 
> ...


Great post and really well said. I couldn't agree more. Emotions lead to irrational behavior. It's all part of the process I guess. It would be nice to see things calm down a bit and debate using common sense and an open mind


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