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Is your electric bike legal on UK roads?

Three numbers decide it. Here is what the law says, what it means when you ride, and which of our bikes pass.

Motor
250W continuous, maximum
Assistance stops at
15.5mph (25km/h)
Pedals
Must be able to propel the bike
Minimum age
14
Licence, tax, registration, insurance
None needed
Where
Anywhere a pedal cycle can go, not pavements

What the law calls an electric bike

In England, Scotland and Wales an electric bike is legally an electrically assisted pedal cycle, an EAPC, if it meets three conditions. It has pedals that can propel it. Its motor has a continuous rated power of no more than 250 watts. And the motor stops helping once the bike is travelling faster than 15.5mph, which is 25km/h. A bike that meets all three is treated as a bicycle. You can ride one from the age of 14 with no licence, and it does not need to be registered, taxed or insured.

The bike must also carry markings showing the motor’s continuous rated power and the manufacturer, plus either the battery voltage or the maximum speed the motor can propel it to. On most bikes this is a plate or sticker on the frame.

Northern Ireland sets its own regulations. If you ride there, check nidirect before you rely on any of this.

Where you can ride

An EAPC can go anywhere a pedal cycle can: roads, cycle lanes, cycle paths and shared-use paths. It cannot be ridden on the pavement, and the Highway Code applies to it exactly as it does to any other cyclist.

A helmet is not a legal requirement. We would still wear one, and we would think about insurance for a bike at this price, but neither is the law.

Throttles

A throttle that only moves the bike at walking pace, up to about 6km/h, is allowed as walk assist. A throttle that drives the bike faster than that without pedalling is only permitted on a bike that has been through type approval, which most imported bikes have not. The safe assumption is that a road-legal bike is pedal assist: the motor helps while you pedal and stops when you stop. Every bike we mark UK road legal works that way.

Bikes above the limits

A bike with a motor rated above 250W, or with assistance that carries on past 15.5mph, is not an EAPC. In law it is a moped or a motorcycle, however much it looks like a bicycle. To ride one on a public road it would need type approval, registration and a number plate, tax, insurance, a driving licence and a motorcycle helmet, and it still could not use cycle lanes or paths. In practice almost no imported high-power e-bike can be registered, so the only place to ride one is private land with the landowner’s permission.

Riding one on the road means riding an unregistered, uninsured motor vehicle. The police can seize the bike, and the rider can be fined and given penalty points.

De-restricting a bike

Removing a speed limiter, changing a setting in the display to lift the cut-off, or fitting a bigger motor takes a bike outside the EAPC rules from that moment on. Some manufacturers describe how to do it in their own manuals. That does not make it legal on the road, and it will usually void the warranty. A road-legal bike from us that has been de-restricted is no longer road legal.

Which of our bikes are road legal

Every bike on this site is stamped before you see its price. These are the ones with a 250W motor, assistance limited to 25km/h and no throttle.

The other 21 bikes we sell are more powerful than the limit allows and are sold for private land only. Each one is marked off-road only on its card and its product page, and we will not describe one as road legal to make a sale. See every bike with its status.

Common questions

Source: GOV.UK: Electric bikes: licensing, tax and insurance. Checked 6 September 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.