Get out of the way! Electric bikes are here

How fast does the "fastest" electric bike go? Forty miles per hour.

 Unlike electric motorcycles, a very good idea, electric bicycles are a mixed blessing. 

Electric motorcycles are a coming thing. Inherent advantages over internal combustion powered motorcycles will make them ever more popular. 

Clean, quiet, energy efficient and uncomplicated, electric motorcycles also will no doubt feature advanced electronic accessories. I'd expect on-board cameras (or, at least, mounts for them), navigation aids, and communications enhancements. 

But, while electric motorcycles are in our future, electric bicycles are already here. And they are proliferating. 

Electric motorcycles, when they get here, will be limited to adult riders, will have to stay in traffic lanes, and be registered, licensed and insured. 

Electric bicycles are -- at least according to the state in which I live -- just bicycles. Very fast bicycles. 

Children of any age are allowed to operate them. They can legally go on sidewalks and in bicycle lanes, unless forbidden by local ordinance. No license, registration or insurance is required.

Pedals are not required on these so-called "bicycles."

My state, Florida, apparently does limit top speed. The law implies that the fastest electric bicycles are limited to 28 mph, but it doesn't specifically say so.

Apparently, speeds in excess of 28 mph are allowed if they are attained by the rider adding pedaling force (assuming the bike has pedals). Obviously there is no way to enforce such a vague limitation. Is the rider pedaling hard or just spinning?

Riders of electric motorcycles will have to be licensed drivers, with a motorcycle endorsement, having passed tests to prove they know how to operate a vehicle safely.

Not so for riders of electric bicycles.

Electric motorcycles will be required to have basic safety equipment: headlight, taillight, brake light, operating turn signals, a horn, rearview mirror, side reflectors. Electric bikes are free to go without any of these. For that matter there seems to be no law that an electric bike even have a brake for the front wheel.

After all, it's just a "bicycle."

I am not a hater. Electric bicycles are going to give mobility to people who otherwise might not have it, and they will take cars off our crowded roads. On balance, they are good for cities and the environment.

But keep in mind that these newly mobile people do not want to be moving slowly. Humans, whatever our age,  value speed.

That's our history. It's said that the first motorcycle race occurred when the second motorcycle was built.

I don't recall too many motorcycle advertisements that touted slow speed as a feature. Can you imagine such a sales pitch?

"Go slow! Gives you time to enjoy the scenery!"

"Go slow! Avoid unpleasant wind noise!"

"Go slow! Like your mother told you!"

Not likely. Like motorcycles always have, electric bicycles will sell for their power. They'll be souped up by clever hot rodders. They'll be ridden to the limit of their power anywhere they can go. And by children.

It doesn't really matter that we're not ready for this. They're here.

Why Halloween ghouls ride motorcycles

Motorcycle riding ghouls come out for Halloween.

 What do motorcycles have to do with creepy monsters, ghostly ghouls, flaming skeletons, and living death? Quite a lot, actually, on Halloween. 

It used to be "Halloween Night," but the celebration of doom is now so popular in the United States that October is becoming Halloween Month. 

And motorcycles are part of the fun. 

The best explanation I've read of this phenomenon is a 2016 piece by J. Joshua Placa on Motorcycle.com 

"Most motorcyclists I know have a special fondness for Halloween and all its imagery," he wrote. 

"Maybe it’s a macabre coping mechanism that helps us deal with the grim side of the road. There is just something about death that bikers like to defy. Perhaps it’s just part of our rebel spirit. We’re going to ride until we die, and maybe a couple of days after."

Dressing in studded leather adorned with skulls and cross bones, and incorporating the Grim Reaper into custom motorcycle paint jobs, certainly has meaning, Placa noted.

Intended to be menacing, the everyday "biker" leather and patches get-up is scary enough to wear by itself on any Halloween. So, Placa confides, he just goes as himself.

Asked where in Heaven's name he got his costume, he claims he replied "Heaven's got nothing to do with it."

There have been plenty of horror movies featuring evil motorcycle riders. I can't stand to watch them, but Bryan Wood listed 10 creepy ones for RideApart in 2016. Most you won't ever have heard of ("Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town").

Of the better-known "Ghost Rider" movies he writes:

"These movies don't have a lot of horror in them, but they are just like Halloween candy in that they are easy to consume, and you may regret it later."

Where did all this start? I found a suitably horrifying 1930s photo of a skull and motorcycle on the Motorcycle Timeline blog. The Northampton Pirates Motorcycle Club had it as a centerpiece on the table at its annual dinner way back then.

It stands to reason that vintage motorcycles would be better at being haunted than new motorcycles. I wrote how my retro 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet is, yes, haunted. The proof is a gearbox oil filler bolt that could not be loosened, even with brute force, that subsequently unscrewed all by itself.

I'll tell that story around the campfire sometime. Nothing like a Phantom Fastener to throw a chill up your spine.

It also seems to me that visiting ghost towns or abandoned highways would be a fine activity on a motorcycle.

Halloween is a deal at Rickety Crickett Brewing, just off historic Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona. The Halloween Costume Party is at 11 p.m. tonight, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024 at the restaurant and craft brewery at 532 Beale St.

Just look for the sign of the crazed mechanical man riding his motorcycle.

If you missed it there's no need to wait until next Halloween. He's there every day of the year.

Doomed to ride, apparently, in the wrong direction.

Who owns Royal Enfield's cannon logo?

®EOC
Royal Enfield cannon and Made Like a Gun motto in club badge.

 To my surprise, the Royal Enfield cannon motif and "Made Like a Gun" motto are trademarked for some uses by the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK). 

Even more surprising is that the club, generously, doesn't maintain the trademark in order to keep it exclusive. It's comfortable with use by others, including the maker of Royal Enfield motorcycles in India. 

In fact, according to the website, club members are encouraged to use it. 

"We recently commissioned a professional designer to produce (restore) a nice sharp master artwork of our club badge to standardize what had become a mix of poor copies of previous copies of the club badge over the years. 

"On our website you’ll find two design variants in three different colors, which can be downloaded and enlarged or reduced for any decorative purpose. One has a simplified gun image more suitable for embroidered garments and some specific printing techniques. Please use our unique club identifier (®EOC), incorporating a trademark, which you’re paying for!" 

The website noted the history behind this:

"In 1995 Ian Parry set up a sub-committee of the REOC with the aim of safeguarding the use of the name Royal Enfield and the made like a gun logo. Ian successfully secured them in two trademarks: UK00002024203 ROYAL ENFIELD and UK00002027094 made like a gun plus cannon device for use on items of clothing, headgear, printed matter and club services. We get most value from the second trademark which is located centrally in our unique club badge.

"We pay a fee to safeguard our two trademarks, which are due for renewal in 2025 at a cost of approximately £1,500, so we need to get our money’s worth. It’s important to understand that the club didn’t want to prevent our trademarks being used by other parties, we wanted to ensure that we can use them without any legal issues."

®EOC
Simplified Royal Enfield Owners Club logo.

The website makes it clear that the club seeks to protect its own logo merchandise and regalia but doesn't oppose the motorcycle company's apparel ventures. That just gives Royal Enfield fans a wider choice of what to wear and display.

I live in the United States but I am a long-time member of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK). The primary benefit, at this distance, is the every-other-month arrival by email of the club publication The Gun.

The magazine is entertaining and informative but primarily entertaining, since I don't take part in person in any of the many chapter activities. I've shared some of the fun on this blog. For instance, the West Riding "Mystery Run" that was such a mystery its leader made it up as he went.

Every issue of The Gun contains a list of club merchandise you can purchase. I have my eye on a handsome stainless steel logo badge that might look nice on the handlebar of my 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet.

Not a member? I encourage you to join.

Wouldn't this look nice on my Royal Enfield?