New York City became the first major US city to enact a speed limit for ebikes when, on October 24, 2025, it passed a 15 MPH limit. I’ve been testing ebikes for more than five years in this lovable urban death maze I call home, and I’ve yet to see anyone obey it in the three weeks the law has been live. Moreover, I’m not sure how they expect to enforce it, and whether it’s even safe.
a mixed bag, to say the least
Ebike classifications are broken down into three classes, and even the slowest classes exceed the new 15 MPH speed limit. I’ve ridden a lot of ebikes from manufacturers all over the world over the past five years, and not one actually limits you from pedaling faster once the electric motor’s power cuts out.
I’d doubt that ebike manufacturers are going to make specialized models that cut the power to the wheels above 15 MPH. They make speed-limited versions for larger markets with such limits, such as a cluster of European countries, but I seriously doubt they’d do it for one city.
That leaves compliance down to the riders, and even if it’s just the extra three miles per hour on tap from even the slowest ebikes, who’s going to abstain when it’s so easily available, knowing there’s little chance a cop is around the corner with a radar gun to track them…