CA. speed legal question

[bikejock]

If my bike goes faster than 30 (say 35 to 40) is it still technically a motorized bike? I currently have it registered under the CA motorized bike legal code so it should be fine as it is but I would like to go a bit faster. My bike has 2 wheels, pedals for human propulsion, 2.5 HP (but marked 2 HP in the registration form anyway) seems to do at most 30 mph (speedometer might be a bit off)

Most of the roads around my area are 25 mph speed limits anyway. Problem is it makes me a bit nervous having a bunch of cars passing me up while I ride on the side of the road. Seems like almost everywhere people always drive 30 mph or slightly faster even though the posted speed limit is 25 on the roads I ride on so allot of the time I feel I have to move to the side and let drivers pass.

There is one road I have to use sometimes that has a speed limit of 35 mph and it would seem safest to be able to keep up with traffic. I would like my bike to be able to top 40 mph at most to safely keep up with some traffic speeds in my area so I plan to make a few modifications to gain more speed. I'm also getting my M1 license pretty soon so I'll be legally able to drive pretty much anything on two or three wheels under the CA motorcycle legal code anyway.

 

[butterbean]

You have a few options as far as how to go faster. The easiest way is to get a better engine. Though not necessarily the cheapest. Remember one thing. The faster you go, the better brakes you will need because you must be able to stop faster than you can accelerate. So I don't know how fast you are going, but at 40mph, discs are a must. Now as far as getting a better engine, I'm referring to non-kit. This means it will be a custom install and you will need to source parts individually. It requires slightly more advanced mechanical know-how than a kit. Another option is a shift kit, which also requires a little more mechanical know-how but aside from a few minor changes, your bike will be the same as it is now. The other option is to mod your engine. To get to 40mph may not take much, some porting, high comp head, good expansion chamber exhaust and a smaller rear sprocket will likely get you to 40 or damn close, but it may not do as well on hills.

 

[bikejock]

My bike is a 4 stroke so my mod options are pretty limited. No compression mods etc. I am thinking of two options for speed mods; one is the jackshaft kit. Expensive but I wouldn't loose much torque with the jackshaft. A cheaper alternative to the jackshaft kit would be a smaller drive sprocket. I swapped the 4 stroke carburetor for a 2 stroke NT carburetor which I think helped it go a tad faster but not by much.

I do need a decent amount of torque because I do go over some hills on my route. Most noticeably the bridge. If I go with a jackshaft I would need to replace the hub with an internal shifter to get speeds. A jackshaft is something I was concidering for some time but it would be rather costly ($200 or more)

 

[butterbean]

Unless you want to install a predator engine, the shift kit is your best bet. I didn't realize you had a 4 stroke kit, you're right, no performance mods that I'm aware of.