Written by Megan Ramey, who manages the Protected Routes to College program for Hood River County College District.
Final Wednesday I hosted an e-bike journey with policymakers and elected officers from the Hood River area with one clear aim: to seek out an Oregon legislator keen to champion a invoice that may get rid of Oregon’s age restriction for Class 1 e-bikes (the kind that don’t have a throttle and require riders to pedal) within the 2026 brief session.
As a mother of a 16-year-old who’s been “illegally” using a Class 1 e-bike for 4 years, I can attest to their transformative energy. My daughter (in picture, proper) has by no means been stopped by the police. She has, nonetheless, gained independence, mobility, and confidence — and exhibits no real interest in getting a driver’s license. She’s a part of a rising motion of 10-15 12 months olds hopping on e-bikes — the second largest age group, simply behind child boomers. Why? They’re too younger to drive, however they crave freedom.
E-bikes promote themselves to youngsters. They’re enjoyable, quick sufficient to be empowering, and are a sustainable different to automotive rides. The extra t(w)eens who journey, the extra empathetic, alert, and bike-aware they’ll be as future drivers.
Sadly, my 2022 Daybreak of the Throttle Children article has confirmed prophetic. As a result of Class 2 throttle bikes and e-motos are cheaper, that’s what dad and mom purchase. Many are modified past authorized limits, blurring the traces between bike and motorcycle. In Hood River, some youth zip alongside sidewalks on these throttled machines, alarming pedestrians and drivers alike. The backlash led our native police to announce in August that they’d start citing under-16 riders for violation of ORS 814.512 — a statute that really applies to e-scooters, not e-bikes.
This name for enforcement (and its response) highlights an actual drawback: Oregon regulation treats a Class 1 e-bike — a conventional bike with a modest enhance — like a automotive. As a result of under-16s are barred from using them, colleges can’t even legally present schooling to the age group most wanting to be taught.
The journey with policymakers I led final week was designed to alter that. Becoming a member of me have been State Consultant Jeff Helfrich and electeds and workers from Metropolis of Hood River, County of Hood River, Mid-Columbia Financial Improvement District, Hood River Parks & Recreation, CAT Transit, Cycle Oregon, The Environmental Heart, Oregon Micromobility Community, Port of Hood River, Thomas Coon Newton & Frost regulation agency, Sol Rides E-bike Excursions, and native moms of e-bike using teenagers.
We rode up steep State Avenue to Hood River Center College — floor zero for the youth e-bike challenge — then right down to the hazardous thirteenth and Might intersection, which is a high Protected Routes to College precedence connecting two colleges. We mentioned infrastructure gaps, jurisdictional limitations, and the chance for an ODOT switch to permit protected bike lanes via The Heights.
After Rep. Helfrich (considered one of solely two Republicans who supported HB 3626, which might’ve lowered the age restrict) departed, our group continued throughout the Historic Columbia River Freeway to the Twin Tunnels Path — what I name “the most effective under-10-mile bike journey in America.”
On the end, we heard from two moms whose tales say all of it. Nicole Goode, a trainer at Hood River Valley Excessive College, described how her son’s e-bike has given him independence since age 10, educating him resilience and navigation abilities which might be already shaping his maturity. Jess McGimsey, a mom from Mosier, spoke about her 13-year-old who saved up for an e-bike solely to be taught he couldn’t legally journey it. “I absolutely help Class 1 e-bikes for all ages,” she stated. “They construct confidence and relieve dad and mom from fixed chauffeuring.”
That very same morning, I offered on finest practices in e-bike schooling on the Nationwide Protected Routes to College Summit. The day left me with two truths: 1) We don’t have a youth e-bike drawback — we’ve got a youth e-moto drawback. And a pair of) Class 1 e-bikes provide one of many best alternatives for a technology of t(w)eens to flee screens and anxiousness via free-range mobility that fosters independence and pleasure.
We have now a terrific instance to comply with. Marin County has been the nationwide chief in Protected Routes to College and their new regulation permits all ages on Class 1 e-bikes, whereas limiting class 2 and three e-bikes to 16 years previous (watch their PSA beneath).
It’s overdue for Oregon to honor its proud bike heritage — one which fosters resiliency, well being, and mobility alternative — and prolong it to our youth, who arguably want it now greater than ever.
— Megan Ramey is the Protected Routes to College Supervisor for Hood River County College District and the founding father of Bikabout, which now hosts an E-bike Information for Teenagers and Households.
