Rutherford County, NC Mobility & Curb Rules: E-Bike Classes (2026)

Section 13-39, Prohibited activities, adopted May 6, 2019, opens subsection (d) with a blanket ban: "No motorized vehicles are allowed on the Thermal Belt Rail Trail." It then defines a motorized vehicle as "every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices moved by human power," before listing the trail's exceptions: motorized wheelchairs, "electric, pedal-assisted bikes that meet the provisions of federal electric bicycle law HR727," electric scooters, and "other small recreational devices." The subsection then lists examples of what is barred regardless of the general definition, including all-terrain vehicles, four-wheelers, three-wheelers, utility task vehicles, side-by-sides, xtreme terrain vehicles, golf carts, tractors, lawnmowers, motorcycles, cars, trucks, farm equipment, grading equipment and landscaping equipment, or "any other device or vehicle which could pose a danger to the safety of other lawful users of the trail." The ban does not reach Trail Partner vehicles or independent contractors performing maintenance or construction work on the trail under contract.

Read together with section 13-37's 15 mph speed limit, the trail's e-bike allowance is conditioned on the device qualifying as a pedal-assisted bicycle under the referenced federal standard, not on any separate county-issued class system; the code does not sort e-bikes into classes 1, 2 or 3 itself.