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news
simon cowell 2.PNGSimon Cowell suffers broken arm after falling off electric bike in London
Music mogul Simon Cowell has broken his arm, suffered facial cuts and sustained a suspected concussion after falling off an electric bike near his west London home.
The Sun reported that Cowell was rushed to hospital after the crash, which happened last Thursday. He was photographed leaving hospital that evening with a cast on his arm and has reportedly been advised to rest. A source told the newspaper that the record executive was flung over his handlebars and was “lucky to be alive”.
According to the Daily Mail, at the time of the crash Cowell was reportedly riding a M1 Das Spitzing Evolution S-Pedelec, which has a maximum top speed of 28mph (45km/h) and a power output of 500 watts.
However, this bike in its S-Pedelec form would be illegal to ride on the public highway in the UK without wearing a moped helmet and having a licence, insurance and number plate. The brand also produces an EU/UK-legal version of the bike with 250 watts of continuous power and limited to an assisted speed of 15.5mph (25km/h). It is not clear which version Cowell was riding.
This latest incident comes less than 18 months after Cowell broke his back while riding a Swind EB-01 near his house in Malibu. The Swind EB-01, which contains 15 kilowatts of electric power and can reach up to 60mph, is banned on public roads in the UK and should not be used without specialist training.
Cowell referred to the crash and his newfound preference for the Das Spitzing Evolution model during a television interview last year.
“My most creative time is now when I cycle, because I cycle even though it's an e-bike,” he said. “I’ve still got to pedal and I do about ten miles a day, even though I had an accident on one.
“[The Swind] was more an electric motorbike – these are called pedal-assist bikes and they're brilliant.”
In June 2021, the Sun reported that Cowell was nearly involved in a collision with a motorist after he took a wrong turn while riding his e-bike in London.
Cowell began his career in the music business and rose to fame through his appearance as a judge on Pop Idol and US spin-off American Idol.
His wealth, estimated at around £385 million, mainly comes from his development of the hugely successful reality TV shows X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, with local versions of both formats now airing in dozens of countries around the world.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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31 comments
The first time he crashed he was riding an electric motorcycle, just saying. It was a whole lot more than just an ordinary e-bike. I'm not convinced that his wearing a helmet would make up for his lack of skills. Maybe a Bikeability course would be of more use?
All the reports I can find say that he was travelling at 20mph with motor assistance, so the bike is not legal on the public highway unless he has the appropriate licence, insurance and is wearing a helmet, so as far as I can see, he was totally illegal. This is report is typical
"The Sun, however, reports that Simon was “lucky to be alive” especially because he was driving at driving 20 mph."
Not one story mentions that he was illegally riding an illegal bike, but they all mention a helmet, frequently. The failure of our msm to mention the relevant facts and to emphasise the irrelevant ones when reporting on anything to do with cycling, appears to be infinite.
Not that one is in the business of defending the ghastly Cowell, but as the report above notes the bike he was riding is available in a UK-legal restricted version with a top power-assisted speed of 15.5 mph; he could have been riding above the restrictor under his own steam, or going downhill, to achieve 20 mph totally legally.
Sorry, I should have made it clear; almost all of the reports say that it was under power at 20mph.
None of them actually know though. They're all quoting 'a source' (or quoting each other quoting 'a source'), so it all probably comes back to the same unsubstantiated comments from the same person.
that's a monster of an eBike he was riding. A bit over engineered and over powered for West London (just like the 4x4s that clog up the roads) I would advise Simon Cowell to downgrade his urban eBike choice.
He broke his back on one. Now he's broken his arm. Gotta love the DM comment chiding him for not wearing a helmet.
Well, as post analysis of the godawful Thompson, Rivara and Thompson paper showed, helmets protect all parts of your body, not just your head. It's still the most quoted helmet research, even though it has been thoroughly destroyed on peer review.
"Helmet" crops up 5 times in the Sun's account, or six if you include the journalist.
Not A Real Cyclist
Twat on a bike is still a twat - who knew!
Cowell is not a twat. He doesn't have the warmth or the depth.
I cycle even though it's an e-bike,” he said. “I’ve still got to pedal and I do about ten miles a day
Matter of opinion!
Crashing once is unfortunate, but crashing twice just makes me think he should be banned from ever appearing on TV again, worldwide 😉
In general, I think cycling is for everyone (and e-bikes help make that true). Simon Cowell may be the exception.
One certainly feels a little Groucho-like about being a member of the same club...
I was more referring to his apparent ineptitude (that may be harsh - and also Peter may have a point) but I take your point, too.
He probably just needs to practise on something less powerful. Or maybe he's got some balance/neurological issue and would benefit from a trike?
Why say an electric bike in the title but go on to say it wasn't an electric bike ?
What would you have prefered? I think in this instance "electric bike" is fairly accurate - even the more powerful version that wouldn't qualify as an EAPC under UK law is still has most of the hallmarks of an "electric bike" - there's no throttle; it "only" has 500W power output; most of the components are standard bike or e-bike components. And as the article states, there is also a version that is compliant UK law, with the differences (as far as I can tell) being solely max power output and cut-off speed.
S-pedelec as suggested in the body or omit ebike ? If it was only 25kph, then a bit less relevant that it is assisted.
We don't know which version he was riding - he might well have been riding the lower power version that is compliant with UK EAPC legislation. So to state as fact that he was riding an s-pedelec would be potentially misleading.
I appreciate the point that legally pedelec/EAPCs and s-pedelecs (and other electric bikes) are treated very differently in the UK, and that some people might assume "electric bike/e-bike" refers strictly to the former.
But I would disagree with that narrow definition, and suggest that s-pedelecs are a type of electric bike, as are EAPCs. I don't have an statistics on this, but annecdotally I would say a significant proportion (in the region of 50%) of e-bikes I see on the street are not strictly compliant with UK EAPC legislation, and yet most people would still call them e-bikes.
The DM seems clear enough on the matter:
Simon was riding a a Das Spitzing Evolution S-Pedelec bike, which costs upwards of £7921 and has top speeds of 27 miles per hour.
They also claim he was going at 20mph. How likely is that without assistance of some sort?
A yes, the DM, that well known bastion of factually impeccable reporting when it comes to cycling...
20mph is achievable without assistance if there was a downhill gradient (I appreciate that it would seem unlikely on a flat road without substantial effort). However, I would also note that the "20mph" claim appears to be entirely unsubstantiated and based on the reporting of a single witness. How likely do you think it is they can distinguish between 15.5mph and 20mph? The average driver can't seem to work out what 20mph is when they've got a speedo telling them.
It's by no means conclusive, but I note that on their website, the S-Pedelec version appears to come with integrated front and rear lights, unlike the Pedelec version. The photos in the DM article show Mr Cowell using a clip-on style front light, and not an integrated light. So that leans towards suggesting it was the Pedelec version.
You cant reasonably claim the DM makes stuff up and then use the DMs photos to prove you are then right. Either you believe the DM or you dont, do you think they just googled the bike off the internet or their "source" is actually Mr Simon Cowell?
In anycase the pedelec comes with a number of light options that are shared with the S pedelec, in fact it is the same bike it's simply control tech & battery that limits its power output, plus Simon has clearly fitted a comfort gel saddle, thus removing the rear light attachment to the factory fit option.
I'd have no doubt in my mind he bought the most expensive powerful one there was.
Actually if the pedal assist takes you up to 15.5 mph it takes surprisingly little effort to add the extra 4.5mph after it cuts, the motor's already done most of the work in terms of overcoming inertia and providing momentum. Sustaining it is another matter, but in a brief burst, pretty easy.
We've been down this road before on another thread I believe.
The legislation uses e-bike as a generic term.
Why are you going all Wing mirror on us?
Probably because last time it was said to be an ebike and turned out to be an eletric motorbike !
Seems to be Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle in the legislation, handily abbreviated to EAPC, and defined by continuous power and assisted speed limits. Can't find any mention of e-bike, nor any other generic term for electrically powered cycles as a group.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1983/1168/made
But in common understanding people call them e-bikes or electric bikes interchangeably, to mean the same as EAPC.
It's not helpful when "electric bike" is then used to refer to something in a different legal category, especially when that matter of legal difference is important to the story.
Maybe call Cowell's machine an electric motorbike or electric moped, anything to avoid confusion with the common understanding of a regular legal e-bike or electric bike.
It's mentioned in the article that we don't know the bike was an S-pedelec, so it wouldn't be accurate to describe it as such. Another publication has but... let's just say we're still not sure!
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