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BOSTON (WBZ) — A bicycle shop in Marblehead, Massachusetts is refusing to sell e-bikes to anyone under the age of 18, saying they’re just not safe.
Dan Schuman, the president of Marblehead Cycle, is even willing to lose some money to make his point.
“I don’t sell them to kids. I have people all of the time asking me if I’ll sell them a bike for their 14-year-old or 15-year-old that’s motorized, and I won’t,” Schuman said. “The bikes are too heavy, they’re too fast.”
Schuman said some entry level e-bikes can go up to 28 miles an hour.
“The kids don’t know the rules of the road. They don’t know how to handle traffic,” Schuman told CBS News Boston.
According to AAA, e-bikes and scooter crashes rose 33% from 2024 to 2025.
“There’s been deaths and there’s been severe injuries,” Schuman said. “The bikes weigh 70, 80 pounds or more. So to lift that bike back up, being that age and that size, after an injury, is not good.”
Adding to the concerns, Schuman said many kids ride while on their phones and without helmets.
The store’s policy raises the question – when should a child ride an e-bike?
“I’d probably say 12. Get them exercising, ride the bikes, understand the roads,” said Patrick Smith, who just rode one on a distance trip, but added that it only assisted his pedaling. “There are e-bikes that once you stop pedaling it doesn’t do anything, those I would prefer.”
Schuman said some kids are even making their e-bikes go faster, without telling their parents.
“They go into the computer on it and they change the codes and they can go 35 or 45 miles an hour,” he said.
In a statement to his customers on social media, Schuman wrote,” I’m hoping for the day when a company develops an e-bike that can only travel at the speed that a kid would typically ride a regular bicycle (about 5-7 miles per hour). Even then I’d still preach that kids need to be experiencing the joy and satisfaction of moving around under their own power.”
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