While the three-class-system defining e-bikes may seem the law of the land, many cities around the country have yet to take up the question.
In Spearfish, the Parks and Recreation Department is examining e-bike use on a recreation path that runs through the city of 12,000 as well as on the trails of Lookout Mountain, a popular mountain biking spot.
The reason the city is choosing now to examine how to handle their use is due to citizen complaints following what Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Ehnes termed “negative interactions.”
In a meeting with the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Advisory Board, Ehnes said, “If you can imagine a 28-mile-an-hour bike coming up the rec path, that is extremely fast. That’s I think where the speed comes in. I think the class three is where people start to get a little bit nervous about how fast it can go.”
It’s a common dilemma cities face: How fast is too fast for an e-bike?
The concerns over Lookout Mountain take a different form. Users express concern about increased erosion, a position Ehnes doesn’t agree with.
“Claims of erosion simply aren’t true…. It’s still a bike tire,” he said.
In 2023 the Northern Hills Ranger District took up the issue of e-bikes and concluded that they are motorized vehicles. That distinction effectively banned all e-bikes from the area’s forest service trails used by hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians.
“Like I always do, I tried to reach out to other agencies to figure out what they’ve done, how they’re addressing it so that we don’t have to recreate the wheel. Most of the time when I reach out, I find a trend, you can sometimes figure out what the general consensus is,” Ehnes said. “This is wildly different across every organization.”
On the other side of the state, in the city of Sioux Falls, the city ordinance allows Class 1 (maximum assist speed of 20 mph and no throttle) and Class 3 (maximum assist speed of 28 mph and no throttle) e-bikes, but Class 2 e-bikes (which have a throttle) are banned.
Confusing matters is the existence of a South Dakota state statute. It declares that Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes are permitted on any bicycle path or multi-use path in the state, unless otherwise forbidden.
Potential user conflicts are but one consideration when examining how to legislate e-bikes in the city. The city must consider whether they can effectively enforce any law they pass.
“My concern as director is that if ordinance and regulation is adopted, enforcement will be difficult,” Ehnes said. We don’t have the staff to control these areas and even if we did, parks department doesn’t have any authority to ticket them or fine them for violating ordinances. “I called the district ranger and I said, ‘OK, you’ve got the regulations; are you enforcing them?’ He kind of laughed and said, ‘I don’t have the staff available to enforce it.’”
Some area residents want laws on the books regardless of their ability to enforce them.
“I have spoken to several concerned citizens…. While they understand that enforcement is an issue, they believe having an adopted ordinance would give them the ability to say something when another user is in violation. Kind of a self-patrolling mentality. Right now, they don’t feel like they can say anything because there’s nothing on the books,” Ehnes said.
One possible solution the city is considering would be posting speed limit signs to encourage good behavior. The city plans to accept input from the cycling community as well as citizens both for and against e-bike usage.
