Charged Up: The Rise of E-bikes, series Part 4: A toy or a tool? Do e-bikes and riders get a bad rap?

This is the fourth part of a series exploring electric bicycles, their local impact and the ongoing controversy that surrounds them.

The names of the students in this story are aliases to provide anonymity because they are minors.

When Muirlands Middle School students Jacob and Mason first got their e-bikes in sixth grade, the appeal was obvious. The bikes gave them independence, flexibility and, in some ways, social capital.

“Initially when I got it, the main thing I liked about it was I would go out with my friends with it,” Jacob said. “All of our friends got e-bikes around the same time, like this other kid we would always hang out with. We would go out with him early on and then spend time with him.”

With heavy backpacks and a fairly lengthy commute from home to the La Jolla school, Jacob and Mason began to view the bikes as a means of transportation rather than a thing to play with. The bikes meant they didn’t need to rely on their parents for a ride to school.

“Now I feel like I use it more to get to places,” Jacob said. “Initially it’s a cool new thing. I’ve never had it before and it’s super fun. Now I’ve kind of gotten used to it, so I use it for more practical reasons.”

Series story gallery: Charged Up: The Rise of E-bikes

However, Jacob and Mason, both 14 and currently in eighth grade, say some of their peers act recklessly with their e-bikes, whether by not properly maintaining them or doing wheelies and other “stupid stuff” on the road.

“One major thing that I’ve seen that stops that behavior is when one of your friends actually …passes the limit and they do happen to get hurt or get into an accident,” Mason said.

Such an incident occurred when a student in one of his middle school classes was hit by a car while riding a bike. Mason said the accident caused his classmates to use more caution on the road.

“I mean … it’s only a matter of time until they get hurt,” Mason said. “And that makes it kind of dangerous. … You want to interact, but by the time you begin to say something, they’ll already buzz down the street and you don’t have a chance to engage in a possible conversation or possible advice.”

Pedestrians and motorists often complain about e-bike riders — especially younger ones — speeding, weaving in traffic and sometimes behaving disrespectfully.

An Aug. 17 incident in front of La Jolla’s Starkey Park got a lot of attention on social media — and from the San Diego Police Department.

A video posted online showed a group of youths riding e-bikes on Draper Avenue near Gravilla Street, screaming and honking their horns loudly. Some rode on one wheel and others had multiple riders on one bike, some of them without required helmets.

Once they discovered they were being video-recorded, some of the youths shouted expletives and sexual and racial slurs, and one rider gave the middle finger to the person filming.

The person who posted the video said the youths were harassing adults, including a senior citizen, and “using offensive language, making inappropriate gestures, making threats and even assaulting a woman.”

“It’s our responsibility as a community, but especially as parents, to make sure our kids understand that this type of harassment is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the post stated.

As a result, police said they were increasing enforcement in the area and that officers would work more to educate local youths about responsible e-bike use.

Mason believes such risky or otherwise poor behavior among younger riders can be chalked up to peer pressure.

“I feel like it’s the people that are trying to show off and enforce their position in their friend groups by being cool that are the problem,” he said. “Because they don’t care as much about themselves as what others think about them. And if you do something that most people don’t [want to] do, then you’re the person who can do anything.

“I don’t think that’s how people should view it. And I think that’s why people demonize e-bikers more than they deserve.”

Then there’s the issue of upkeep.

Mason said a handful of his peers will wait until the last minute to get their brakes fixed. As a result, it’s harder for them to stop their bike and share the road with other vehicles.

“If there’s a stop sign or a light, then it takes long enough for them to slow down that it leads them to put themselves in a dangerous position where they can hit the back of a car, which I’ve seen before,” Mason said.

Speaking up about that, however, can be daunting, Jacob said. As a result, a bystander effect can take shape.

“If someone’s doing stuff like that in the street, it’s stupid,” he said. “There’s not much you would say about it personally, because usually it’s your friends … [and] you don’t want to come across as that one kind of jerk who’s like ‘Oh, no! [You’re] having fun!’ I’m not going to say or do anything about it. The way I see it … it’s not good. But I’m not [going to] be the one to tell them not to do it.”

Still, Jacob and Mason believe some people have misconceptions about e-bikes and how young riders use them.

About half their friends own an e-bike, and not everyone uses it the same way, they said. Some “think it’s the greatest thing ever,” while others don’t have a desire to do wheelies and show off.

The main problem, Jacob said, is people riding too fast and being reckless. But the blame shouldn’t fall on young e-bike riders in general, he added.

“Some people hate them way more than they should,” he said. “Anything can be bad when you do it the wrong way. If you ride it safely, if you don’t do wheelies in the middle of the street [and] keep that to yourself, you’ll be fine.

“But I feel like … because some people are just being stupid … a lot of people assume everyone’s doing this.”

Jacob added that parents need to be more proactive in what they buy for their kids and determine whether they can handle it responsibly.

Mason agreed that parents should know their kids and how they may react to a cool new form of transportation. Enforcing on an individual basis who rides e-bikes is the best way forward, he said.

“E-bikes should be viewed as a tool rather than a kind of toy,” Mason said. “I feel like the most important thing is for parents to judge their kids.”

San Diego police Officer Dustin Welsh agrees that without proper education, many e-bike riders “treat it like a bicycle instead of a motorized vehicle.”

“Officers would make fliers outlining the dos and don’ts and were passing them out in schools,” Welsh previously told the La Jolla Light. “We also did an email blast to parents that the schools and school police were involved, so even if a parent has no interest in getting their child an e-bike, they can read it.”

Officers also held public seminars about bike safety but stopped because of low attendance, Welsh said. “Parents and kids are busy, so they are not going to come and sit in and listen,” he said.

Next installment

The next article in this series will explore how locales in and outside San Diego County are dealing with e-bike issues.