🔗 Share this article

NSW police have issued a fine against an American social media personality and handed out two traffic infringement notices for alleged negligent driving following a swarm of electric bicycle users converged on the famous Sydney landmark during the busy commute on Tuesday.

The Event: A Prohibited Ride

A gathering of approximately 40 individuals riding e-bikes and motorcycles travelled along the bridge’s main deck, an area where bicycle riding is banned. The riders subsequently reversed direction and rode through the city’s CBD and Haymarket.

"There was a risk of serious injury or fatalities," remarked a senior police official the officer on the following day.

Law enforcement indicated they did not chase right away the group due to concerns for public safety but instead located the group at a scenic Sydney lookout near the city gardens, at which point they broke up.

Fines Imposed for Content Creator

Later in the week, authorities announced they had issued the American online personality who goes by the influencer, 26, with two violation tickets for careless operation (with no death or previous bodily harm), with a fine of over five hundred dollars and penalty points per notice, connected to the bridge ride-out. Officials noted that inquiries were continuing.

The personality is said to have over 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 1.2 million on the social media app.

Creator's Response

The online figure gave comments to a major newspaper this week following the event spread rapidly on digital platforms, saying he was sorry for giving "bike life" a bad reputation.

"I’ll probably take responsibility. It was one of the safest gatherings I’ve ever seen," he said. "I’m coming here as a guest, and I intend to come here respecting the rules and standards of Sydney. So when I decided to do a public meeting it was not meant to include a group ride, it was just to greet people near the bridge."

"I did not know the area well, it was my fault we found ourselves on the bridge and I had two choices: whether the group completes the entirety of the bridge and comes back, which is a crime. Or we turn around, essentially, before we’re on the bridge. I chose at the time to turn around."

National Debate on E-Bike Regulation

The spate of electric bicycles on roads nationwide has prompted growing calls for stricter rules. The federal health minister, Mark Butler, commented that non-compliant electric bikes were a "complete hazard on the road."

"Kids have done reckless acts on bikes since the invention of the penny-farthing [but] the injuries that are presenting at our ERs are absolutely devastating," he stated. "We’ve got to make sure we prevent these things entering the country [and] officers are given the authority to take strong action, to confiscate them, to crush them, to dispose of them."

The state recorded over two hundred injuries related to electric bikes in the previous year. But, in the first seven months of 2025, that figure surged to 233 injuries plus four deaths.