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It was an electric bicycle, or e-bike. They can reach speeds comparable to motor vehicles — but their riders sometimes don't follow the same rules of the road. This one almost ran right through Gansert.

"At that speed, they would have broken my back," he told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½». "These e-bikes are so fast that someone is going to die soon."

In Auburn and globally, e-bikes have been gaining popularity for years.

According to U.S. nonprofit , sales of the vehicles increased 954% between 2017 and 2022 and the percentage of Americans who use them increased from 7.8% in 2021 to 19.4% in 2023. But the number of e-bike injuries has increased in step, by an average of 23% each year from 2017 to 2022, according to by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Gansert, who repairs bicycles in Auburn and gives them to children in need, has noticed the popularity of e-bikes locally since COVID-19 in particular. But in the last year he's also noticed worsening behavior by riders — not only running red lights, but riding against traffic, down sidewalks and even in the middle of roads. Few riders wear helmets either, he said, even when going as fast as 40 mph.

"They think they own the road," he said. "They have no respect. Most parents, if they saw their kids doing that, they'd take the bikes away."

More public education about e-bike use is probably the best way to change that behavior, Gansert said, praising Joe Mushock's work with the Cayuga County Health Department. As injury prevention coordinator for the department's Kids on Wheels safety program, Mushock teaches children the rules of the road. But the adults who ride e-bikes need to learn the same lesson, he told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½». 

"They think they're in a different world where the rules don't pertain to them," he said. "But they pertain to them more than anyone."

Those rules include riding e-bikes with traffic on the side of the road, following signals and signs, and making their movements predictable, Mushock said. He also stressed the need for helmets.

"You could be going 30 mph and a rabbit could run out in front of you and boom, you'd be dead," he said. "Everyone needs to wear them."

Jay Growney, co-owner of downtown bicycle shop L.B. Lightning Cyclery, sells a few e-bikes there. But most of the ones on the streets of Auburn were bought online, he told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½».

That's because riders often look for the fastest e-bikes, he explained, or ones they can easily modify to go faster. There are of legal e-bikes in the U.S., and they assist riders up to 28 mph.  

"They want a bicycle that goes 40 mph. But that's a motorcycle," Growney said. "They don't care whether it's legal or not."

The bike shop owner has seen the market flooded with e-bikes because of that speed and their affordability, averaging about $1,500. From his shop, which moved to Market Street from East Hill last year, he's also seen the ways riders flout the rules of the road. His sister-in-law was once rear-ended by an e-bike going about 35 mph, he said, and her repairs cost $4,500 because the rider was uninsured.

In Growney's opinion, the best way to crack down on dangerous e-bike use is a combination of education and enforcement.

"When I grew up in the '70s and '80s, if I tried to get from here to Wegmans on my dirt bike ... the cops would be there," he said.

Auburn Police Department Chief Matthew Androsko told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» officers enforce traffic law for e-bikes when infractions occur in their presence, but the department doesn't plan to increase enforcement similar to specially funded details like Buckle Up New York or STOP-DWI. Though use of the vehicles has increased, he continued, the department does not issue a significant number of tickets.

The department also doesn't have data on e-bike accidents in Auburn, Androsko said, but he agreed that more riders need to wear helmets and follow rules of the road like stopping at red lights.

One rule Sue Waby would like to see more e-bike riders follow is staying in the road and not using sidewalks. The owner of consignment boutique Regenerations at 101 Genesee St. told ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» she often sees them breeze by, music blasting from their speakers. But she worries about them coming into contact with the pedestrians who sometimes make those downtown sidewalks busy.

"No motorized vehicle should be on the sidewalk, period. Just like you're not supposed to drive a moped on it," she said. "Just because something hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not an issue."