E-motos, sometimes mistaken for e-bikes, causing trouble on Michigan trails

While e-bikes are permitted on some trails in Michigan, e-motos aren’t supposed to be on them. But they are — and that’s rubbing some people the wrong way. Photo credit: Jacob Wackerhausen via iStock.

by Laura Herberg, Bridge Michigan 

There is a growing cry from mountain bikers like Steve Vigneau of Royal Oak: No e-motos — high-powered electric motorcycles and dirtbikes — on Michigan trails.

“You’ll hear gravel throwing and you’ll see someone ride by throwing a rooster tail of dirt,” he said. “I’ve had some close calls myself with motorbikes coming the other direction on a single track and it’s really off-putting.”

Tensions are mounting on trails and bike paths across the state as e-moto use is becoming more common. While they’re supposed to be limited to off-road vehicle parks, a lot of people, including e-moto users, mistake e-motos for e-bikes, which are allowed on some hiking and biking trails and on Michigan streets and bike paths. As the state and municipalities pass new e-bike regulations, some want to see e-motos more clearly defined.

Vigneau said when people tell e-moto riders they’re not supposed to be on the trails the response can be, “F— you, it’s an e-bike.”

But they’re not e-bikes, at least not according to the state of Michigan.

An e-bike has pedals that can propel it and can go no more than 28 mph when propelled solely by an electric motor that cannot exceed 750 watts, the range of some electric lawnmowers. E-motos, on the other hand, may not need to be pedaled and can go more than 30 mph.

Tom Perpich has sold a couple e-motos out of his Bellaire-based shop, Boyne Valley Motors.

He said that, unless an e-moto has all the bells and whistles it needs to be a street legal motorcycle, then it’s considered an off-road vehicle (ORV).

“Most (electric) motorcycle guys have pretty decent etiquette and they stick to the (Michigan Department of Natural Resources) trails for ORVs,” he said.

Whether an e-bike is allowed on a mountain bike trail is up to the local authority. In Michigan state parks and recreation areas, only two kinds of e-bikes are allowed on natural surface trails when bikes are permitted. Class 1, pedal-assisted e-bikes can go on them and people can also apply for permits “for mobility issues” to use class 2 e-bikes, which are pedal-assisted and throttle-assisted.

The rules don’t allow for vehicles with e-moto capabilities, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t riding them.

“There’s a lot of confusion around what an e-bike is and is not,” said Tim Novak, state trails coordinator with the DNR’s Parks and Recreation division.

After the DNR started allowing class 1 and 2 e-bikes on natural surface trails in 2024, it put up signs with QR codes through which users could leave comments about e-bike use. Novak said the vast majority of comments, more than 100 total, appeared to be about incidents involving e-motos.

“Most of it is they’re going too fast or they’re being erratic,” he said.

In one report, a guy on an e-moto allegedly pushed a horse while riding past it, Novak said.

“Unfortunately, we just don’t have the staff capacity to have people out on the trails regulating that every day,” he said.

He said the DNR has received no more complaints about legal e-bikes than for traditional bikes. The DNR has an e-bike subcommittee looking into possible solutions for the e-moto issue.

Cities are also grappling with how to deal with electric-powered, two-wheeled cycles on bike paths and streets as crashes are increasingly in the news. A 33-year-old e-bike rider in Ferndale died Thursday after a collision with a truck. Then an 87-year-old Grand Blanc man on an e-bike died Saturday after being hit by a car.

Marquette City Manager Karen Kovacs said city officials there have seen some unruly behavior with electric devices on city streets, sidewalks and multi-use paths, some of which involved e-motos and e-bikes that were not supposed to be there.

“We saw wheelies, we saw people zipping in and out, we saw people not announcing from behind when they’re coming to pass, we saw people taking up the entire multi-use path,” she said.

According to Michigan state law, all three classes of e-bikes are allowed on streets and bike lanes where traditional bikes are permitted. Class 1 e-bikes are generally allowed on non-motorized paved paths like rail-to-trail routes, unless restricted by a local authority, whereas class 2 and 3 e-bikes may be allowed on such trails if a local authority approves their use.

Last week, the Marquette City Council passed an ordinance allowing a handful of electric “mobility devices,” including all three classes of e-bikes, to use the path while giving officers the ability to issue tickets for any trail users deemed to be acting recklessly. The ordinance does not allow e-motos on the path.

Dearborn Heights took a different approach. Earlier this month, the metro Detroit community’s city council banned e-bikes not on streets but on all city property like city parks, walking paths and recreation centers. E-bike riders are also now required to register their bikes with the city for $200.

Dearborn City Councilmember Hassan Saab told WDIV that the city has kids as young as 7 riding e-bikes 30 mph down residential streets.

Michigan League of Bicyclists Executive Director Andy Rohrer told Bridge Michigan he believes Dearborn officials are mistaking e-motos for e-bikes.

And he doesn’t think they’re alone.

“What’s happening in the space around the state is there’s starting to be a gross misunderstanding of the differences between an e-bike and an electric motorcycle,” he said. “Because a lot of electric motorcycles are sold as e-bikes, and I guess because they have electric motors, and because they have two wheels, they’re automatically now an e-bike.”

The Michigan League of Bicyclists is lobbying state lawmakers to legally define e-motos so that they can be better distinguished from e-bikes. The city of Marquette and the DNR are also considering doing the same.

This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.