You roll up to a trailhead on a Class 3 e-bike. The sign says “no motorized vehicles.” The regular mountain bike on the next truck’s rack is welcome on that same trail. Is yours?
The answer changes with the agency that owns the dirt. And the National Park Service is rewriting its bike rules right now, with public comments due Nov. 2, 2026.
Where Class 1-3 e-bikes can go, agency by agency
The big shift came from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Secretary’s Order 3376, signed Aug. 29, 2019. It told Interior agencies to write e-bike policies and encouraged them to let Class 1, 2 and 3 e-bikes go wherever regular bikes can. Each agency then wrote its own version.
| Agency | Policy date | Where e-bikes can go | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLM | Oct. 22, 2019 | Anywhere other bikes are allowed | Local managers can restrict; non-motorized trails need a specific decision |
| Fish and Wildlife Service | Oct. 17, 2019 | Refuge areas open to bikes | Pedal-assist only; individual refuges may add limits |
| National Park Service | Aug. 30, 2019 | Park roads, paved or hardened trails, administrative roads, off-road motor-vehicle areas | Banned in wilderness; parks can add limits |
| Bureau of Reclamation | Oct. 22, 2019 | Only areas a regional director designates | Treated as off-road vehicles, so a bike trail is not automatically open to e-bikes |
| Forest Service | Mar. 31, 2022 | Motorized trails and roads | Non-motorized trails need a local designation |
The classes are defined the same way everywhere. Class 1 is pedal assist only and cuts out at 20 mph. Class 2 can drive the bike with a throttle, also up to 20 mph. Class 3 is pedal assist up to 28 mph. Designated Wilderness is closed to all bikes, electric or not.
Does your class matter?
At the policy level, mostly no. Interior’s policies and the Forest Service’s motorized trails treat all three classes alike. Class-based limits come from the local unit.
Throttles are the exception. The Park Service bars riding on motor power alone except where cars are allowed, so throttle-only riding is restricted on park trails. Wildlife refuges require pedal-assist mode. Zion shows how local rules can run tighter: it allows bikes only on park roads and the Pa’rus Trail, and only Class 1 e-bikes.
How to check one specific place
- BLM: ask the local district or field office. A trail limited to non-motorized use stays closed to e-bikes until a manager issues a decision.
- National parks: use the park’s own website or call the visitor center. Superintendents can add their own e-bike rules.
- Wildlife refuges and Reclamation land: contact the refuge or the nearest Reclamation office. Reclamation areas are open only if a regional director has designated them.
The Forest Service plays by different rules
Interior counts an e-bike as a bicycle. The Forest Service counts it as a motor vehicle. That single choice explains most of the confusion on national forest trails.
Today, the agency says Class 1, 2 and 3 e-bikes are allowed on motorized trails and roads. More than 60,000 miles of trail and thousands of miles of road are open.
Can you ride one on a non-motorized trail? Only if the local forest has made a designation under the Travel Management Rule. That takes environmental analysis and public involvement. It does happen: in 2021 the Tahoe National Forest reclassified trails to open 35 more miles to Class 1 e-bikes.
So a trail your pedal mountain bike rides may still be off limits to your motor. Check the forest’s motorized vehicle use map, or call the ranger district, before you go.
The Park Service proposal
On Sept. 1, 2026, the Park Service published a proposed rule titled Bicycle Use in Park Areas (RIN 1024-AE97). It is a proposal. Nothing has changed on the ground yet. Comments close Nov. 2, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Today, bikes are allowed automatically on park roads and parking areas that cars can use. E-bikes need an extra designation from the superintendent, and that is where class-by-class limits like Zion’s come from. Here is what the proposal would change for riders:
- Bikes and e-bikes would be allowed automatically on roads and parking areas open to motor vehicles.
- Superintendents could still restrict or close areas.
- The wilderness ban would stay.
Superintendents could also designate more places, such as administrative roads and trails, but not undeveloped surfaces. The throttle-only limit would stay except where cars are allowed. State law would still apply.
The paperwork would shift too. For improved surfaces like asphalt, concrete and gravel, mandatory environmental review would give way to superintendent approval with public notice. Dirt and singletrack would still get full review.
Park Service Director Jessica Bowron calls the change a simpler, more consistent approach. The agency says e-bikes can bring in people held back by age, disability, fitness or terrain.
The proposal doesn’t mention classes at all. So it’s unclear whether parks could keep Zion-style Class 1-only rules.
How to comment
Use the comment link on the Federal Register page above, and cite RIN 1024-AE97. Two points a rider could make: ask that superintendents keep the power to set limits by class, and ask how the designation process will work for trails beyond paved roads. Specific, short comments tend to be more useful than a general thumbs up.
My read
For pavement riders, the Park Service rule is the biggest open question. If it lands as written, most paved park roads would open to e-bikes without a separate decision. Commuters and casual riders gain the most. For trail riders it changes little, because singletrack still needs its own process. The Forest Service, where non-motorized trails need local designation, remains the larger trail-access fight.
Access is expanding mostly one trail system at a time. PeopleForBikes counted 17,686 new miles of Class 1 e-mountain-bike access in 2025, which it calls its biggest single-year gain. Examples include 211 miles near Moab, Utah (effective March 1, 2026), 161 miles in Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest and 106 miles around Lake Tahoe. It is an advocacy group, so treat that as its own tally. The direction is still clear, and the gains it lists are Class 1.
Class 3 is the one I’d worry about. Nothing in the federal policies bans it outright. But local managers hold the pen, and I’d expect the fastest class to be the first to get a stricter local rule. A throttle can also shut you out where pedal assist is welcome.
If I were buying for public-land riding, I’d lean Class 1. Start with our picks of the best electric mountain bikes. (Hunters: the land manager’s rules come first, and our guide to e-bikes for hunting covers the bikes.)
State law matters too, since federal land sits inside it, and states keep rewriting definitions. California’s SB 1167, which split e-motos from e-bikes, is a good example.
Still unknown: the final text, how parks will treat classes, and how superintendents will use their closure power. For background on what land managers still need to study, there’s a 2022 federal research framework, The Future of E-Bikes on Public Lands, which PeopleForBikes has pointed riders toward. It sets no rules.
Until a final rule is published after Nov. 2, the current rules above are the ones in force. Before any trip, I’d check the page for that exact unit and carry a screenshot of it. Rules can differ between one ranger district and the park next door.
Photo: Garrison celebrates Bike Safety Month, showcases local rules and education (7158266) by U.S. Army USAGW by Roland Schedel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped.
