Is my e-bike safe? That’s about as simple a question as someone might ask about an e-bike. Will it deliver me to my destination? Whether that destination is school, the office or back home after a run to the grocery store, no one should be wondering if their e-bike—folding or not—is safe.
Folding e-bikes are subject to the same safety standards as any other e-bike. They are afforded no special considerations or have any regulations waived. They must be safe for riders, full stop. So when reviewing an e-bike we ask ourselves if it’s safe enough to recommend.
What Constitutes Safe?
With deep fake photos and videos and AI bots writing student papers, asking what someone means when they say the word “safe” seems to be prudent judgment.
What we mean when we say an e-bike is safe is that it has passed all of the testing the CPSC recommends for e-bikes. The standards in question are defined by the International Organization for Standardization, better known as ISO.
Bicycle framesets (frame plus fork) are tested in four main ways.
E-bike Frame Testing
E-bikes receive four different tests to determine if they are safe enough. Two are impact tests and two are fatigue tests. The impact tests are meant to determine if the frame and fork will survive an accident. The fatigue tests are meant to determine if the frame and fork will hold up under normal riding.
ISO’s 4210 certification governs the standards for bikes and e-bikes. Engineers perform the following tests to verify a frameset possesses the integrity necessary to serve a rider:
- Frame—impact test, falling mass
- Frame and fork assembly—impact test, falling frame
- Frame—fatigue test with pedaling forces
- Frame—fatigue test with horizontal forces
- Frame—fatigue test with a vertical force
- Frame—rear brake mount test
- Suspension fork—tire clearance test
- Fork—tensile strength
- Fork—static bending test
- Fork—rearward impact test
- Fork—bending fatigue test and rearward impact test
- Fork steerer tube and stem assembly—fatigue test
In addition to these tests, there are tests for wheels, tires, saddles, seatposts and many other components.
Compliance with ISO standards isn’t compulsory. Most companies choose to do it because they want their e-bikes to be safe and should there be a problem, conforming to ISO standards serves as a company’s first line of defense in a liability case.
Folding e-bikes that receive CPSC approval have passed each of the above tests. Despite that extensive testing, the folding mechanism, including both the hinge and the latch, are not tested; no standard for how a hinge should function nor how the latch should close and lock exists.
How do we know folding e-bikes are safe?
Without an ISO test to judge how strong and foolproof an e-bikes folding mechanism is, where should a potential buyer turn for a verdict on how safe an e-bike is? Well, that’s what websites like this one, and our sister site ElectricBikeReport.com, exist to do. In our testing of e-bikes, we look at all the relevant questions a potential buyer might ask. And in the case of folding e-bikes, we scrutinize those folding mechanisms.
In reviewing a folding e-bike we consider the following:
- How does the e-bike fold? This may sound a little counterintuitive, but a good folding e-bike won’t retain the shape of a e-bike when the latch isn’t locked. Release the latch and the e-bike should begin to fold up immediately in order to prevent someone from riding a folding e-bike that isn’t locked.
- Is the lock foolproof? The question here is simple: Can the e-bike be ridden with the latch only partly secured? A good design will offer only two states of existence—locked and ready to be ridden, and unlocked and unable to be ridden. Honestly, if an e-bike failed this test, we would return it to the manufacturer and suggest they get in touch once they’ve resolved that issue.
- How does the latch operate? With the e-bikes we’ve reviewed, they all have a fail-safe mechanism, usually a large spring-loaded pin that must be depressed in order to release the latch. When closing the latch, the e-bike can’t be ridden until the latch is closed to the point that the spring-loaded pin pops into position.
We’re pleased to say that every folding e-bike we have reviewed here and at our sister site, ElectricBikeReport.com, have passed each of these tests.
Though we can’t point to a government-mandated standard that folding e-bikes must meet, we can attest to the safety of every folding e-bike we’ve reviewed and recommended here at Best Electric Bikes.
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