scubaru89
Member
So I built my bike this week, have had it on the road less than 4 days and today (my birthday of course) a cop follows me home. He made it clear he was not pulling me over but just looking for some answers.
Now I know good manors can go a long way and I openly answered all of his questions, gave him all the information he asked of me and more than he wanted. I was able to back every answer with either a piece of legal documentation of something to the best of my understanding. He was in good spirit and was very much curious of the build. We laughed once or twice and I was as cooperative as I could have been. He told me he will look into it and get back to me.
He called me about half an hour ago and told me he had looked into it a little; agreed there is a definite grey area in PA's laws regarding these. The biggest confusion comes from a piece of documentation from the "Pennsylvania State Police - Criminal Justice Handbook, 2011 Edition" where it states:
"MOTORIZED PEDALCYCLE" A motor-driven cycle equipped with operable pedals, a motor rated no more than 1.5 brake horsepower, a cylinder capacity not exceeding 50 cubic centimeters, an automatic transmission, and a maximum designed speed of no more than 25 miles per hour or an electric motor-driven cycle...
In that piece of documentation it doesn't outline any requirment for registration, however that section falls under the "Motor-Driven Cycle" which requires registration. He is going to talk with the District Attorney on Monday to see what the legal view is on the matter.
Now I told him getting these registered is impossible as they do not have a VIN number or any other means of being registered. He realizes this is a hurdle and is trying to work with me to see what we can do to make this legal. His big concerns were me driving an unregistered vehicle and the other was me not having proper equipment (brake light, headlight) for a moped, as when the engine is engaged it might leave the classification of bicycle for which I meet all legal requirements and now become a moped/motorized Pedalcycle.
So can anyone offer any legal advice or things to consider to help in this case? The cop is very understanding and curious to see what the outcome of this will be. I'm afraid if the ruling is I need to get it registered and I cannot do that I'll have to sell the bike and be done with all of this and cut my losses, not an ideal scenario as I've had the thing all of 5 days.
Now I know good manors can go a long way and I openly answered all of his questions, gave him all the information he asked of me and more than he wanted. I was able to back every answer with either a piece of legal documentation of something to the best of my understanding. He was in good spirit and was very much curious of the build. We laughed once or twice and I was as cooperative as I could have been. He told me he will look into it and get back to me.
He called me about half an hour ago and told me he had looked into it a little; agreed there is a definite grey area in PA's laws regarding these. The biggest confusion comes from a piece of documentation from the "Pennsylvania State Police - Criminal Justice Handbook, 2011 Edition" where it states:
"MOTORIZED PEDALCYCLE" A motor-driven cycle equipped with operable pedals, a motor rated no more than 1.5 brake horsepower, a cylinder capacity not exceeding 50 cubic centimeters, an automatic transmission, and a maximum designed speed of no more than 25 miles per hour or an electric motor-driven cycle...
In that piece of documentation it doesn't outline any requirment for registration, however that section falls under the "Motor-Driven Cycle" which requires registration. He is going to talk with the District Attorney on Monday to see what the legal view is on the matter.
Now I told him getting these registered is impossible as they do not have a VIN number or any other means of being registered. He realizes this is a hurdle and is trying to work with me to see what we can do to make this legal. His big concerns were me driving an unregistered vehicle and the other was me not having proper equipment (brake light, headlight) for a moped, as when the engine is engaged it might leave the classification of bicycle for which I meet all legal requirements and now become a moped/motorized Pedalcycle.
So can anyone offer any legal advice or things to consider to help in this case? The cop is very understanding and curious to see what the outcome of this will be. I'm afraid if the ruling is I need to get it registered and I cannot do that I'll have to sell the bike and be done with all of this and cut my losses, not an ideal scenario as I've had the thing all of 5 days.
