For months leading up to his 13th birthday last July, Cam Fuller watched one friend after another cruising around his north Charlotte neighborhood on something electric. He wanted it, too.<\/p>\n
Read more NC\u2019s House vs. Senate budget clash fizzled out as it crossed the finish line<\/a><\/p>\n The same thing many kids his age want: the freedom to leave the house without asking for a ride. His friends could zip to one another\u2019s houses, the neighborhood pool, Lowe\u2019s Foods or the golf course \u2014 places that could feel much farther away on a regular bike. He didn\u2019t want to be the kid pedaling behind everyone else.<\/p>\n Azu, his mom, resisted the idea at first.<\/p>\n At the same time, she also didn\u2019t want another summer with Cam indoors playing video games, and saw the benefits of him being outside riding with his friends instead of inside staring at a screen.<\/p>\n She also understood exactly why he wanted one.<\/p>\n So, reluctantly, she decided to say yes \u2014 but on her terms.<\/p>\n She researched the options and intentionally bought a slower model than the one Cam wanted. And when she and Cam\u2019s dad gave it to him on his birthday late last July, she remembers insisting on a helmet every ride. She remembers warning him away from busy roads. She remembers telling him she\u2019d be monitoring his speed on Life360<\/a>.<\/p>\n The main thing Cam remembers is just being \u201csuper excited.\u201d As soon as the bike arrived, he says, they unboxed it, assembled it and he took off riding.<\/p>\n His mom felt like she was trying her best to manage the risk. She believed that if she put enough guardrails around the freedom, he could enjoy it safely.<\/p>\n But Azu couldn\u2019t shake the feeling that something might go wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all hate those things,\u201d Azu recalls as the takeaway from a conversation she had with another neighborhood mom as they watched their boys ride in and out of the cul-de-sac one day last summer. \u201cYou just kind of worry and hope nothing happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, on May 20, something did.<\/p>\n Across Charlotte, thousands of parents are making that same calculation.<\/p>\n For years, many watched as their children\u2019s worlds shrank to whatever destinations Mom or Dad had time to drive them, as kids\u2019 use of traditional bicycles gradually declined. Then came battery-powered bikes.<\/p>\n Almost overnight, they restored something many parents appreciated about their own childhoods, particularly in the summer: the freedom to leave the house after breakfast, meet up with friends, ride to the neighborhood pool, stop by the basketball court or convenience store and come home before dinner.<\/p>\n When Amy Justice\u2019s son first asked for an e-bike, she initially rejected the idea outright, believing kids didn\u2019t need motorized bikes and should simply pedal like previous generations. Her son pleaded, telling Mom he wanted one badly enough that he was willing to sell his gaming system to help pay for it.<\/p>\n But it was a conversation with her brother, an avid cyclist, that changed her thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, he can use his own feet to get where he needs to go. Like, these lazy kids on the e-bikes.\u2019 My brother was like, \u2018Amy, kids don\u2019t ride bikes for exercise the way that we do. … Kids ride bikes for freedom and to get places where they want to be with their friends.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018You should let him have one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, she and her husband agreed to buy the bike \u2014 but only with strict safety rules, mandatory helmet use and constant monitoring through Life360 to track both her son\u2019s location and his speed.<\/p>\n For Nicole Brown, meanwhile, it was largely a practical decision. She says her son\u2019s backpack often topped 20 pounds, and the ride to his middle school in Cornelius included a steep hill. The bike made that commute easier while giving the family one less daily transportation challenge.<\/p>\n In other words, it represented freedom for both child and<\/i> parent.<\/p>\n But in a larger sense, every family interviewed for this story was trying to answer the same question: How much independence should they give their kid? And how much risk comes with it?<\/p>\n Neither Justice nor Brown bought these bikes because their sons were thrill-seekers. Like Azu Fuller, they saw the bikes primarily as tools \u2014 for independence, transportation and time with friends.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a broader trade-off, though, for the public. As more teenagers in general have begun riding electric-powered vehicles, neighborhood streets, greenways, sidewalks and shopping centers suddenly have been experiencing a new kind of traffic moving through them on a regular basis.<\/p>\n And with that has come a growing sense that the rules haven\u2019t kept pace with the technology \u2014 as well as a gradual realization that many of the people on both sides of the e-bike debate aren\u2019t even truly arguing about e-bikes at all.<\/p>\n Online, complaints are nearly as plentiful as the machines themselves.<\/p>\n A quick and simple search for the word \u201ce-bikes\u201d on NextDoor<\/a> produces a trove of outrage. \u201cParents letting their kids zip around on these things are foolish.\u201d \u201cDisrespectful little jerks!\u201d \u201cLunatic overprivileged children.\u201d \u201cObtuse kids.\u201d \u201cActing like an entitled a-hole.\u201d \u201cLittle juvenile jerks.\u201d \u201cSign of bad parenting. It\u2019s kids like this that give cyclists a bad name.\u201d<\/p>\n The insults often accompany reports and even videos of kids and teens engaging in reckless riding \u2014 weaving through traffic, running stop signs, ignoring pedestrians, and performing stunts like wheelies in opposing lanes, sometimes without helmets.<\/p>\n Myers Park resident Josh Heiskell has a front-row seat to this kind of activity, with a back deck that has a clear view of Little Sugar Creek Greenway behind Park Road Shopping Center.<\/p>\n \u201cThese kids will go up and down Westfield, popping wheelies, and fly<\/i>,\u201d he says. But \u201cto be honest, I don\u2019t really have a problem with that. I mean, if they\u2019re on the road and they have a helmet, and they\u2019re following all the rules, I\u2019m fine with it. I know some people don\u2019t like it, but I have no problem with that. My problem … it\u2019s on the greenway.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had a couple of instances where I\u2019ve almost gotten hit. It makes it feel unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n Heiskell says that just last week he encountered a group of kids whose vehicles blocked the entire width of the greenway.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Hey, you guys aren\u2019t supposed to have those on the greenway. Get them off.\u2019 And they followed me home, dude. They followed me to my house. I fully expected to wake up to my house being egged.\u201d<\/p>\n Jon Roberts, a former competitive cyclist who lives in the University City area, says he and his wife have had similar run-ins on the Toby Creek Greenway near their home.<\/p>\n \u201cLisa was running, I was (on my bike) maybe a bike length behind her, and this kid came weaving between the two of us, and just about brushed Lisa … and he was laughing,\u201d Roberts says. He adds that he tried to chase him down to chew him out, but on his pedal-powered bike was outmatched by the kid\u2019s electric-powered motor.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t \u2014 you know, he\u2019s going 30, 40 miles an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n On May 20, Cam Fuller was using his bike exactly as his parents had hoped he would \u2014 to spend time with friends.<\/p>\n That evening, the boys had ridden their bikes to hit golf balls near Birkdale. Cam had been wearing his helmet while they played. At one point, one of his friends started teasing him about it.<\/p>\n So he took it off. He never put it back on.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the one time,\u201d Cam recalls. \u201cI don\u2019t know why I wasn\u2019t wearing it.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time the boys were done playing, it was dark. Cam slung his golf bag over one shoulder and climbed onto his bike. One hand gripped the handlebar. The other held his clubs behind him. They all took off.<\/p>\n Just a few minutes later, as he rolled over a speed bump, he lost control.<\/p>\n The bike pitched forward. Cam flew over the handlebars, striking the pavement hard enough to lose consciousness almost instantly.<\/p>\n He remembers none of it. What he does remember is coming to in the back of an ambulance as flashes of red and white light flickered through the rear and side windows.<\/p>\n Around the same time, a phone call reached his mother, Azu.<\/p>\n \u201cCam\u2019s been in a bike accident,\u201d another parent told her. \u201cThe ambulance is on the way to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more UNC System finally gets funding for enrollment growth in new state budget<\/a><\/p>\n That was all the information she had.<\/p>\n Azu arrived to find doctors piecing together the damage. Cam had suffered a concussion and a small brain bleed. His collarbone was broken badly enough that it would eventually require surgery. Much of the right side of his body was covered in road rash. For days, headaches left him vomiting and in pain.<\/p>\n The bike survived the crash far better than Cam did.<\/p>\n Part of the reason it held up so well is that Cam\u2019s bike is built sturdily, weighing in at 85 pounds with its steel frame, front and rear full suspension, and 20-inch by 4-inch all-terrain fat tires.<\/p>\n It also can reach speeds of up to 33 mph \u2014 faster than many neighborhood speed limits.<\/p>\n Cam\u2019s bike, in fact, is one of a growing number of vehicles marketed as e-bikes that blur the line between traditional electric-assisted bicycles and more powerful electric motorcycles, often called e-motos. These machines can accelerate harder than traditional e-bikes, and in many cases can be modified to travel much faster. That changes both the safety concerns they raise and the rules that apply to them.<\/p>\n Neither Azu nor Cam realized that the bike he\u2019d been riding since last July is not considered a standard electric-assisted bike<\/a> by the state of North Carolina until The Charlotte Observer happened to look up his particular make and model and relayed that information to them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a widespread misunderstanding.<\/p>\n Sara McDonnell of Huntersville is another parent who thought that her 14-year-old son Liam had what qualified as a traditional e-bike \u2014 and he did, too. But the Observer determined that his Hikeep K6-G exceeds the speeds and power output of a true e-bike.<\/p>\n This confusion is something Bicycle Sport owner Ben Cooley sees almost every day. Manufacturers and online retailers, he says, routinely market everything from traditional pedal-assist bicycles to much more powerful electric motorcycles under the same broad \u201ce-bike\u201d label.<\/p>\n To him, it\u2019s simple: \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t call a Tesla a golf cart. And I wouldn\u2019t call something that does 50 miles an hour with a throttle a bicycle.\u201d<\/p>\n But \u201cwe have parents come in here and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, I want to get my kid an e-bike,\u2019\u201d says Cooley, who owns shops in uptown and Myers Park. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018Well, what are we talking about here?\u2019 And they start describing it, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Okay, well, that<\/i> could be purchased at a motorcycle<\/i> store, not here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n To many cyclists and trail advocates, that confusion isn\u2019t just semantic. They say it has fundamentally changed who \u2014 and what \u2014 is showing up on greenways and trails.<\/p>\n Curtis Storm, president of Tarheel Trailblazers<\/a> and a former dirt-bike racer, says the problem isn\u2019t electric bicycles. And it isn\u2019t simply speed, either. It\u2019s that the powerful electric motorcycles blurring the line between bikes and motorcycles are creating conflicts on and causing damage to trails and greenways that were never designed for heavy machines with instant acceleration.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t propel a bicycle to 30 miles per hour in two seconds, but you can with an electronic motorcycle. So it\u2019s making a lot of people nervous,\u201d he says. But \u201cultimately, we\u2019re not law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n While he and other cycling advocates agree kids benefit from more independence, they are skeptical that increasingly motorcycle-like vehicles are the right way to give it to them.<\/p>\n And so are local governments and law enforcement officials.<\/p>\n The debate is no longer confined to neighborhood Facebook groups and Nextdoor.<\/p>\n Over the past nine months, communities across the Charlotte region have begun rewriting the rules governing e-bikes and similar electric-powered vehicles as officials grapple with a rapidly changing marketplace and growing safety concerns.<\/p>\n Cornelius updated its ordinance in November 2025. Waxhaw and Davidson followed with their own revisions in February. Indian Trail and Matthews are weighing new restrictions on sidewalks and greenways, while Charlotte City Council has launched its own review of whether the city\u2019s ordinances have kept pace with technology.<\/p>\n Yet even as governments move to tighten rules, many worry the debate risks painting all<\/i> electric-assisted bicycles with the same brush.<\/p>\n Dan Brewer, 62, credits his pedal-assist e-bike with allowing him to continue tackling steep climbs that have become more difficult with age. \u201cI was critical of e-bikes until I got one,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe e-bike allows me to still hit those climbs and get a great workout in.\u201d<\/p>\n But he\u2019s concerned that increasingly powerful electric motorcycles could prompt restrictions on riders who aren\u2019t causing problems. \u201cWith the surge in e-motos with the younger kids riding them everywhere,\u201d he says, \u201cI\u2019m afraid they will ruin it for all e-bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n Parents share that concern.<\/p>\n Nicole Brown\u2019s 13-year-old son was struck by a distracted driver while riding his pedal-assist e-bike home from school last year. Despite the crash, she plans to buy him another one because she still believes it offers a safe, practical way to get around.<\/p>\n What frustrates her, she says, is that responsible riders often get judged by the behavior of a small minority.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s … really unfortunate for those whose kids do not ride this way. The attention always goes to the negative and not the positive,\u201d Brown says. \u201cI see just as many kids if not more, riding to and from school who utilize their electric bikes and scooters correctly and in accordance with the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n Liam McDonnell, too, worries that reckless riders are shaping public perception.<\/p>\n The 14-year-old Huntersville boy with the Hikeep K6-G understands, he says, \u201ckids trying to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut,\u201d he adds, \u201cthey should still do it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n The crash sidelined Cam Fuller for weeks.<\/p>\n While he recovered from surgery, his friends stopped riding ahead without him. Instead, they spent several weeks walking through the neighborhood at his side. For Azu, it was a reminder that what Cam had wanted all along wasn\u2019t really the bike. It was the chance to keep up with his friends.<\/p>\n But gradually, the headaches subsided, the collarbone healed, and doctors cleared him to resume normal activities \u2014 including getting back on the bike.<\/p>\n Asked whether he was nervous about riding again, Cam doesn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cNot at all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He says the crash wasn\u2019t the bike\u2019s fault. It was his mistake \u2014 and one he doesn\u2019t intend to repeat.<\/p>\n His mother, meanwhile, is understandably much more conflicted. She says she initially wanted to take the bike and \u201cburn it, cut it up in little tiny pieces,\u201d and that the decision to ultimately let him ride again was \u201cvery hard.\u201d Yet when asked whether she would make the same decision again, knowing everything that happened, Azu doesn\u2019t hesitate either.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I would,\u201d she says. \u201cHe genuinely loves riding it, and that makes me happy for him. I would just focus much more on the safety aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s learned to live with the anxiety that comes with it.<\/p>\n For the most part.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, everyone\u2019s like, \u2018I can\u2019t believe you\u2019re letting him back on it,\u2019 but … you just eventually have to let go a little bit. I don\u2019t \u2014 \u201d Azu cuts herself off suddenly. She\u2019s standing in her driveway watching Cam and a friend ride up and down the hill out of their cul-de-sac.<\/p>\n Both boys are riding with helmets \u2014 but at this moment, without their hands on their handlebars.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is he doing??,\u201d she cries softly, in disbelief.<\/p>\n A moment later, Cam turns around at the bottom of the hill and rides back up again, grinning.<\/p>\n This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 5:00 AM<\/span> with the headline “Charlotte parents see e-bikes as freedom. But others see them very differently..” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n