Quote:
Originally Posted by marts1  Well they legalized the ebike here just a bit ago and the only requirement for those was you had to wear a helmet. Possibly we'll be ok here. |
To expand on what marts1 posted when bill 126 "Ontario Road Safety Act" received royal accent on April 23 2009 Ontario legalized "factory built" power assisted bicycles that comply with the specifications defined in the Canadian MVSA and bears an authorized manufacturers label stating in both official languages that it is in compliance with the Canadian MVSA specifications. DIY power assisted bicycles, and our bicycles fitted with ICE kits, are not legal in Ontario and sadly most likely never will be. When bill 126 was being debated in 2008 comments were made by politicians that given the vast amount of variables involved with DIY vehicles of any kind in the interest of public safety it's not likely any new laws will be written to include them. This is what I was going on about in another thread, don't be lulled into thinking you can buy a 500 watt hub motor for your bicycle and your good to go in Ontario! You can't just print off a compliance label and say I've manufactured a power assisted bicycle that is in compliance with the Canadian MVSA either...whole new can of worms that thought is. Relevant to that point is if you have been following the Ontario E-Bike saga through the years you might have noticed that the premier Canadian manufacturer of ebike kits,
BIONX, is now part of
Magna.
Cover story: The BionX Man - thestar.com
Many speculate that one of the reasons that deal came to be is because Magna is a recognized Canadian motor vehicle parts manufacturer with the ways and means of ensuring products produced under it's wing meet MVSA and other federal specifications. A Canadian MVSA compliant product via partnering with Magna is like a dream come true for BIONX because not many Canadians wanted to touch their product since it was not certified as being MVSA compliant and as a result technically not a road legal product in most Canadian jurisdictions.
Do some research and studying guys...the bureaucratic and legal status picture with regards to powered vehicles of any kind in Canada and Ontario gets lots clearer. If your from Ontario A good place to start is the
Highway Traffic Act.
Side note...
One lucky thing for us and the DIY e bike crowd happened with the passage of bill 126...even though DIY e bikes were not made "legal" they were not made "illegal" either. With regards to the law there is a difference when the words legal, illegal and not legal are used. At this point in time DIY e bikes and bicycles modified with ICE kits are "not legal" in Ontario 