FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – With a new year comes new laws, and California is cracking down on certain vehicles that were once considered "electric bicycles." “It will regulate some of the bicycles from being sold as bicycles. You know, they're motor vehicles. A lot of you know, a lot of kids on them,” Rich Holdsworth of Rubber Soul Bicycles said. Electric bicycles, also known as e-bikes, are under new regulations in California.  “They've just really adopted industry standards in terms of the class of bicycles, Class one, Class two, Class three are bicycles. So they've just kind of put that into law. And it looks like maybe they've also, you know, outlawed modification of those bikes,” Holdsworth said. According to SB 1271, bikes intended by the manufacturer to be modified to go over 20 miles per hour, go over 750 watts of motor power, or have its operable pedals removed are no longer considered electric bikes. “The lawsuits that we've mostly seen are from bikes that will spec a substandard brake or a substandard, you know, suspension fork on the front. You know, so they're looking to have a lower price point, but then the bikes aren't engineered,” Holdsworth said. Although the new law doesn’t exactly make buying modifiable electric bikes “illegal”, it does mean those bikes won’t be allowed on public roads or in bike paths. At Rubber Soul Bicycles, they believe the new legislation is good news for business. “It's positive for our business because all our bicycles fall under those guidelines and are all good quality and well engineered,” Holdsworth said. Most importantly, Holdsworth believes the new legislation will make e-bikes safer.  “I think there's litigation and regulation that will reduce the number of substandard under-engineered, you know, products available to the consumer,” Holdsworth said. Lawsuits are already being filed against e-bike manufacturers nationwide, including the Bay Area where a woman sued California-based “Super73” claiming their bikes can be modified to exceed the state’s e-bike speed limit.