Daniel said that when e-bike riders are forced to ride alongside traffic, the vast difference in speed can create dangerous situations.

E-bikes currently have a speed limit of 25km/h in Australia.

While he said he has safety concerns about riding his hacked e-bike, he doesn’t see the risks as distinct from riding a normal bike — and overall, the couple enjoy the health, convenience and environmental benefits of riding e-bikes.

Modified e-bikes have started to come under scrutiny in Australia recently. While e-bike laws in all states and territories specify that e-bike motors have to cut out past 25km/h, many of the e-bikes in Australia are relatively easy to hack — like Daniel’s e-bikes.

E-bikes with motors that allow speeds of over 25km/h or exceed legal motor power limits are allowed to be ridden on private property in all states and territories. However, once they’re being ridden on public roads, they are considered unregistered motorbikes.

‘Severe trauma’

St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney said it had seen a significant rise in the number of trauma cases in its emergency department related to e-bikes in the past few years.

Trauma cases caused by ebikes have increased from 2023 to 2025 at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. Source: SBS

In 2023, the St Vincent’s emergency room treated 45 trauma cases related to e-bikes, whether modified or not. So far this year, there have been 135 cases.

Dr Tom Crofts, an emergency specialist at the hospital, told The Feed the trauma cases from e-bikes seen in the emergency room are generally “blunt force trauma” injuries from rapid deceleration.

Crofts said it’s “obvious” when patients have been hurt while riding modified e-bikes.

In May this year, 69-year-old Victorian pedestrian William Lothian was killed after being hit by a man riding a modified e-bike.

One researcher from the University of Melbourne looked at statistics of deaths of e-bike riders as compared to those riding standard bicycles in China and Denmark and found e-bike riders face a significantly higher risk of dying.

Gaps in the law

For example, even though the legal power of an e-bike motor on roads in NSW is 500 watts or in Queensland and Victoria 250 watts, e-bikes with motors of up to 6,000 watts can be imported into Australia.

Introducing the bill, Scamps — who previously worked as an emergency room doctor — said technology has outpaced safety and import regulations.

Many biking advocacy groups support legislation that restricts the e-bikes that can enter Australia, however some argue that speed limits should be increased to 32km/h, in line with US standards.

Data from the Netherlands shows that from 2018-2021, e-bikes were responsible for far more deaths than regular bikes. Source: SBS

Allison McCormack, chief executive of the Bicycle Network, which supports keeping the 25km/h speed limit, told The Feed Australia needs standards for the e-bikes being imported.

“This is why legislation is so important. We need to stop the ability to simply buy something that is an illegal motorbike and bring it into Australia and then subsequently they’re being used on the roads.”

Limit ‘too slow’

Daniel said he doesn’t mind the idea of more regulation on the e-bikes being imported — but he still feels the current speed limits set are unreasonable for everyday e-bike riders.

“I don’t have any issue with a crackdown on those bikes. I do however feel strongly that the 25km/h speed limit is too slow.”