Let's change the law on motorized bikes

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Hi my name is Billy Cooper I am a proud owner of a high performance motorized bicycle I'm looking for a group of proud Riders and owners that would be willing to go with me to demand to speak to the Texas governor as taxpayers so we can get the law changed on motorized bikes the laws are ridiculous and makes no sense the laws say we cannot ride them unless they are registered and insured but yet DMV refuses to register them and insurance companies refuse to insure them if this sounds like something you would be interested in helping with please contact me at BillyRC30 at gmail.com with subject let's change the law

I’m a fellow Texan and I too would like to ride my motorized bicycle without getting in trouble. I think we can find a state where they’re legal and ask TX to copy that states laws on motorized bikes. Let’s sign a petition to get it started.
 
I’m a fellow Texan and I too would like to ride my motorized bicycle without getting in trouble. I think we can find a state where they’re legal and ask TX to copy that states laws on motorized bikes. Let’s sign a petition to get it started.
I'd say taking California's approach would be a decent start, if you make it easy and cheap enough the excuse for not doing it doesn't fly, and it lines their pockets with more money.
 
I'd say taking California's approach would be a decent start, if you make it easy and cheap enough the excuse for not doing it doesn't fly, and it lines their pockets with more money.

Asking Texan politicians to follow California in this environment. Good luck :p
 
I’m a fellow Texan and I too would like to ride my motorized bicycle without getting in trouble. I think we can find a state where they’re legal and ask TX to copy that states laws on motorized bikes. Let’s sign a petition to get it started.

Riding a motorized bike without a driver license and/or insurance is not necessarily illegal.* Motorized bikes here are "street legal" unless there are ordinances in your jive-ass town that say otherwise. As long as the hog your straddling meets the safety requirements and you obey all traffic laws you got nothin to sweat.

My contention is that I'm on a bicycle with a motor that fails to meet all the criteria that would classify it as one requiring a driver license, registration, insurance or even a helmet. My setup, probably yours too, isn't prohibited or restricted by the bicycle code at all, so by proxy I'm considered a motorist operating a bicycle. BAM. Legal.

State law for motorized bikes requiring a license, banning them, etc. doesn't exist in Texas.

Billy Cooper or Frankenstein, (if that is your real name-- ** considerable skepticism **)
What are you readin or smokin that has you convinced motorized bikes ain't allowed in these here parts, and whatever it is don't Bogart it.
 
If you think your legal expertise is better than that of the Fort Worth police department or the Texas Department of Public Safety, then I say go for. You can chose to do whatever you think is correct, it is your choice get out there and have fun.
 
...the link to the DPS doesn't leave anyone with any other options unless they are will to take their chances in court...
If you go over 50 cc, you need a license, you need insurance or you could possibly face a few fines, or maybe even impoundment of the motorized bicycle.

Herman if I understand right, you are restating what the DMV link shows; that if it exceeds the moped category, it's automatically considered a motorcycle, right? I would agree except there are way more things that disqualify a motorized bike from being a motorcycle than the only thing that would qualify a motorized bike as being a motorcycle...? In other words, since a motorcycle requires registration and a bicycle cannot be registered...no-go.
And motorcycles require a particular type of license but ya can't take the exam rolling on a Huffy Davidson... So no-go.
There's also Autocycle and Motor-driven cycle that a motorized bike kinda sorta might maybe used-to could fit into, but those are both technically Motorcycles so same story the way I see it.
I can't be wrong on this because I've never ever made a mistake. I thought I did, once, but I was mistaken. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
Asking Texan politicians to follow California in this environment. Good luck :p
When all that oil runs out they'll come crawling for some new source of funds, then they'll be kicking themselves for not jumping into the money pit earlier. But enough about normal greedy politics, let's reply to this post.
Riding a motorized bike without a driver license and/or insurance is not necessarily illegal.* Motorized bikes here are "street legal" unless there are ordinances in your jive-ass town that say otherwise. As long as the hog your straddling meets the safety requirements and you obey all traffic laws you got nothin to sweat.

My contention is that I'm on a bicycle with a motor that fails to meet all the criteria that would classify it as one requiring a driver license, registration, insurance or even a helmet. My setup, probably yours too, isn't prohibited or restricted by the bicycle code at all, so by proxy I'm considered a motorist operating a bicycle. BAM. Legal.

State law for motorized bikes requiring a license, banning them, etc. doesn't exist in Texas.

Billy Cooper or Frankenstein, (if that is your real name-- ** considerable skepticism **)
What are you readin or smokin that has you convinced motorized bikes ain't allowed in these here parts, and whatever it is don't Bogart it.
You're right, it isn't illegal to ride a motorized bike, but without a solid definition (like exactly how California worded it in 'the books') of what a motorized bike is then your vehicle is going to get put under the scope and measured up to whatever there is to measure it by, and funny enough it closely resembles a moped, so you are s**t outa luck. The argument here is that you have to prove to somebody that your bike is not a moped, but without a written law that somebody can actually look at and say 'hey, that's a motorized bike and not a moped by this definition of a motorized bike I'm looking at' then you just aren't going to go anywhere.

This is why police (and judges) couldn't just accuse electric bikers as having full blown mopeds, because the laws were so often written to include cc sizes defining an upper limit on motor size, the problem being that it completely implies that a moped must have an internal combustion engine to even begin to qualify, nobody wants to even try that argument and so passes. Now a Tesla has absolutely no ice on board, completely electric, and is considered a motor vehicle, and not just that, a legitimate car. Scooters are getting wrapped up in it too, China has had problems with electric scooters (like as big as a 200cc scooter) being they didn't have to pay taxes (registration and all that) like 'normal' vehicles do. Well they wrote new laws and fixed that problem.

You are f***ing f***ed until you can get new laws, how much more simple can I say this?

My dad used to sing that song 'don't bogart that joint my friend,' good memories, but I haven't bogarted anything, I'm reading what you're reading so if my minds clouded by that then so must yours, don't blame me for your legislators writing s**tty laws.

Herman if I understand right, you are restating what the DMV link shows; that if it exceeds the moped category, it's automatically considered a motorcycle, right? I would agree except there are way more things that disqualify a motorized bike from being a motorcycle than the only thing that would qualify a motorized bike as being a motorcycle...? In other words, since a motorcycle requires registration and a bicycle cannot be registered...no-go.
And motorcycles require a particular type of license but ya can't take the exam rolling on a Huffy Davidson... So no-go.
There's also Autocycle and Motor-driven cycle that a motorized bike kinda sorta might maybe used-to could fit into, but those are both technically Motorcycles so same story the way I see it.
I can't be wrong on this because I've never ever made a mistake. I thought I did, once, but I was mistaken. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)
The number of things that disqualify it from being a motorcycle doesn't matter, it's what qualifies it for a higher tax class is what matters. You actually have to prove yourself not guilty in traffic court, they don't need to prove anything as long as it can qualify for the definition, that simple qualification is good enough. They rarely use 'disqualifiers' to prevent certain vehicles for getting trolled, but they usually exist in the books as 'exemptions' like the ones for electric mobility devices, tractors, and golf carts. Without having a exception category in the books regarding your vehicle again you are f***ing f***ed. Must I go on?

You can't ride an unregistered huffy davidson for the test, much like you can't use an unregistered Harley Davidson, or an unregistered Ford for a standard driving test, the vehicle must be god d**n registered what the hell who woulda thought?? Damn you make a lousy argument!
 
The argument here is that you have to prove to somebody that your bike is not a moped
Dude, I may have imagined it many moons ago but I coulda swore remembering when you read and understood the moped restrictions and subsequently agreed that it cannot be considered a moped based on HP alone, plus top speed... Yea, probly just imagined it, definitely not archived on any server in digital form anywhere, definitely. Oh well, nevermind that, I gotta find that elusive proof you speak of...

...that'll be practically impossible since one closely resembles the other... if only someone would recognize what I have to be something other than a moped.... that should do it. Since it's a bike, someone calling it a bike which, to the highly trained brown-eye, is not a moped then that shall be the proof to squelch your claim! To the Batmobile- jk bro it's you, you just called it a bike. Fanx 4 seeing it that way, m8.
 
You actually have to prove yourself not guilty in traffic court.../QUOTE]

Really? Not here. Hypothetically, let's say I'm out buying my usual Liter of Diet Coke, Mentos, Magnum 3-pack and the straightest banana I can find. After securing my goods I leave the QuikTrip only to be pulled over by Officer O'Leary. He cites me for an Unregistered Moped. I don't argue, just sign the ticket and go to court a month later.
The burden of proof is on the copper to convince the magistrate that I am guilty. It's not on me to prove that I'm not guilty... If that were the case, I'd be in there trying to prove all kinds of stuff I am not guilty of...
Hypothetically, I could provide evidence I believe will clear me after the fuzz says his piece but it's definitely not me that decides whether I'm guilty or not; it's either judge or jury if I decide to take it to trial.
 
He doesn't have to prove it, he doesn't even have to say much, just say, "yes, I pulled him over on a bike with an engine installed in it."

Judge asks you how big the engine size is (you can lie and say 49 or tell the truth and say 66/70) and then judges that the bike qualifies for a moped based on those 2 items, or ups the fine by adjusting the violation.

Then you can speak all you'd like, but it's going to be very hard to convince a judge to stab an officer in the back in a courtroom unless the officer can be proven to be mistaken beyond reasonable doubt. I don't think you can get a jury, traffic offenses are usually written up and processed in a way that are far different than criminal cases. The difference is so stark that your criminal history and driving history are basically separate identities, they rarely will ever be affected by the same event. So much so that insurance companies couldn't care less about your criminal history, and non-driving jobs wouldn't care at all about your driving history.

I'm not saying you can't fight it successfully, but it is going to be difficult, you basically have to prove your innocence or prove that the officer can't prove he knew you were doing something wrong, like proving that he can't prove you were using the engine at the time.

It's not that difficult to understand, you need to find a place that the bike will fit into before anyone is willing to take it out of where somebody else said it should be. Anyway, I'm now done with this argument, you're hell bent on trying to shove any ticket you get up somebody else's ass, if you don't have the right elbow grease your going to have a hard time finding a willing as***le. Every dollar they can f*** you out of is another dollar for them and their cause. Even dead men clutch their wallet, have fun prying..
 
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