The media have falsely claimed that British music mogul Simon Cowell broke his back in the yard of his Malibu home after falling from an electric bicycle. In fact, he rode an electric motorcycle with a top speed of 60 mph – most electric bikes in the United States are pedal assisted and limited to 20 mph power. (In the EU, the maximum speed assistance allowed for most e-bikes is 15.5 mph.)

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Cowell fell from the high powered machine over the weekend and, in a tweet, thanked the medical staff who treated him at a Los Angeles hospital. The talent show judge sent a “massive thank you to all the nurses and doctors” calling them “some of the nicest people I have ever met.”

Cowell was taken to hospital after falling from an imported Electric motorcycle SWIND EB-01 produced by Swindon Powertrain of Swindon, Wiltshire, England, and which has a 15kW motor and sells for £ 16,000 +. The 60-year-old said he should have “read the manual” before riding what he called an “electric touring bike”.

SWIND tweeted in February that it had shipped one of its electric motorcycles to a customer in Los Angeles.

“If you’re buying an electric trail bike,” Cowell tweeted, “read the manual before you ride it for the first time.”

He also thanked fans and friends for their “kind messages” and advised them to “stay safe”.

Cowell underwent surgery on August 8 that involved putting a metal rod on his back. He was reportedly testing his new electric motorcycle at the time of the crash.

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The music mogul owns several fleets of electric bikes, with machines in his homes in the US and UK. full homologation, registration, taxes, licenses, insurance and wearing of a motorcycle helmet.

According to UK Cycling association the machine has been mislabeled by mainstream media: “This vehicle has, in our opinion, been misleadingly described as an ‘electric bicycle’ or ‘electric bicycle,’ a statement from the organization said.

Twenty-six states in the United States, including California, have a three-tier e-bike classification system, with the top speed of a Class 3 pedal e-bike being 28 mph. The other two classes of e-bikes top out at 20 mph, with the Class 2 e-bike not requiring pedal assistance.

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The SWIND EB-01’s top speed of 60 mph puts it outside of these three classifications.

States with a three-tier classification system typically exempt an electric bicycle from registration, licensing and insurance requirements to differentiate electric bikes from other motor vehicles such as mopeds and scooters, according to National Conference of State Legislatures.

“The Bicycle Association, on behalf of the UK cycling industry, points out that what are commonly referred to as e-bikes for sale in UK bicycle shops have almost nothing in technical or safety terms in common with the electric motorcycle driven by Simon Cowell at the time of his [incident]. “

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The organization adds: “There is very little risk that an electric bicycle purchased in the UK will cause an unintentional wheelie.”

Article modified on August 11 with the details of the electric motorcycle SWIND EB-01, replacing the mention of the CAB Recognition electric motorcycle produced by CAB Motorworks of California. Thanks to Simon Cowell‘s Senior Vice President Syco Entertainment United States for updating.