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I see a lot of scooters around here with vestigial compliance pedals, mostly driven by gig delivery drivers. The form factor looks more like a moped. No one w

I see a lot of scooters around here with vestigial compliance pedals, mostly driven by gig delivery drivers. The form factor looks more like a moped. No one would ever use those pedals. Clearly they're there to skirt some kind of regulation. I'm not sure what the fix is, but "able to pedaled" is kind of a ridiculous compromise.

throwaway22032 2y ago
In the UK the pedals are supposed to provide the assist. Handlebar mounted throttles are not allowed. None of this is enforced.
emchammer 2y ago
Vestigial pedals, LOL. Many deliveristas in NYC are seemingly competent riders. I noticed that an increasing number of them have bright red and blue blinking lights the exact color of police car emergency lights. That is distracting and bothers me more than a lot of their riding.
kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
NY state has three classes since 2020: pedal-assist only, pedals with independent hand throttle up to 20 MPH, pedals with independent hand throttle up to 25 MPH (NYC only, slower than standard class 3).
janstice 2y ago
In 60s/70s France 14 year olds could ride motorised bicycles, so Vespa sold a Pedalo - a regular (but lower-powered I think) Vespa scooter with pedals as well as 2-stroke engine - you had to put the engine in neutral to pedal (I bet not many 14 year olds did this).
- umeshunni 2y ago
  Isn't that what a moped is?
  - Ekaros 2y ago
    Whole terminology is pretty mixed up and messy. Moped is that, but then again speed limited scooters like Vespa without the pedals could also be moped. And so could speed and engine limited motorcycle of other style... In general I understand moped as anything with limited speed/engine size.
- codetrotter 2y ago
  Here’s a picture of that Vespa with pedals for anyone else interested in seeing it: https://www.museopiaggio.it/en/models/1-vespa/25-50-pedali-v5a1t https://www.museopiaggio.it/en/models/1-vespa/25-50-pedali-v...
petsfed 2y ago
So long as the pedals are hooked up to the drive train in such a way that they actually work, I don't actually have any complaint. If the user can easily switch to backup-pedal power to traverse e.g. Millenium Park in Chicago, then I don't really see the problem. Certainly, failure to use that function is a problem, but I don't think its good for society if we allow police to stop actual bicyclists on suspicion of riding a pedal assist vehicle. These things are pretty obvious when in use: bikes don't coast, unassisted, uphill at the speeds these things frequently achieve.

throwaway22032 2y ago

In the UK the pedals are supposed to provide the assist. Handlebar mounted throttles are not allowed. None of this is enforced.

emchammer 2y ago

Vestigial pedals, LOL. Many deliveristas in NYC are seemingly competent riders. I noticed that an increasing number of them have bright red and blue blinking lights the exact color of police car emergency lights. That is distracting and bothers me more than a lot of their riding.

kevin_thibedeau 2y ago

NY state has three classes since 2020: pedal-assist only, pedals with independent hand throttle up to 20 MPH, pedals with independent hand throttle up to 25 MPH (NYC only, slower than standard class 3).

janstice 2y ago

In 60s/70s France 14 year olds could ride motorised bicycles, so Vespa sold a Pedalo - a regular (but lower-powered I think) Vespa scooter with pedals as well as 2-stroke engine - you had to put the engine in neutral to pedal (I bet not many 14 year olds did this).

umeshunni 2y ago
Isn't that what a moped is?
- Ekaros 2y ago
  Whole terminology is pretty mixed up and messy. Moped is that, but then again speed limited scooters like Vespa without the pedals could also be moped. And so could speed and engine limited motorcycle of other style... In general I understand moped as anything with limited speed/engine size.
codetrotter 2y ago
Here’s a picture of that Vespa with pedals for anyone else interested in seeing it: https://www.museopiaggio.it/en/models/1-vespa/25-50-pedali-v5a1t https://www.museopiaggio.it/en/models/1-vespa/25-50-pedali-v...

petsfed 2y ago

So long as the pedals are hooked up to the drive train in such a way that they actually work, I don't actually have any complaint. If the user can easily switch to backup-pedal power to traverse e.g. Millenium Park in Chicago, then I don't really see the problem. Certainly, failure to use that function is a problem, but I don't think its good for society if we allow police to stop actual bicyclists on suspicion of riding a pedal assist vehicle. These things are pretty obvious when in use: bikes don't coast, unassisted, uphill at the speeds these things frequently achieve.