While jogging through Rollins Park a couple of weeks ago, I saw two teens on electric dirtbikes traveling at a high rate of speed through the park. They seemed to have little regard for who or what was around them. They zipped past a field hockey game, a woman walking her dog and a family with young children, then took off down Bow Street.
The dad in me was quick to anger while the teacher in me became immediately alarmed. Although I could not do anything about it at the time, it left me asking, “Surely this can’t be legal, right?”
In Concord and across the country, electric bikes and especially electric motorcycles (e-motos), have become extremely common over the past few years. This is, in large part, due to social media where you can easily find clips of young men engaging in objectively dangerous activities while on e-bikes and e-motos in the name of “views” and “likes.”
Some of these bikes are legal (Class 1, 2 and 3), while many are not. Anything that has an electric motor of greater than 750 watts, or has had the speed limiter removed or hacked, is classified as an OHRV (off highway recreational vehicle). There are some other nuances regarding pedals and throttles and I would encourage you to check New Hampshire law and RSA 265:144-a.
It is illegal to ride OHRVs/e-motos on public property or on public streets, including sidewalks. I point this out because these vehicles are marketed primarily to teen boys as e-bikes when in reality, they are not. Kids often ask their parents to buy them e-bikes, and parents, not knowing what they are buying or what the law says, wind up purchasing vehicles that put their children’s lives and the lives of others at risk.
Some would argue that some parents don’t care, and I refuse to believe that. When safety is the priority, we all care about our children. Many of these electric motorcycles can go upwards of 50 miles per hour. The legal limit of a cCass 3 e-bike is 28 miles per hour. Class 3 is the fastest legal e-bike and cannot legally be operated by anyone under 16 years of age. According to the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, “the injuries seen in E-bike accidents often more closely resemble motorcycle crash injuries than those sustained in standard bicycle accidents.”
Additionally, “In a large, pediatric-focused US study, it is estimated that there were 15,121 pediatric E-bike accidents between 2019-2023 with only 4.18% of those accidents occurring in 2019 and a whopping 49.8% occurring in 2023, heavily suggesting a massive surge in E-bike popularity. The population involved in pediatric E-bike accidents were overwhelmingly found to be male (79.7%) and adolescents aged 13-18 (71.4%).” Imagine the stats now in 2026 given the rise of purposeful marketing conflation between e-bikes and e-motos.
We all want our children to have the freedom to explore beyond their home. As parents, we can encourage that exploration by showing them new walking routes, or getting them a bicycle and teaching them how to ride it safely. We can teach them the rules of the road, how to safely follow traffic patterns, right-of-ways, responsible trail use and etiquette, helmet use and consequences.
If you want to get your child an e-bike, know what you’re buying. Make sure it meets the legal definition of a Class 1 or Class 2 e-bike and check frequently to ensure it has not been modified. All these measures help to ensure that they and the people around them are safe. It also deters dangerous behavior like what I witnessed at Rollins Park. Remember, if your child is riding an illegal e-bike or e-moto and is involved in an accident, it is likely to be them, or you, that is found responsible.
I know that to some I sound like an old man yelling at clouds here, and I own that. However, as a teacher and parent, the safety and well-being of my children, my students and their peers is always my main concern. When we are on the road, whether on a bike, e-bike, legal motorcycle or in a car, we need to look out for each other. We need to act responsibly, considering not just our own lives, but the lives of those traveling around us.
Ian West lives in Concord and teaches in Pembroke.