/current laws in Minnesota

[augidog]

indeed, silverbear, all valid points & concerns, sociologically but not necessarily legally...but you grew up in a time when you were responsible for your own mistakes, and your riding style reflects that. you're not bothering anyone i believe that, but be assured many riders ARE bothering folks. nowadays, when people see our freedom-machines, they see yet-another insurance-liability. sorry, but from that standpoint, altho i'm hardcore MB, i have to agree we need to find a way to do our part. i wonder how the few early MN riders felt when stricter laws emerged, did they blame someone else or take self-responsibility? no telling of course, but i think you get my drift...

who are we to thumb our noses when we should be doing everything we can, as a group, to ensure tomorrow's rider (your customers & friends) CAN ride?

btw-i use a 40cc that outruns most stock HT's...so we really have to get over this "bigger is better" stuff as a just plain invalid argument<---only my opinion of course, but we're talking about "motor-assisted-bicycles" and not unsafe/underbuilt motorcycles-with-pedals...

yes only my opinion and i respect yours too...and i won't further muddy up the legal topic with debate...

but i will repeat: if you're gonna publicly brag about using illegal equipment & producing sworn legal documents with untrue specifications, then don't complain next year when they tighten up on you even more than they already have.

for real, i'm on your side in this battle, but i have to wonder just how smart some of our "soldiers" are...

i too am very interested in how one properly documents and insures our contraptions in Minnesota...and i hope to eventually see responsible examples presented here so all can benefit

 

[Huntington]

The law is a funny thing. It really doesnt matter what the books say, it only matters how the cop is feeling that day.

Tonight I went to a birthday party, my roommates brother. He is a cop in the Riverside area (Ca), His brother is a cop in San Diego, and many other cops there.

I asked them all what they would do if they saw a bicycle haling a** at like 40mph. Some said they would do nothing, that they have bigger things to worry about. Some said they would stop me, check out the bicycle, and tell me Im a dork but its cool.

Ultimately though I give up. I dont really care if its legal or not to ride my MB. I am not hurting anyone and I am safe. I wear a helmet and obey traffic laws.

Every cop there told me they really dont know what the law is on MB anyway. (Might be a CA thing, we have confusing laws)

I worry only about one thing. I drive in the city of Irvine Ca. If you dont know it, it is and has been the safest city in the USA for the past 5 or 6 years. The reason is simple. Rich people and lots of cops. Even they can not stop me from riding my MB!!!

If it makes you happy and doesn't hurt anyone, do it!

 

[silverbear]

Huntington,
For myself I doubt that I will likely be hassled by the police. For one thing it is a small community and I know them and they know me. Most people seem pleased to see me towing my little dog around in her kiddie trailer... they wave and I wave back. But what to do if some do-gooder cop wants to hassle me? I'll find a way to ride, no matter, since I live out in the forest and don't 'have to' ride the bike to town. I'm gonna ride these things till I can't ride anymore. And then I'll put a china girl on my wheelchair. In the mean time if I can ride without worry by jumping through a few legislative hoops, then I guess I'm game for that. Maybe it will help my grandchildren someday.
SB

 

[augidog]

yup...in real-life i just ride...to the local cops, i LOOK & BEHAVE legal, therefore i must BE legal...that's been good enough so far...

i hope i can still say that a couple years from now.

i'm NOT advocating tougher laws and eventual enforcement, i'm predicting it. and i wouldn't care one bit if i'm wrong about this one...just be realistic about reality is all i'm saying :helmet:

(one really should consider if publicly posting how you're gonna cheat paperwork is a good idea)

 

[silverbear]

Augiedog,
Good commentary. Yeah, the engine displacement thing is problematic. By far the most popular and available china girl is the 80 (66) cc China Girl. I buy those largely because they have a little more torque for making it up hills and I can buy it as an automatic, pull start slant head for a measly $150.00. My target customers are older and well off summer residents, so ease of use in starting and operating are what I focus on. About half of my bikes are step through models (ladies bikes) since they are much easier to mount for some seniors. So the emphasis is not on speed. That said, I'll continue to buy the bigger engine since in my opinion it is a better engine (I'm just talking about HT motors). Once I have it in hand it is 49cc to everyone for evermore. That isn't entirely honest now, is it? And I would rather be honest, but sometimes, as in this case, 'honesty is not the best policy'. Somehow I manage to sleep at night.
Old fellows like me saw and rode the old Schwinns and Rollfasts, Elgins and Monarks and wanted to pretend they had motors as make believe Whizzers. We put playing cards on the spokes to help the illusion. I build vintage cruisers for those of us who still have a twelve year old alive and well living inside and who still are excited by the idea of a motor on their bicycle. Most of us never got Whizzers. This is the next best thing even if it has been a long time in coming and we had to wait fifty years. These are the guys I want to sell my bikes to. No, I don't want to see them hassled by the law.
You're right, if we don't step up to the plate to try to set the course of things, who will? I think if I can get a small group of elders riding together on Sundays or such it will be a positive image to project out there to the public. I'm not interested in the bad *** outlaw thing as Harley pretenders. Old guys having fun is what interests me. Old gals, too. Good looking old gals get free gas and tune ups.
SB

 

[silverbear]

yup...in real-life i just ride...to the local cops, i LOOK & BEHAVE legal, therefore i must BE legal...that's been good enough so far...

i hope i can still say that a couple years from now.

i'm NOT advocating tougher laws and eventual enforcement, i'm predicting it. and i wouldn't care one bit if i'm wrong about this one...just be realistic about reality is all i'm saying :helmet:

(one really should consider if publicly posting how you're gonna cheat paperwork is a good idea)

Well, you're probably right about being quiet about the engine displacement. I stand a good chance of having the bicycle police come and arrest me with a police dog to arrest my dog, too. So, having considered the folly of my ways and now seeing the light, let me publicly state for all to see that I will just sell 49cc HT motors. I feel much better now.
I think you are also right that tighter laws will come and will be enforced. I just want to see us still able to ride these home built motorbicycles legally. We should be held liable for safe riding in compliance with laws of the road and fined/ prosecuted when we are breaking the law, just as with a car or motorcycle. But really, these are bicycles with little motors on them, so the hoops we need to jump through must be big enough and low enough that we can keep riding without unreasonable restrictions.
SB

 

[augidog]

me too baseball cards on the spokes!

i wonder how many millions of dollars worth of rookie-cards got torn to pieces back then

edit in reply: yes, and we'd be better off if we play a part in the legislation instead of constantly being pushed around & pushing back...the bad part is we're outnumbered by the chopper-wannabe's (that's not a dig at bike-style but riding-style)...the good part is that we'll prolly enjoy all our MB years before things get too scrood-up. and when i mentioned the size of my engine, it was to technically demonstrate that a 48cc HT done-right would be way more than sufficient for our crowd...

about the bike police...lol too funny! but, what if the state told the techs to (easily & quickly) pull the muffler on an HT and use a depth gauge to confirm bore before issuing registration? what if they learned about that here?

talk about shooting ones' own foot!

of course, anyone who can afford an extra HT would just keep a 48cc around for inspection purposes...oops, now i've done it...now they'll start double-checking serial numbers...dangit, you just cannot win

 

[Lazieboy]

Insurance company just wanted the make,SS3 that was off frame, and engine size.
Also my bill of sale somehow shows 49cc not 66 huuu.

 

[loquin]

The legislation webpage listings has a page and a half of links for MN, starting here.