While the records do not separately identify how many involved e‑bikes, officers say they include everything from minor shunts to serious and fatal collisions. The scale of those incidents is now being viewed against a backdrop of recent serious crashes involving e‑bikes and Sur‑Ron‑style machines in Newport, Chepstow and across south Wales. Gwent Police have highlighted work such as Operation Harley and other crackdowns, which have involved seizing illegal e‑bikes and off‑road machines and, under new powers, crushing them within days to stop them returning to the streets. National reports have also raised wider concerns, from battery fire risks linked to cheap conversion kits and imports, to delivery riders using unregulated “fake” e‑bikes in the gig economy. Should there be tighter rules, more visible patrols, better bike infrastructure, or tougher action on illegal machines and where does the line sit between legitimate cycling and vehicles that should be treated as motorbikes?