Sent the following to the Illinois DMV

[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

CC, I have no knowledge about any bills or whatever....but that's potentially good news. I haven't been on that other site in a long time...so if there are recent posts by "me", they are not really by me. Let me know what you find....

Thanks,

Warner

 

[crazycrawler]

MB in Illinois

Read the following :

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/Bil...=SB&LegID=40816&SessionID=76&GA=96&SpecSess=0

 

[Warner]

Read the following :

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/Bil...=SB&LegID=40816&SessionID=76&GA=96&SpecSess=0

Interesting indeed! I'm not too fond of that "20mph" ****...but I think that once there is a definition for our rides, we won't get hassled even if we are going 30mph. As soon as the word gets out to the police that gas powered bikes ARE legal, they'll quickly look the other way when they see one, and getting a radar reading on a bike would probably be more troublesome than it's worth anyway. I hope the bill passes. The speed at which our government works isn't encouraging....if I read that thing right it looks like they keep putting it off "until next time". Hahaha. Good find though, CC!

Warner

 

[sparky]

... and getting a radar reading on a bike would probably be more troublesome than it's worth anyway.

I think you underestimate today's technology.

 

[crazycrawler]

MB in Illinois

Warner, and everyone on this site who live in Illinois and cares if we can legally ride our motorized bicycles shoudl call their State representative and tell them you would like to see this bill passed as soon as possible. It would be nice to ride legally in Illinois this summer. Lets do this and get this bill passed.

Warner, I think they chose 20 MPH because I believe that's the speed an ordinary bicycle is rated for. Now going down hill with the wind on your back might be a little different.

C

 

[Warner]

I think you underestimate today's technology.

I wasn't doubting the technology so much as I was the likelihood that a cop would point his radar (or laser) gun at a bicycle....

Warner

 

[crazycrawler]

Illinois Bicycle Bill

The Bill passed the Vehicles & Safety Committe today. 6-Yea 0-Nay
The bill is now placed on the calender for second reading.

 

[loquin]

The real problem with the radar is that it does NOT give you the reading on the nearest target, or even necessarily the target that the cop is pointing it at. It returns the speed of the Biggest target. And folks, our bikes just DON'T have much metal to bounce a radar beam from. Any car in the background is going to be reflecting more energy than our bikes are. It could be five times further away, and STILL have a larger radar cross section than a bike. Most of the metal in the frame is tubular, and that means that only a fraction of an inch of the width of the tube will reflect back at the radar gun... We probably have the effective cross section of a soup bowl. A quarter of a car's bumper would have more.

 

[Warner]

The real problem with the radar is that it does NOT give you the reading on the nearest target, or even necessarily the target that the cop is pointing it at. It returns the speed of the Biggest target. And folks, our bikes just DON'T have much metal to bounce a radar beam from. Any car in the background is going to be reflecting more energy than our bikes are. It could be five times further away, and STILL have a larger radar cross section than a bike. Most of the metal in the frame is tubular, and that means that only a fraction of an inch of the width of the tube will reflect back at the radar gun... We probably have the effective cross section of a soup bowl. A quarter of a car's bumper would have more.

That was my point before Loquin...exactly. Back when I used to ride and race motorcycles, certain motorcycle publications would actually publish which bikes were the most "radar resistant" or something to that effect. A bicycle IS a very small target indeed. I doubt that a speeding ticket given to a cyclist (by means of radar timing) would hold up in court if challenged.

Warner

 

[sparky]

So how did those radar boxes they set out in front of schools manage to catch my speed for hundreds of feet (at least a hundred)??

I'm 110% positive it was me that it was catching.... do those boxes have a wider beam than a gun or something?