‘Not a place to ride,’ HPD cracks down on e-bike violations

HONOLULU (KHON2) — According to Honolulu police, officers have enforced e-bike concerns and recovered bicycles in violation of the law in Waikiki over the last two weeks.

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The bicycling community said the laws are clear and should be enforced. Foe those in the bicycling community, the proper way to ride an e-bike is by keeping your eyes up, safety gear on and observing traffic around you.

It’s the opposite of what many have seen lately.

“In my honest opinion, I don’t see low-speed electric bicycles getting into issues that often,” said Malia Harunaga, Hawaii Bicycling League’s Director of Adult Education. “It’s more either gonna be the ones going way faster than that and then you have the kids operating the e-bikes.”

Those who ride these bigger bikes on the road are the main offenders. And they’re extremely popular. Aloha E-Bikes in Kalihi is out of stock right now.

“It’s a popular item, particularly for young kids,” said Henry Jiao, owner of Aloha E-bikes. “They like to do the performance but public road, sorry is not a place to ride.”

To be clear, Jaio sells them for “off-road use only” and he informs all customers the same. Out of the box, they go about 29 miles an hour. But Jaio said with a simple modification, they can go up to 50 miles an hour.

“Dirt bike is a dirt bike,” said Jiao. “It has motorcycle-level power.”

Since 2023, a low-speed electric bicycle is defined as any vehicle with two or three wheels, fully operable pedals, an electric motor of less than 750 watts and a max speed of 20 miles an hour. Also, you need to be at least 15 years old to legally ride an e-bike.

Honolulu Police confirm it is starting to enforce the bicycle law.

“The regulations you gotta enforce it,” said Jaio. “Like cars, you driving over speed, so that’s out of law so need to get a ticket.”

“There’s gotta be some kind of checks and balance with making sure these folks know that their vehicles, they’re operating in a way that other vehicles should be expected,” said Harunaga. “Following the rules, yielding to pedestrians, stopping at stop signs, red lights, things like that.”

The Hawaii Bicycling League holds free e-bike workshops across the island with the next workshop being this Saturday in Kailua.

For more information, visit the Hawaii Bicycling League’s website.