If you’ve seen the recent Nine News “No limits” e-bike video, you probably felt the same mix of reactions most people did.
Part curiosity.
Part concern.
And a big question mark around safety.
The footage shows an e-bike riding confidently alongside traffic, weaving through the city like it doesn’t belong to the same rules as cars or bicycles. It looks fast. It looks powerful.
But here’s the thing most media clips miss:
- The problem isn’t e-bikes.
- The problem is poorly designed e-bikes, poor understanding, and zero education.
As someone who has been building e-bikes in Australia for nearly a decade, I want to unpack this properly
Not All E-Bikes Are Equal (And That Matters for Safety)
An ebike is a platform or a category.
Two bikes can look similar on paper — same motor, same battery, same watt number — yet behave completely differently on the road.
What actually affects safety?
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Weight distribution
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Frame geometry
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Tyre size and contact patch
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Braking system
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Suspension quality
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Torque delivery (how power comes on)
This is where most cheap, mass-produced e-bikes fall apart. They chase numbers — watts, speed, range — but ignore control.
And control is everything.
Why Fat Tyre E-Bikes Are Actually Safer (When Done Properly)
There’s a big misconception that fat tyre ebikes are more dangerous.
In reality, it’s often the opposite.
A properly engineered fat tyre ebike gives you:
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More grip
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Better stability
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More predictable handling
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Better braking under load
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Confidence at low and medium speeds
That big tyre isn’t about looking tough — it’s about traction and forgiveness. When something unexpected happens (a car door, gravel, wet paint, potholes), fat tyres give you margin. Skinny tyres don’t.
But — and this is important — only if the bike is designed properly from the start.
Volition and the First Fat Tyre E-Bike in Australia
Long before fat tyre ebikes were “cool”, we were already building them.
Volition was the first to introduce fat tyre e-bikes in Australia, back when most shops laughed and said, “Who would want that?”
We didn’t build them for speed.
We built them for:
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Australian roads
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Australian riders
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Real-world use — kids, cargo, hills, stop-start traffic
From day one, the goal wasn’t “no limits”.
It was:
Power you can control.
The Real Safety Conversation We Should Be Having
That viral video frames e-bikes as the problem.
But here’s the truth:
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Unsafe riding is the problem; ignoring the traffic rules isn’t a great start.
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Bad design is the problem
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Zero rider education is the problem
You can ban throttles.
You can cap numbers.
You can blame the technology.
None of that fixes poor engineering or poor behaviour.
What does improve safety?
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Better bike design
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Better tyres
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Better brakes
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Better rider understanding
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Bikes that feel stable, not twitchy
Power Isn’t the Enemy — Lack of Control Is
E-bikes aren’t going away.
Fat tyre ebikes aren’t going away.
And honestly — they shouldn’t.
They replace cars.
They get people riding.
They make hills, distance, and age irrelevant.
But the future of e-bikes in Australia depends on doing it right, not doing it louder.
At Volition, we’ve always believed:
If a bike feels right, people ride it right.
That’s how safety actually works — quietly, consistently, and without drama.
Final thought
If a short news clip made you nervous about e-bikes, that’s fair.
Just remember:
The solution isn’t fear.
The solution is better bikes and better understanding.
And that’s something we’ve been working on since the very beginning.
