JUPITER, Fla. — Bike shops in Jupiter showed WPTV several YouTube videos, illustrating ways people can alter an electronic bike, commonly called an e-bike, to travel at speeds higher than their legal limit.
WPTV’s Ethan Stein dug into the issue after listening to Jupiter Town Council Member Andy Fore discussing an “altered” bike's role in a crash last year, during the town’s regular scheduled meeting on Tuesday night.
Jupiter is hosting a town hall about e-bike safety after a middle school student was killed in a crash March 13.
“When these bikes are going 50 miles per hour it’s possible to do incredible harm to your body, bike and car,” Fore said.
Data WPTV requested from the town shows it averages a crash involving an e-bike once every month over a time period of April 2024 to March 2025. The data also shows the town gave out 13 citations and 77 warnings during the same period, or about one citation for every six warnings.
Jeff Orr, who owns J-Town Bike in Jupiter, said it’s very it’s very easy to hack most e-bikes. He said kids can easily follow the directions from videos online and the bikes are available for cheap from online retailers.
“They are just really cheap,” Orr said. “They’re basically a Walmart of Huffy bicycle but with substandard breaks and substandard parts."
Orr said he’s seen his industry change as people around 13-years-old want to buy electric bikes rather than a standard bicycle. He compared it to the pressure of buying a cell phone for a child once their friends get cell phones.
“Most of our bike sales are from seven to 12 years old,” Orr said. “Used to be seven to 16 years old was more of our Christmas bike sales, and now it stops right when a kid can squeeze into an e-bike. The parents and the kid, due to pressure, are getting e-bikes.”
He said it’s hard for parents to detect if kids have hacked their e-bike to go over speeds of 28 miles per hour, the legal limit under state law, until the bike is moving because kids can change the settings quickly.
