Near Venice Beach, along Washington, on the beach adjacent paths, and around the edge of Marina del Rey, groups of middle-school-age kids (mostly boys) on e-bikes have become a regular part of local life. In neighborhood threads and public meetings, residents describe the same pattern: packs of kids riding fast, weaving through crowded spaces, doing wheelies, doubling up, and often skipping helmets altogether.

To be clear, this is not an anti-bike story. E-bikes can be a legitimate way for older kids and teens to get to school, sports, work, or just around town without another car trip.

Plus, there’s something refreshing about seeing kids out moving through the neighborhood on their own. In a time when so much of childhood happens indoors or online, that kind of independence matters. It’s social, it’s active, and compared to a lot of other risks facing teens, it’s a version of freedom many parents actually want to encourage.

But what many parents and pedestrians are reacting to is not simply “kids on bikes.” It’s kids on heavier, faster machines riding in groups, often in pedestrian-heavy places, and sometimes on devices that may not even qualify as legal e-bikes under state law.

That speed piece matters. The CPSC says micromobility injuries rose nearly 21% in 2022 versus 2021, and that nearly half of all estimated e-bike injuries from 2017 through 2022 happened in 2022 alone. Children 14 and under accounted for about 36% of all micromobility injuries in that period. A 2024 study in JAMA Surgery estimated 45,586 e-bike injuries and 5,462 hospitalizations in the U.S. from 2017 to 2022, found that helmet use among injured riders declined over time, and reported that riders without helmets had 1.9 times higher odds of head injury than riders who wore one.

That’s why the helmet issue is not some side debate. Under California law, anyone under 18 riding a bicycle on a street, bikeway, or public bike path or trail has to wear a properly fitted helmet. And if the bike is a Class 3 e-bike, riders under 16 cannot legally operate it at all, while both the rider and any passenger must wear a helmet. In other words, the very behavior Westside parents keep describing — two kids on one bike, one or both bare-headed — is not just risky. It can also be plainly illegal.

Before they hit the streets with their friends, it helps to get on the same page. Use this agreement to make the rules clear (and avoid the “but you never said that” later).

There’s also a growing problem of category confusion. California defines a legal e-bike as a bicycle with fully operable pedals and a motor no greater than 750 watts. State law also says a device marketed as an e-bike is not an e-bike if it has been modified beyond the speed and power limits or if the pedals have effectively been removed from the equation. That distinction matters because some of the bikes turning heads on the Westside are closer to electric dirt bikes or light motorcycles than kid-friendly bicycles.

On April 14, Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a consumer alert warning parents that if a two-wheeled vehicle goes over 28 mph with pedal assist or 20 mph with throttle alone, it is not an e-bike under California law.

The social pressure piece is real, too. Santa Monica’s own e-bike buyer guide says a decent e-bike can start around $1,200, while premium models can easily run past $6,000. That helps explain why these bikes have become more than transportation. For some kids, they are freedom. For others, they are status. And for families that cannot or do not want to spend that kind of money, the trend can create a new kind of middle-school divide: the kids who are in the pack, and the kids standing on the curb watching it go by.

Part of why the trend spread so fast is cultural. Brands like SUPER73 do not just sell a bike; they sell community, rides, and belonging. Their official group-ride language emphasizes helmets, laws, and not doing stunts around pedestrians, but it also reflects the fact that group riding has become part of the product itself. Once that culture filters down through older teens, social feeds, and local friend groups, it is not hard to see how a beach kid starts feeling like an e-bike is less a purchase than a social requirement.

The AAP’s guidance is refreshingly practical: readiness is about developmental judgment, not just age. Kids need to be able to manage speed, judge distance, read traffic and pedestrian movement, and handle hazards. The AAP notes that many teens may not have that maturity until roughly 15 or 16, and HealthyChildren says the CPSC recommends that children ages 9 through 12 not operate products that travel faster than 10 mph. HealthyChildren also specifically advises parents to discourage kids from carrying passengers on the back. That is a useful gut check for any family considering a bike that can move at 20 to 28 mph.

If parents do say yes, the boundaries need to be boring and non-negotiable. Start with a legal Class 1 or Class 2 bike, not an “e-bike-shaped” electric motorcycle. Make helmets mandatory every ride, no exceptions. No passengers. No wheelies. No headphone riding. No Ocean Front Walk stunts. Define exactly where the bike can be ridden and where it cannot. Require check-ins, keep the power mode low at first, and make it clear that losing the bike is the consequence for unsafe riding. Local resources can help here: Santa Monica’s Safe Routes to School program offers bike education and family group rides, and the city’s buyer guide includes practical information on legal classes, riding rules, and low-cost trial programs.

This is really the challenge in front of Venice now. Kids want freedom. Parents want to say yes to independence without saying yes to chaos. Pedestrians want to be able to walk the boardwalk and beach paths without getting buzzed by a seventh grader doing a wheelie. And local officials are clearly being pushed to respond: the Venice Neighborhood Council has already flagged public-safety concerns around Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica police have cited juveniles and impounded off-highway electric vehicles, and Sacramento is now moving legislation meant to draw a much clearer line between legal e-bikes and faster e-motos.

The answer here is probably not panic. But it is rules, honesty from retailers, and parents being a lot less casual about what kind of machine their kid is actually riding.

What do you think? Does your kid ride an e-bike? Share your thoughts below!

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