just exactly WHY are they doing this?

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Nashville, Tn
Have not been on the site in a while just graduated from nursing school in May 2011 passed my nursing boards in July first try. Been working. We were wanting to go to our favorite place to ride the Tampa bay area and also a new area Destin Florida. But we see they have changed the laws there so that its illegal to ride a motorized bike anywhere that is public. I think from what I have been reading is state wide in Florida.

Does anyone know the basis for this negativity against these bikes? What has brought on these drastic changes? We are in Tennessee and still enjoy riding here.

what exactly are the politics behind these decisions againist motorized bicycle?

I will post this also as a seperate post because if we find the reasons behind this we maybe can solve this misjustage
 
http://www.baynews9.com/article/new...ed-bicycles-in-legal-limbo-despite-popularity


TAMPA --
Just seeing a motorized bike speed by would make most people do a double take.

But these days, more people in the Bay area are ditching their bike pedals. Instead, they're fueling their gas tanks and revving up motored bicycles to get around.

Dean Jones of Tampa bought a motorized two-wheeler for work. He travels quite a distance on the bike, even sometimes going across the Gandy Bridge on it.

"I work in Carollwood," he said. "I work in south St. Pete. I go everywhere."



But according to Tampa police, riding a motorized bike on a public road or even a bike lane could land the driver in jail. Police said it's a safety issue.
"If it's got an engine, they're not supposed to be driving it on the public roadway," Officer Kristina Duran said.


Because of the gas motor, the two-wheeled bikes are considered motor vehicles. Yet, riders can't get a license plate or register motorized bikes.

"They're not able to register these as a motored vehicle without a tag so now you're operating an unregistered motorized vehicle," Duran said.

Since the motorized bikes are considered motor vehicles, riders can't hop in a bike lane either. Instead Tampa police say, motorized bike riders must stay on private property.

At a motorized bicycle repair shop in Tampa, Don Springer called Florida's laws on motorized bikes unclear. He's hoping lawmakers take a look at the new trend and add some defining language that keeps the motorized bike riders on the road.

"I find it unfair," Springer said. "They're hurting a lot of people."
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Jeff lives in Ft. Walton and he shut down his bike business
because of the new law
we use to stop an visit him when in fla.
http://www.arnettmotorbikes.com/
 
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another

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/bicycles-43100-helper-bikes.html

Law enforcement to continue to pull over gas-powered bicycles




August 29, 2011 7:10 PM

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Dusty Ricketts



Local law enforcement agencies say bicycles upgraded with gasoline-powered helper engines are illegal and people caught riding them on the streets or the sidewalks will continue to be pulled over.

Bicycles with helper motors have been sold in Florida for years. However, state statues recognize only bikes with electric helper motors as being motorized bikes.

“Our agency is simply enforcing the existing state law regarding these gasoline powered bicycles,” wrote Sgt. Mark Raiche with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office’s traffic division in an email to the Daily News.

“These motor vehicles cannot be legally operated on a roadway or a sidewalk under gasoline motor power,” he added.


Capt. Mark Welch, chief of public affairs for the Florida Highway Patrol, said the gas-powered bicycles are considered motor vehicles in the state statutes and that all motor vehicles must be registered with the state to be driven in Florida. Because bicycles can’t be registered, bicycles with gas-powered helper motors are illegal to drive.



Welch said FHP officers will continue to pull over riders on bicycles with gasoline-powered helper motors, but it will be up to the individual officers on whether or not to write a citation.

Raiche agreed, saying Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies also will continue to pull over gas-powered bicycles.

Welch said the state statutes would have to be changed to recognize the gas-powered bicycles as motorized bikes to make them legal. Both the gas and electric motors typically have a top speed of 20 miles per hour.

Jeff Arnett, who started a business installing small gas-powered engines on bicycles and selling them in late 2009, disagrees that the bikes are illegal.

“I don’t get where they’re going with this,” Arnett said. “They’re not going to win. They’re trying to spit out all kinds of statutes when they don’t know what they’re talking about.

“All they’re doing is wasting taxpayers’ time and money on this.”

While law enforcement likely will continue to pull over people riding the gas-powered bicycles, not all local judges believe those people are breaking the law.

Paula Paxton, who lives in Washington County, was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol last year and ticketed for driving without a license.

Paxton fought the ticket in the 14th Judicial Circuit and won.

“The defendant was operating a bicycle with a helper motor,” according to paperwork filed by the state attorney’s office in Panama City. “This vehicle does not meet the legal requirement of a motor vehicle that would require her to have a valid Florida Driver’s License.”


Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/bicycles-43100-helper-bikes.html#ixzz1mAeH2YII
 
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one more



http://www.thedestinlog.com/articles/bicycles-18942-ride-pulled.html

'I'm just trying to ride in peace': Questions arise over motorized bicycles




August 21, 2011 3:43 PM

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Several residents who ride motorized bicycles say they have been pulled over repeatedly by law enforcement officers who have told them the bikes are not legal without a valid driver license and vehicle registration.

Jeff Arnett of Fort Walton Beach says the officers are wrong.

Arnett, who started a business installing small gasoline-powered engines on bicycles and selling them in late 2009, was pulled over earlier this summer by a sergeant with Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

"I'm not trying to stir the pot. I'm just trying to ride in peace, Arnett said. "That's what it was all about in the beginning. I honestly can't believe I've ridden since August 2009 up until a month ago before someone pulled me over and said I was breaking the law operating a motor vehicle without a registration. It's just kind of silly.

"I can't believe it. It's like a school bully, he added. "That's the feeling I'm getting from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office now.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson said she was not qualified to speak to the legality of the gas-powered bicycles and forwarded questions to the department's traffic supervisor, who was not available to comment immediately.

The Sheriff's Office does have an informational flier on mopeds, go-peds, pocket bikes and motorized scooters that contains some information on motorized bikes.

The flier classifies motorized bikes only as having electric engines. Arnett said he has been told that all bicycles with a gas-powered engine are considered mopeds.

Arnett said he and many of his customers are being harassed about the bikes. It's not just in Okaloosa County.

Paula Paxton, who lives in Washington County, was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol last year and ticketed for driving without a license the day after she bought her bike from Arnett.

Paxton fought the ticket and the 14th Judicial Circuit and won.

"The defendant was operating a bicycle with a helper motor, according to paperwork filed by the state attorney's office in Panama City. "This vehicle does not meet the legal requirement of a motor vehicle that would require her to have a valid Florida Driver's License.

"I've gotten pulled over about nine different times on mine, Paxton said. "I don't get charged with anything, but I end up being a spectacle on the side of the road for the public to see, and it's actually embarrassing.

As far as the registration, Arnett found an entry on the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' website under its Original Certificate of Title Applications guidelines that reads "they re-main bicycles after the engine is installed" and "bicycles are not registered or titled.

"You don't even have to have the bike registered, said Timothy Presley, who was pulled over about two months ago while riding his motorized bike over the Shalimar Bridge on his motorized bike. "And no matter where I've been, whether it's New York state to California, anything under 50ccs you can operate (without a vehicle registration).

Arnett said he hopes lawmen will leave people on motorized bikes alone as long as they are obeying the traffic laws.

"If I'm wrong, I will definitely apologize, make it public and make it known, definitely" Arnett said. "I€™m not that kind of guy. I would not go out and start spouting my mouth about any type of information unless I double checked it to be sure. That's just the military in me.
 
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Maxx- And anyone FYI- the above quote about under 50ccs being legal in New York is dead wrong, nothing in NY is legal unless it has a plate on it.
 
I truly believe that it is only a matter of time befor these motorized bicycles will be banned everywhere. Not something that I am looking forward to. However I have seen several items in the news about idiot riders on these MBs. Just a few can & will ruin it for all of us.
 
Maxx- And anyone FYI- the above quote about under 50ccs being legal in New York is dead wrong, nothing in NY is legal unless it has a plate on it.


thanks, i only copied the article

We have been riding since summer of of 08,
only been stopped once in a radar zone >
to be ask what it was

I think having the orange sign on the back (for our safety and (to BE SEEN)
plus riding properly, has kept us from having problems with the police.
we use to ride between destin and ft.walton (6 miles) all the time, guess no more
when at our other house in clearwater,fla, we have rode 210 mile in one day with no problems, from the law
they just wave..


hope it doesn't end soon, we just finished building a bigger shop

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Great looking rides! (really like the orange crate). I know most of us are jealous of all that great work space and Fla. riding weather.
Good to see you doing your part for the safety of yourself and the hobby.
 
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