1 eBike Shop in Gage County, NE

Where to ride in Gage County

The Chief Standing Bear Trail runs from Beatrice to the Nebraska-Kansas state line on crushed stone beside the Blue River. TrailLink gives 23.3 miles in its header and 22.9 in its text. The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska owns the trail, and the Homestead Conservation and Trail Association maintains it.

TrailLink lists trailheads at Beatrice, Holmesville, Blue Springs, and Barneston, each with signs about local wildlife, pioneers, and the Ponca Tribe, and each with a bicycle repair station. The north end is at the Gage County Foundation Depot in Beatrice, which has paved parking, a shelter, restrooms, and water.

The Homestead Trail ends in downtown Beatrice, after 40 miles of limestone from Lincoln, with parking at Court Street and 2nd Street. The Gage County Historical Society and Museum is in the restored 1906 Burlington depot at that trailhead. The City of Lincoln's trail page says the Homestead Trail becomes the Chief Standing Bear Trail in Beatrice and continues to the Kansas border.

Homestead National Historical Park, near Beatrice, has more than three miles of trails, but the Park Service says they are for foot traffic only, with no bikes or motorized vehicles. Its listed trails run from 0.3 to 0.6 miles each.

Beatrice has one listing in the directory, and we found no city bicycle ordinance or eBike rule for it. Posted signs and state law decide where you can ride, and local authorities may regulate bicycles by ordinance, so check the city before you ride a trail section inside town.

The shop card is the only way to ask a local about trail conditions, so call it before a long ride south toward the Kansas line.

eBike rules in Nebraska

Nebraska defines three classes of electric bicycle in sections created by LB 138 of 2023. Under § 60-614.02, a Class I bike has two, three, or four wheels, a seat, fully operative pedals, and a motor of no more than 750 watts and one brake horsepower that helps only while you pedal and gives no power above 20 mph. Class II, in § 60-614.03, has the same limits, but its motor may help whether or not you are pedaling. Class III, in § 60-614.04, helps only while you pedal and gives no power above 28 mph. Section 60-618.03 says an electric bicycle means a Class I, Class II, or Class III bike.

Under § 60-611, a bicycle includes an electric bicycle, and § 60-638 defines a motor vehicle as a self-propelled land vehicle other than bicycles, mopeds, and a few other devices. A bike that fits the class definitions is therefore a bicycle under the Nebraska Rules of the Road. Under § 60-6,317, a rider moving slower than traffic keeps as near to the right-hand curb or edge as practicable, with listed exceptions, rides no more than single file on a highway except on paths set aside for bicycles, and has a pedestrian's rights and duties on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk, including yielding to people on foot. Under § 60-6,142, bicycles may use paved shoulders of the state highway system other than the Interstate.

Nebraska's statutes set no statewide path rule and no minimum age for electric bicycles. Under § 60-678, the state and any governmental subdivision may make regulations permitting, prohibiting, or controlling electric bicycles in its jurisdiction, and a person who rides where it is prohibited commits a Class III misdemeanor. Section 60-6,317 also lets a local authority regulate bicycles by ordinance, so each city, natural resources district, park, and agency decides where you can ride. The helmet statute, § 60-6,279, covers motorcycle and moped operators, and the electric bicycle sections we read set no helmet duty, so a helmet is advice here and not a state rule. Read our Nebraska eBike laws guide, then the sign at the trailhead.

Cities in Gage County

For phone numbers and addresses, open the eBike shops in Beatrice page, because Beatrice is the only city with a listing here.

Frequently asked questions