How online retailers are fuelling Melbourne’s dangerous e-bike craze

Huge shipments of illegally modified bikes are pouring into Melbourne, with retailers blatantly advertising the dangerous vehicles direct to teens online. Watch the video.

Huge shipments of electronic and illegally modified bikes are flooding into Melbourne with little to no enforcement on the sale and use of the dangerous and deadly vehicles.

Shipping containers full of the electric bikes, batteries and motors continue to be hauled into the city in what is fast becoming a major safety issue for riders and members of the public.

Online shopping retailers with a clear disregard for law enforcement have been seen advertising bicycle parts to Victorian teenagers looking to power their standard push bikes.

The Herald Sun has found more than a dozen online retailers advertising the goods that, when applied, would be classified by police as an illegally modified bicycle.

Hoons are continuing to cause chaos across the city. Picture: YouTube

The bikes have been involved in several serious collisions. Picture: YouTube

This rider performed stunts in Southbank. Picture: YouTube

One of those retailers is currently advertising a bicycle kit with up to 10,000 watts of power — 40 times the legally allowed limit on Victorian roads.

That product, from an Australian-based company and can be shipped to your door, continues to boast about the potentially deadly speed and power it can provide.

It blatantly claims the combo kit is ideal for “racing through urban streets”.

Electronic bikes are not permitted to travel at more than 25km/h or exceed 250 watts but those laws are rarely enforced or followed.

“The 10,000 watt, 72 volt combo is the pinnacle of high-performance electric riding,” the product description reads.

“With a jaw-dropping 10,000 watt motor and a powerful 150A controller, this combo delivers unmatched power, speed and acceleration.”

One of the riders in St Kilda. Picture: YouTube

The CBD is a popular location for riders. Picture: YouTube

Another online retailer also asks their teenage audience who “wanna do wheelies and go 50-100km/h” to buy their kits online.

Their social media page is filled with hoon riders performing dangerous and death-defying stunts on local Victorian roads and streets.

Police in Victoria can do little to stop the sale and shipment of batteries and motors being delivered to teenagers, meaning the number of these riders wreaking havoc in Victoria has exploded in recent years and months.

Authorities are also restricted as the riders don’t bear registration plates, making those who ride them difficult to track and prosecute.

The bikes are extremely popular among teenagers and young adults and do not require a license to ride one — even though they are illegal if ridden at speeds exceeding 25km/h.

Teenagers also love the attention and notoriety their GoPro vision brings, broadcasting videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok of their illegal and extremely dangerous stunts.

A modified e-bike travelling along the peninsula proved deadly as it struck a man crossing the road at Hastings last month.

William Lothian, 69, was hit and killed by an illegally modified bike as he crossed Frankston-Flinders Rd in the dark on May 12.

Detectives accused the driver of having illegally modified his bike that is understood to have struck the beloved Hastings local at about 80km/h.

Mr Lothian was killed after he was hit by this bike. Picture: 3AW

Mr Lothian was crossing the road when he was struck. Picture: 9News

His grieving brother, Raymond Lothian, said any bicycle — electric or not — modified to reach speeds of over 25km/h should be wiped from Victorian roads.

He said they were “too bloody dangerous”.

“Melt them down and make them into something more useful and safer. All of them and the scooters, because they’re just so bloody dangerous,” he told the Herald Sun.

“When you get idiots like that guy that hit my brother modifying the bikes to make them go faster… You’ve only got to walk down the street and you see heaps of them belting around.

“Something’s got to be done.”

Mr Lothian’s brother wants the bikes banned. Picture: 9News

Victoria Police said modified e-bikes were classed as motorcycles — which requires them to be ridden in accordance with the law.

“The use of illegal or overpowered e-bikes poses a risk to all road users, but particularly to vulnerable road users like pedestrians, and to those actually riding the devices,” a spokesperson said.

“Police won’t hesitate to detect and remove illegal e-bikes from being ridden on roads, footpaths and shared public spaces.”

Originally published as How online retailers are fuelling Melbourne’s dangerous e-bike craze