Thread: street legal

I am rebuilding a 1970 CT70KO, and would like to make it "street legal". Any ideas on what is required? Obviously head lights and tail lights, but what else?

Depends what state you are in. My K0 only needs a mirror to be street legal here in Illinois.

Check your state laws. Most will require headlight and tail/brake lights, a mirror and horn, plus working brakes and road legal tires. Some states (calif) have seat height requirements and other have blinker requirements. Washington (my state) requires that the headlight be lit at all times and meets certain brightness requirements. We are not required to have blinkers here. A lot of states are also limiting your ability to take an originally off=road bike and add equipment to make it street legal. California is the main one.

The bottom line is that you gotta check with your local licenseing agency, or look up your state law online, or stop by your friendly Cop Shop. One tip - the older the bike is, the easier it seems to be to get tags. If you do not have a title, and your state requires a title, try the international title service (do a search for the link).

Also realize that most DMV's are clueless about any bike prior to 1981.

Pre 1981 motorcycles aren't vin decodeable and the people at the DMV counter aren't rocket scientists. The DMV rarely compiles vin data for pre 1981 motorcycles and the ones who do, they won't know if the bike was originally slated for offroad or onroad use.

Just get a title from its-titles.com for $75, restore it to your heart's content, and take the paperwork in and get it titled. Most DMV's will need proof of insurance (unless it's under 50cc's in some states) and may have an inspection, but turn signals are not a requirement on most of the older bikes.

Don't sweat it and get it done. Just make sure your headlamp, taillamp and brakelight switches all work.

If you are going to register a Z50, tell them it's a moped and get moped plates. They won't know the difference and in most states, you won't have to carry insurance.

Regards,

Dan

In Montana they know the difference when they send a cop to your house to confirm its street legal and they are with lights, horn & mirror, which my Ct70 has with vintage tags. They will also pull you over if theres no tag and no pedals making it a moped. It has to pedal to start to be a no tag moped like my restored 48 Whizzer. All states are different though, call and ask them and they will tell you what you need

In New Jersey depending on the year of the Bike for example a 1970 did not come with directionals and mirrors so you do not need them, only headlights,Tailights and a brake light and Horn are required.

Let me revise my above post. Here in KS, anything under 125cc's is considered a motorbike and they give you motorbike plates and you don't need a motorcycle license, but need a drivers license. Under 50cc's, you don't need insurance.

My Z50A is considered a motorbike
My ZB50 is considered a motorbike
My Honda Monkey is considered a motorbike
My CT70 I had to get motorcycle plates. Go figure..

Dan

Yup I had to get a Motorcycle tag for my CT also, stupid braking horsepower...

I had a 90cc and they would not let me get a motorbike tag, I did get a motorbike tag but then about a week later I got a letter from the state saying I had too much braking horsepower, so I had to go back and get a motorcycle tag.

But its 70cc and under u dont need a license for.