Byron city council cracks down on E-bike safety

The Byron city council enacted a new set of regulations on electric vehicles earlier this month, ranging from setting speed limits on trails to requiring registration for certain vehicles to reclassifying what, exactly, is an E-vehicle.
“Right now what we are seeing is these E-vehicles—no matter what they are—flying through intersections, they are going down the sidewalks, quite honestly being disrespectful to pedestrians, and we are going to see more and more people hurt,” said Al Roder, Byron City Administrator.
The subsidization and proliferation of electric vehicles in Minnesota has made it easier than ever to purchase and ride E-bikes, scooters, electric motorcycles (often called E-motos), and any number of other electric vehicles. This surge in new e-vehicles that are not-quite bicycles and not-quite motorcycles can whizz through traffic at tens of miles per hour, but are also used by many on paths and trails which have left them in a gray area of whether they should be regulated like bicycles or like cars.
To this question, the Byron city council sought to walk the line of what exactly is an e-bike and what that means.
What is 
an e-bike?
The new ordinance, 2026-02 replaces city code 73 on toy vehicles in order to classify and regulate e-vehicles, largely following state statute.
“The goal was to stay in the state code and what they had put into place […] this allows us to enforce it at the local level,” said Roder.
E-bikes generally fall into three classes:
Class 1: bicycles with electric pedal-assist up to 20 mph
Class 2: bicycles with electric throttle up to 20 mph
Class 3: bicycles with pedal assist up to 28 mph or multiple modes
These classes of E-bikes are slower than E-motos, which are defined as a bicycle with a 50 cc or less motor with top speeds at 30 mph.
New rules
The new ordinance bars class 3 E-bikes, as well as E-scooters and E-motos from city sidewalks, recreational trails and multi-use trails. All devices that are allowed on sidewalks and trails are capped at a 10-mph speed limit.
This speed limit is new for bicycles and despite being put in place, the council agreed would be hard to enforce. The limit is more about education.
“If we say 10, it should tell them that they need to slow down,” said Dan Mesenburg, Byron city councilor.
Additional passengers are prohibited on e-bikes and e-scooters unless the vehicle is specifically designed to carry more than person.
E-motos are required to have registration and insurance similar to cars and motorcycles.
Additionally all roller devices, bicycles and E-vehicles are barred from being ridden after sunset and before sunrise on all public street, sidewalk or other roadway except as allowed under state statute.
The new ordinance follows state law in barring anyone younger than 15 years of age from operating E-bikes and anyone younger than 12 from operating E-scooters on any public right-of-way.
All operators of and passengers of E-bikes, E-scooters and E-motos must wear a helmet.
Mayor Daryl Glassmaker cited these age limits as “the biggest angst of the community: that these 11-year-olds can’t be out on the roads anymore.” He worried that the root problem of children not following traffic laws is not addressed with the ordinance.
“We are just taking them off the scooter and putting them on the bike,” said Glassmaker.
Roder said enforcing rules of the road is “very difficult no matter what device they are on. Some of that falls on parents to educate […] It is not going to solve the problem. It does allow us to issue civil penalties for youth that are blatantly violating our city code. Currently they are not subject to any penalties whatsoever.”
For Byron city council member Justin Blom, the reason for the ordinance was clear: “We want our kids to be safe, that’s why we are doing this.”