Police will be given new powers allowing them to seize and crush illegal e-bikes in response to growing concerns about the growth of overpowered vehicles dubbed “fat bikes”.
NSW Transport Minister John Graham announced on Sunday that the government would also roll out technology allowing officers to test whether e-bikes exceed power limits at the roadside.
The government has faced pressure to crack down on the use of illegal e-bikes — sometimes known as fat bikes — particularly after footage emerged of a mass e-bike rideout over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which police labelled “incredibly irresponsible, stupid and downright dangerous”.
On Sunday, Graham said the NSW government would pass new laws streamlining existing seizure powers, giving NSW police the authority to seize and crush e-bikes that breach legal limits after roadside testing.
Graham said the government would invest in new portable ‘dyno units’, which measure a vehicle’s power output. The units will be used to determine whether an e-bike’s power assistance cuts at 25 kilometres per hour, the limit in NSW.
“Riders and owners of illegal e-bikes should now hear us loud and clear: If you are breaking the rules, and your bike does not meet the very clear specifications of a pedal-assisted e-bike, expect it to be removed from your possession and crushed,” he said.
“Illegal bikes will end up as a twisted wreck so they can’t rejoin the road. We will ensure e-bikes behave as bicycles not motorbikes.”
Concerns about e-bikes have grown as the frequency of injuries linked to the vehicles has increased alongside their popularity.
E-bike and e-scooter injury presentations at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network increased from 60 across the whole of 2024 to 116 between January 1 and December 2 in 2025.
NSW Ambulance data showed e-bike-related injuries in adults and children have almost doubled from 580 patients in 2024 to more than 1100 in 2025.
Graham urged parents to double-check an e-bike’s power output before buying them as gifts for children, noting that many of the vehicles marketed as e-bikes were, in fact, electric motorbikes with excessive power outputs or modified speed limiters.
If a device does not meet NSW’s legal definition of a pedal-assisted e-bike, it can be seized and crushed even if it was bought in error, he said.
The NSW government faces increased scrutiny about the proliferation of high-powered e-bikes across Sydney streets, and the NSW opposition pushed for a new licensing regime for the vehicles. In a partisan nod to that, Graham said the government’s new powers “goes far past the NSW Liberals’ idea”.
Mass rideouts — including at the Long Reef Golf Club on Sydney’s northern beaches in January and the Harbour Bridge last week — have also increased concerns about the vehicles.
After about 40 e-bike and motorcycle riders descended on the Harbour Bridge during peak hour last week the NSW Police Assistant Commissioner David Driver said apart from being illegal: “I’m struggling to find the adjective that outlines how stupid and irresponsible this behaviour is”.
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