Hi I am from INDIANA and am trying to find a way to get a motorized bike legal Before I build one. The bmv tried to tell me that they were illegal and there was no way to license them can anyone help me this looks like a very good idea and I would like to try it
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- Thread starter mjbary
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bluegoatwoods
Well-Known Member
There's only a few States that specifically allow motor assisted bicycles. I think there was a bill recently pending in the Indiana Assembly that would have cracked down on them pretty badly. I believe that bill is now about dead. (Thank goodness. Can anyone confirm?)
Most of the rest of us are riding bikes that are not definitely legal or illegal. The laws just weren't written with these things in mind.
But we get along, all the same. The best advice is to ride like a boy scout. Behave as though you are on a serious mode of low-speed transportation. Give out that body language that says, "Don't worry; I'm not going to run over a little old lady or her grandchildren. I'm not going to pull out right in front of cruising autos."
The day I built my first one I took it for a test ride that took me right by the Police station. There stood the chief with his back to me. As I pulled away from the stop sign, he heard my engine and turned around to see what it was. I waved and he waved back. (Big relief, I'll tell you...) He could have easily yelled, "Hey! Stop!" and then given me a ticket for riding an unregistered moped. (I would have argued in court that he had been mistaken. But there's no guarantee that the judge would have agreed with me.) But he just didn't care that I had a small motor on my bike. And a lot of the people here have found things to be the same in their areas.
I wouldn't bother with the DMV anymore. They'll just give you the easy answer, "It's a moped." And then you find that registering these as a moped is impossible.
So just ride like a nice, considerate member of society and you ought to do just fine.
You'll have fun, too.
Most of the rest of us are riding bikes that are not definitely legal or illegal. The laws just weren't written with these things in mind.
But we get along, all the same. The best advice is to ride like a boy scout. Behave as though you are on a serious mode of low-speed transportation. Give out that body language that says, "Don't worry; I'm not going to run over a little old lady or her grandchildren. I'm not going to pull out right in front of cruising autos."
The day I built my first one I took it for a test ride that took me right by the Police station. There stood the chief with his back to me. As I pulled away from the stop sign, he heard my engine and turned around to see what it was. I waved and he waved back. (Big relief, I'll tell you...) He could have easily yelled, "Hey! Stop!" and then given me a ticket for riding an unregistered moped. (I would have argued in court that he had been mistaken. But there's no guarantee that the judge would have agreed with me.) But he just didn't care that I had a small motor on my bike. And a lot of the people here have found things to be the same in their areas.
I wouldn't bother with the DMV anymore. They'll just give you the easy answer, "It's a moped." And then you find that registering these as a moped is impossible.
So just ride like a nice, considerate member of society and you ought to do just fine.
You'll have fun, too.
