Trek has adopted its own voluntary eMTB speed limits in the United States and is calling on other bike manufacturers to follow its lead.
All Trek electric mountain bikes sold in the US will remain within the American Class 1 category. That means pedal assistance up to a maximum of 20mph and no throttle.
The company says the decision on eMTB speed limits is intended to protect mountain bike trail access as electric bikes become faster, more powerful and increasingly difficult for landowners and other trail users to categorise.
This is a US policy rather than a change to UK law, but Trek’s intervention raises a bigger question for the eMTB industry: should manufacturers set their own limits before regulators and land managers impose tougher restrictions?
Trek’s new voluntary e-bike standards
Under its published commitment, Trek’s US electric mountain bikes will be:
- Class 1 only
- Limited to pedal assistance up to 20mph
- Sold without a throttle
Its electric bikes designed for roads, paved routes and shared paths may continue to offer pedal assistance up to either 20mph or 28mph, depending on the model and local regulations. Throttle assistance, where fitted, will be limited to 20mph.
Trek argues that machines offering throttle assistance beyond 20mph or pedal assistance beyond 28mph should be categorised as electric motorcycles rather than ordinary e-bikes.
The distinction is important because American e-bike access is often decided using the Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 system. Class 1 e-bikes provide assistance only while the rider is pedalling and stop assisting at 20mph.
Trek believes keeping eMTBs within that category offers the best chance of maintaining access to mountain bike trails.
Why is Trek acting now?
Electric mountain bike development has accelerated rapidly.
Motors have become more powerful, batteries have grown and software gives riders more control over assistance settings. In some markets, certain systems can be configured to provide motor support at speeds well beyond traditional eMTB limits.
More power does not automatically make an eMTB irresponsible or unsafe. Peak power, continuous-rated power, torque and maximum assisted speed are different measurements, and they should not be treated as interchangeable.
Our analysis of the Avinox M2S motor and its increasingly large performance figures explores why powerful new systems need more nuanced reporting than simply labelling a motor legal or illegal from its peak output.
The access concern is slightly different. Land managers and other trail users may not distinguish between a legal pedal-assist mountain bike and a much faster motorised machine that happens to have pedals.
If increasingly fast vehicles are all presented as eMTBs, the risk is that restrictions are applied to the whole category rather than only to the machines causing concern.
What do Trek’s eMTB speed limits mean in the UK?
Nothing changes immediately for UK Trek owners.
The American 20mph Class 1 limit is already higher than the motor-assistance limit for a standard UK road-legal electric bike.
In Great Britain, an electric mountain bike must meet Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle requirements to be treated like an ordinary bicycle. Its motor must have a maximum continuous-rated output of no more than 250W, and motor assistance must stop when the bike reaches 15.5mph, or 25km/h.
That is the assisted-speed limit rather than a limit on how fast the bicycle itself can travel. A rider can exceed 15.5mph through pedalling, gravity or momentum, but the motor must no longer be providing assistance.
Our complete guide to UK eMTB law explains what happens when an electric bike falls outside those requirements.
Trek’s announcement should therefore not be interpreted as allowing UK eMTBs to assist riders up to 20mph. The company’s policy applies to products sold in the United States and reflects the American classification system.
The UK industry is tightening standards too
Trek’s announcement arrives as the UK cycle trade is also trying to draw a clearer line between legal pedal-assist bikes and more powerful electric vehicles.
The recently launched E-Bike Positive trust mark identifies verified brands and approved retailers committed to selling, maintaining and supporting safe, UK-legal e-bikes.
The two initiatives are not identical. Trek is setting voluntary product limits for its US range, while E-Bike Positive is a wider UK assurance scheme covering legality, safety testing, tamper resistance, batteries, chargers and retailer conduct.
However, both are driven by the same underlying concern: legitimate e-bikes could lose public trust and access because of products that blur the boundary between bicycles and electric motorcycles.
Could voluntary limits protect UK trails?
Most UK eMTB riding takes place under a different access and legal framework from the United States, but the principle remains relevant.
Legal eMTBs depend on being treated as bicycles. That status is crucial for access to bridleways, cycle routes, forest trails and other places where motor vehicles would not normally be permitted.
The UK does not need Trek’s American 20mph standard because it already has a lower legal assistance cut-off. What the UK industry does need is consistent language, responsible product configuration and a clear separation between EAPCs and electric motorcycles.
It is also important not to use this debate to attack every high-performance motor system. A powerful but properly certified UK eMTB that stops assisting at 15.5mph remains legally distinct from an unrestricted throttle-driven machine.
The sensible position sits between two extremes. Motor development should not be halted simply because modern eMTBs are becoming more capable, but manufacturers should not make assisted-speed limits easy to bypass and then leave riders, retailers and landowners to deal with the consequences.
Electric MTB UK view
Trek’s voluntary eMTB speed limits are a defensible response to a genuine access problem, particularly in the fragmented US market.
Its strongest argument is not that 20mph is the perfect speed for every trail. It is that eMTB manufacturers share responsibility for protecting the places their products are designed to be ridden.
For UK riders, the headline figure remains 15.5mph. The wider lesson is that the eMTB category can only retain its bicycle status if brands, retailers and riders continue to respect the line between pedal assistance and motorised transport.