The 5 Best Bike Trails Around Tustin and Irvine (And Which Ones Your E-Bike Can Actually Ride)

Quick answer: San Diego Creek Trail, Peters Canyon Trail, Jeffrey Open Space Trail, and the Santa Ana River Trail are the best paved rides around Tustin and Irvine, and they are generally open to Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes, but posted signage at each trailhead is the final word. Class 3 riders need to check trailhead signage first, since most of these creek and canyon trails are managed as Class I bike paths that don't automatically allow the faster pedal-assist class.

If you just moved to Tustin or Irvine and you're wondering where to actually ride the bike you bought, you're not alone. Google Maps isn't going to tell you which trails are paved, which ones dump you onto a busy street with no bike lane, and which ones don't even allow a Class 3 e-bike. So here are five routes worth riding, with real distances and the legal stuff sorted out.

1. San Diego Creek Trail: the easiest way to rack up miles

This is the trail most riders in Irvine end up on the most, mostly because it's long, flat, and connects to almost everything else on this list. It runs 10.8 miles of paved path from Eastbluff Drive in Newport Beach up to Bake Parkway in Irvine, following San Diego Creek the whole way. You don't have to ride the whole thing. The stretch between Culver Drive and Jamboree Road is about 4 miles round trip and flat enough that it works fine on throttle-only mode if your legs aren't feeling it that day.

It's paved the entire way, wide enough to pass other riders comfortably, and it touches several other trails (University Trail, Harvard Trail, Woodbridge Trail, Jeffrey Open Space Trail) so you can string together a longer ride once you know the network.

2. Peters Canyon Trail: your route into an actual park

Peters Canyon Trail runs 5.6 miles from near Bill Barber Community Park out to Portola Parkway at the SR-261 interchange, and it's the connector that gets you to Peters Canyon Regional Park right on the Tustin-Orange border. The trail surface is a mix of asphalt and concrete, mostly flat, with a little bit of a grade as you get closer to the regional park entrance.

If you want more than a flat cruise, this is the one to pick. Peters Canyon Regional Park itself has dirt fire roads and some real elevation around the reservoir, so a fat tire e-bike will actually get to use its suspension and knobby tires for something. Riders on step-thru or lighter commuter frames should stick to the paved connector and skip the dirt sections.

3. Jeffrey Open Space Trail: the one with actual shade and scenery

At 4.2 miles, Jeffrey Open Space Trail is the shortest ride on this list, running from Portola Parkway down to the University Trail and Juanita Moe Trail near I-405. It's paved in asphalt and concrete and it's genuinely one of the nicer-looking trails in Irvine. It's landscaped well, there are sections with decorative concrete work along the path, and because it runs through several residential areas there's more tree cover than the open creek trails.

This is a good pick for a shorter evening ride, or for anyone easing back into riding after time off the bike. It's short enough that battery anxiety isn't a factor even on an older or smaller-capacity pack.

4. Santa Ana River Trail: the long-haul option

If the first three feel too short, this is where you go. The Santa Ana River Trail has about 30 miles of completed paved path, and a large portion of it is a true Class I bikeway, meaning the crossings with local streets are grade-separated with bridges or underpasses instead of just a painted crosswalk. That matters more than people think. Fewer stoplights means fewer stops, which means your battery lasts longer per mile and the ride actually feels like a ride instead of a series of interruptions.

There's an access point off Tustin Avenue with street parking nearby if you want to drive closer and start your ride from there instead of riding the surface streets to reach the trailhead. Because most of the trail is grade-separated, it's one of the more relaxed long rides in the area, but 20+ miles round trip will use meaningfully more battery than the others on this list, so charge up the night before if you're planning to do a big chunk of it.

Which of these are actually legal for your e-bike?

This trips people up constantly, so here's the short version. Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes (pedal-assist or throttle, capped at 20 mph) are allowed on basically all of these paved multi-use trails without issue. Class 3 e-bikes (pedal-assist up to 28 mph, rider must be 16 or older, helmet required at any age) are a different story: they're generally not permitted on trails that are managed as Class I bike paths unless the local agency has specifically opened them up, and most of these creek and canyon trails fall into that category.

We covered the full breakdown of California's 2026 e-bike rules in our post on AB 544 and SB 1271 if you want the details. The short version for this list: if your bike is factory-set to Class 3, don't assume it's fine on Peters Canyon or Jeffrey Open Space just because it's paved. Check the posted signage at the trailhead, and when in doubt, ask.

Before you head out

A few things worth checking before any ride longer than a quick loop around the block, especially if you bought your bike online and never had anyone look it over in person. We put together a full rundown of what to check on a new e-bike (torque on the stem bolts trips up more people than you'd expect) in this post, and if anything on that list makes you unsure, swing by and we'll take a look. We work on every brand that comes through the door, not just what we sell, so if your bike came from Rad Power, Pedego, or anywhere else, that's still a yes.

Come see us before you ride

If you want to talk through which of these routes fits your riding style, or you want to test ride something with more range before committing to the 30-mile option, stop by the shop. We keep demo bikes on hand to try (call ahead to confirm which models are available that day).

ATB Bike
13842 Newport Ave #D-1, Tustin, CA 92780
(626) 652-7233
Mon-Sat 10 AM - 6 PM, Sun 12 PM - 6 PM

Come by, tell us where you're planning to ride, and we'll point you at a bike that can actually handle it. Or if you've already got a bike and just want it checked over before a long ride, we service every brand, no appointment needed for a quick look.

Sources

• California Vehicle Code §21213, e-bike classification and helmet requirements: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov