Sent the following to the Illinois DMV

Warner,

I was wondering if you have any new news regaurding your motorbike and Illinois state law. I live in Oak Lawn and so far have not have a a problem with the cops. When I see a cop I usually kill the engine and pedal until they pass and then just start er back up. I also wanted to make sure that everythign I am doing is legal since I put quit a bit of work and a decent amount of money into the bike. Before I went through the massive headache of haveing redirected everywhere I wanted to know if you have found any closure on the situation. If you know anything let me know, otherwise I'm going to start the process of trying to find an answer this weekend. Take care.

J DuB

Okay...here's my take on the whole thing. From everything that I was able to find out, they are illegal. Having said that, if you are driving sanely and obey all the traffic laws, you probably won't have an issue. I have the exact same approach that you do....if I see a cop I kill it and pedal. Also, if I'm cruising down a long stretch of road with it wide open (about 35 mph), I ghost pedal it. I drive about 8 miles down 72 (higgins road) from Elgin to Schaumburg. I have seen cops; they've seen me. Sometimes they see me before I see them.....I'm sure they sometimes see me and I don't even SEE them. I've never been pulled over or hassled. Keep in mind though, my engine is very well hidden...party by design and partly because that's just the way my build worked out. I can't tell you that you'll never get pulled over. You might. I might. We might get our bikes impounded and get fined. Who can say? We're not PROTECTED by any laws...that much I can tell you for sure. I'm going to keep riding mine until someone specifically tells me that I can't. I drove it last night to Home Depot and back (about 6 miles round trip) in the dark....with my headlight and planet bike super blinky tail light. Then later (about 10:30pm) I was riding through Elgin side streets to bring my kid's cell phone charger to him at his friend's house....and drove right past a cop going the other way. I don't think he even looked at me. My headlight makes the bike LOOK like a motorcycle it's so bright. I worried and worried and worried last year about riding it, but never got hassled. I drove it to work (40 miles round trip) about 10 times last year, and drove it all over Elgin to stores and such...never had a problem. I'm not going to sweat it until it's warranted. So, no comforting or consoling words from me other than that.

Hope this helps!

Warner
 
MB in Illinois

Warner, from your previous post, how did you come to the conclusion that MB's are illegal in Illinois? The DMV approves mopeds under 50CC. The rub is that bicycles don't have a VIN/title BUT I'm pretty sure you could register a bicycle at your local police station if they have a serial number stamped on the frame. That would be as close as possible to a registered moped, which is legal. My plan is to keep the Illinois Motorcycle DMV page, I believe page 46 (peda-cycles) which shows the exceptions to the class "L" category (0-150cc) on my person. If a cop stops me at least I can show him that. That, if nothing else would allow me hopefully to get to where I'm going. Otherwise, you may need to get a law degree to ride a motorized bicycle in Illinois and you may still get a "tell it to the judge" comment if you get stopped. I still firmly believe the more people riding these things the better AS LONG AS THEY ALL RIDE IN A SANE AND CIVILIZED WAY BEING EXTRA CAREFULL TO OBEY ALL TRAFFIC LAWS.

C
 
Warner, from your previous post, how did you come to the conclusion that MB's are illegal in Illinois? The DMV approves mopeds under 50CC. The rub is that bicycles don't have a VIN/title BUT I'm pretty sure you could register a bicycle at your local police station if they have a serial number stamped on the frame. That would be as close as possible to a registered moped, which is legal. My plan is to keep the Illinois Motorcycle DMV page, I believe page 46 (peda-cycles) which shows the exceptions to the class "L" category (0-150cc) on my person. If a cop stops me at least I can show him that. That, if nothing else would allow me hopefully to get to where I'm going. Otherwise, you may need to get a law degree to ride a motorized bicycle in Illinois and you may still get a "tell it to the judge" comment if you get stopped. I still firmly believe the more people riding these things the better AS LONG AS THEY ALL RIDE IN A SANE AND CIVILIZED WAY BEING EXTRA CAREFULL TO OBEY ALL TRAFFIC LAWS.

C

You pretty much got it right in the first part of your post CC. Illinois doesn't have a classification for our bikes other than to call them "mopeds". In order to get a moped plate (legally required on mopeds) you must have a title. In order to get a title, you must have a VIN. A bicycle doesn't have a VIN, nor can you get one or fake one. Therein lies the perpetual cirlce of denial in Illinois. You can't get there from here. Thus my comment about your only option being to just ride it and HOPE you don't get stopped by a cop who wants to make trouble for you, because you will have no laws on your side. I'm not a pessimist or naysayer....that's just the fact of the matter right now.

Warner
 
MB in Illinois

I'll have to agree with you on the fact that there is a need for some sort of moped "plate". I'm not exactly sure what it states on it but for now I'm trying to think of ways to get as close as possible to being legal. Again, in my opinion, if you have a registered bicycle with some sort of documentation, you might be able to laminate it put it in some sort of frame and attach it to some conspicuous area on the bicycle. I believe the DMV requires a title and registration to prevent theft and fraud. By putting something on the bike to prove it is not stolen, it would show a good faith effort that you were trying to abide with the law. Even if you get stopped and go to court you could make a pretty good argument here. Again, I am not a lawyer but this is my opinion. I think it will take at least some test cases in court like this or if somehow someone proposes a specific new law for motorized bicycles nothing will change. We (MB's) are now invisible to the law and therfore guilty of something until proven innocent. (Like most things these days, what happened to the Constitution?) Again, I agree with you, there are no laws to protect you if you ride a motor assisted bicycle in Illinois and plenty of laws that could be used against you. On that note, I will throw this out to the forum.

ARE THERE ANY LAWYERS OUT THERE WHO MIGHT RIDE OR WANT TO RIDE A MOTORIZED BICYCLE IN ILLINOIS? IF THERE ARE, WOULD YOU CONSIDER HELPING EVERYONE IN UNDERSTANDING AND/OR HELPING US WRITE A PROPOSAL FOR OFFICIALLY LEGALIZING MOTOR ASSISTED BICYCLES IN ILLINOIS?

I don't know if anyone cares, but I had to throw this out anyway.

C
 
I am a lawyer and before law school I managed a car dealership that regularly got formerly salvage vehicles re-titled for road use (always disclosed to the customer). Sometimes this involved having vehicles titled as "Assembled" which is essentially the same as a home-built. However, I do not know Illinois law. I am an Indiana lawyer and my car experience is in Michigan.

That being said, is there no process for making a home built car or motorcycle in Illinois? If so, then just follow the process to make a home built moped. If they allow it for cars and motorcycles, why not mopeds?

I know that both Indiana and Michigan have a procedure for titling and registering a home-built vehicle. Usually, the process involves proving where all major components came from by receipts or otherwise (to ensure stolen parts are not used), a safety and equipment inspection and some paperwork. In Michigan, the state then issues a sticker with an "assembled" VIN on it which a police officer affixes to the vehicle. The sticker is specially made so that it is destroyed if an attempt is made to remove it.

As to the equipment, turn signals, a headlight, a brake light, a tail light, and proper brakes are usually required. As I said, I don't know is this is available in Illinois, but I would be surprised if there was not some sort of "assembled" vehicle or "home built" vehicle procedure.
 
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I am a lawyer and before law school I managed a car dealership that regularly got formerly salvage vehicles re-titled for road use (always disclosed to the customer). Sometimes this involved having vehicles titled as "Assembled" which is essentially the same as a home-built. However, I do not know Illinois law. I am an Indiana lawyer and my car experience is in Michigan.

That being said, is there no process for making a home built car or motorcycle in Illinois? If so, then just follow the process to make a home built moped. If they allow it for cars and motorcycles, why not mopeds?

I know that both Indiana and Michigan have a procedure for titling and registering a home-built vehicle. Usually, the process involves proving where all major components came from by receipts or otherwise (to ensure stolen parts are not used), a safety and equipment inspection and some paperwork. In Michigan, the state then issues a sticker with an "assembled" VIN on it which a police officer affixes to the vehicle. The sticker is specially made so that it is destroyed if an attempt is made to remove it.

As to the equipment, turn signals, a headlight, a brake light, a tail light, and proper brakes are usually required. As I said, I don't know is this is available in Illinois, but I would be surprised if there was not some sort of "assembled" vehicle or "home built" vehicle procedure.


The catch is the inspection....where they will look for DOT approved tires. There are no DOT approved tires for bicycles....therefore the inspection would end right there.

Warner


PS - Over 6 months ago when I started researching the same things that are being discussed here, I did contact the "specially constructed vehicles" division of the DMV and left a message for them (it's ONE person in this department, by the way). Here we are all these months later and I still haven't received a call back from that "division".
 
that's what we wish for you -- ride the motor bike

I did contact the "specially constructed vehicles" division of the DMV and left a message for them (it's ONE person in this department, by the way). Here we are all these months later and I still haven't received a call back from that "division".

maybe you could call them again Warner

this sounds like a true pain in the rear end -- what you all are dealing with there

as mentioned many times around here
grandpa here in Calif used to get titles made for all kinds of homebuilt projects

then comes the Dot tire thing into the picture !!!

ride the motor bike -- that's what we wish for you -- ride the motor bike
 
maybe you could call them again Warner

this sounds like a true pain in the rear end -- what you all are dealing with there

as mentioned many times around here
grandpa here in Calif used to get titles made for all kinds of homebuilt projects

then comes the Dot tire thing into the picture !!!

ride the motor bike -- that's what we wish for you -- ride the motor bike


This will sound jaded or hopeless perhaps....but I've honestly lost interest in the whole "making it legal" or even worse, "Getting someone who picks up the phone at the DMV who doesn't know any better to tell me it's okay" and make me feel better. Bottom line....cop wants to give you a hard time in Illinois, gives you a ticket...you go to court and find out that there are no laws on the books to protect you. That's reality. The other part (that I didn't even mention since it's city-specific) is that many communities have ordinances against "vehicles" that fit into the category of MAB's (gas or electric engine, unlicensable, etc) so that even if the state accepted them, you could run into local ordinance problems. Frankly, too much red tape for me - like I said, I'm going to start worrying about it when/if I ever get pulled over. In the mean time, I'm going to ride the **** out of it!

Warner
 
Warner, you are doing the right thing. Ride the **** motor bike. I plan on riding mine as well. On another web site "Motorbicycling.com" I see there is a bit of discussion going on with you Warner regarding Illinois law again. Reading on it seems there is legislation in the works in Illinois aimed specifically for electric and gas engine assisted bicycles. A bill has been written but has not yet passed. Do you know if that got any further along?

C
 
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