If you ask any bike shop owner or manager if he will fix it electric bikesyou get an interesting line of stories.
“I know a guy who lost a finger working on a bike,” says MacKenzie Hardt, owner of Hardt Family Cyclery in Aurora, Colorado, and former executive director of a non-profit bike shop and community center Bike Together. Hardt has torn ligaments in his hand after accidentally activating a sensor that caused the wheel to spin uncontrollably on the stand, even when the engine and battery were disconnected.
Now he has a message on the company’s voicemail informing customers that the shop won’t make any ebike without it UL 2849 of third parties certificate, the gold standard that certifies that the entire ebike package, from the electric drive train to the battery to the charger system, has been thoroughly tested. (See our guide to How to Buy an Electric Bike for more information.)
Wild, Wild West
Many of the problems in modifying bicycles are related to the fact that a surprising number of electric vehicles are sold as ebikes. not, in fact, ebikes. According to PeopleBy Bikea third-party advocacy group, an ebike is a low-speed electric vehicle that “closely resembles traditional bicycles in their equipment, handling characteristics, size, and speed.”
A mechanic is working on a bicycle.Photo: Dikushin/Getty Images
In 46 states, all bikes fall to the ground A Grade 1, 2, or 3 difference. The difference depends on the bike’s maximum speed supported by the engine and how it is ridden. However, most bikes for sale online have more power than the maximum speed of 28 mph allowed on a Class 3 bike, and function more like a moped or even a motorcycle.
“That’s the heart and soul of the service problem,” says Cory Oseland, manager of the Ski Huta high-end bike shop in Duluth, Minnesota. “Once you slide out of the three classes, you get into a lot of parts and equipment that aren’t part of the bike industry.”
Repairing a bike can also put the shop in the trenches of liability issues. Since bike shops are part of the product liability chain, they can be held liable if they install a tire on an electric bike and the rider later injures themselves or someone else. Ebike-related injuries have increased more than 1,020 percent nationwide from 2020 to 2024, according to hospital dataso this is not an unexpected event. “I’ve known people who have lost their shirts,” says Hardt.
In most states, if the bike does not meet the Class 1-3 classification system, the shop’s insurance may be invalid. The problem, says Hardt, is that “we don’t nationally regulate what bikes are. What’s legal here may not be legal elsewhere.” Working on an uncontrolled bike, he adds, “is like someone bringing in a Tesla to fix it.”
