NSW Police seized 36 e-bikes across Sydney's Northern Beaches on Friday 11 September, in the first concentrated enforcement operation since the state's new seize and destroy powers became enforceable in August. Officers from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, working with Transport for NSW, moved through Manly, Curl Curl, Dee Why and Avalon during the day, testing bikes on a portable dynamometer that measures how fast a bike can travel under motor power alone.
Three of the 36 seized bikes were confirmed non-compliant on the dynamometer at the roadside. Police also issued 16 penalty notices and 46 cautions across the operation, most of them for helmet and mobile phone offences. The bike that made the headlines came from Warriewood, where a 14 year old boy was allegedly riding an e-bike capable of more than 90 km/h, over three times the 25 km/h motor assist cutoff for a legal e-bike in NSW. A food delivery rider also had a bike seized after police alleged it had been modified.
The law that makes crushing possible
The operation is the first large scale use of amendments to the Road Transport Act 2013 that became enforceable on 21 August 2026. The changes allow police to seize illegal, modified or high powered e-bikes, along with unregistered vehicles that cannot be registered, when they are used in a public place. Once a bike is seized, the owner has 14 days to contest the seizure before the bike is scheduled for destruction. Police say bikes will be returned only in exceptional circumstances, such as proof the bike had been stolen before it was picked up in an operation.
What it means for riders
- A compliant pedal assist e-bike (250 watts continuous, motor assistance cutting out at 25 km/h) is unaffected. The dynamometer checks confirm compliance rather than punish it
- Modified bikes, throttle bikes that do not need pedalling, and anything sold as an e-bike but capable of motorbike speeds can now be seized on the spot and crushed
- Assistant Commissioner David Driver, who leads the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, flagged further operations across the state
- Member for Manly James Griffin welcomed the blitz and used it to renew the NSW Opposition's call for a mandatory e-bike licensing scheme, which is not current law
Sources
- NSW Police Force, 36 e-bikes seized in Northern Beaches under new laws (12 September 2026)
- Yahoo News Australia, police seize 36 illegal e-bikes in major blitz (13 September 2026)
- Northern Beaches Advocate, Northern Beaches e-bike blitz (12 September 2026)
- Manly Observer, police seize 36 e-bikes across the Beaches (12 September 2026)
Seizure numbers, penalty and caution counts, the Warriewood and delivery rider details and official quotes are from the NSW Police Force release of 12 September 2026, as reported by Yahoo News Australia, the Northern Beaches Advocate and the Manly Observer. The hero photo was supplied by NSW Police via the Manly Observer. The legal framework is the Road Transport Act 2013 amendments enforceable from 21 August 2026, covered in our earlier reporting.