Bicycle Network: Bikes 'n' Bits

Rules threaten cargo bikes

20 March 2010. Update "South Australia recently repealed legislation that mandated certain dimensions for pedal cycles. Repeal of this legislation now means there are no controls over the length, width or height of pedal cycles or the load they carry." Do any riders know more about the details of the repeal? If so please send us a message.

21 May 2009. Road rules controlling bikes in South Australia appear to ban cargo bikes and any other bike wider than 700 millimetres.

In South Australia right now size matters when it comes to bikes. A Bicycle Network Victoria member Dan Kortschak noticed these sentences from the official South Australia publication “Cycling and the Law”:
 
“The overall width of any equipment or load carried on a bicycle must not exceed 700 millimetres”
 
“The handlebars must be…………………no more than 700 millimetres wide.”
 
This means that many styles of bicycle of increasing popularity such as cargo bikes and cruisers with wide handlebars could be seen as illegal for use on South Australian roads.
 
Dr Kortschak wrote to Patrick Conlon, the South Australian Minister for Transport, and received a reply that stated that the law does indeed currently prohibit the use of any bicycle larger than the stated dimensions on South Australian roads.
 
The minister assured Dr Kortschak in his reply that the matter would be investigated.
 
Bicycle Network Victoria is endeavouring to clarify the law in Victoria and other states.

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