Motorized Bicycle - Episode 012

[12 January 2007]

I have decided to put down what I have found of Illinois motor vehicle code as it relates to motorized bicycles, in order to avoid posting them repeatedly to various other places. As it currently stands (late 2006/early 2007) the Illinois motor vehicle code does not address the matter of motorized bicycles at all. It neither allows nor prohibits them. Neither the Dept. of Motor Vehcles or my local county police could cite any reason that they were prohibited. I got some of these answers from the local Dept. of motor vehicles, I emailed the IL DMV website and got essentially the same answers repeated, and I asked the county police and they could not provide any cite that motorized bicycles would be prohibited for any reasons other than possibly "unsafe operation". If I get arrested for riding mine I'll be sure to post all about it.

1) Under Illinois law, a motorized bicycle is NOT a moped, and cannot be registered as such. In the motor vehicle code there is a vehicle classification of a "motorized pedalcycle" (or a "moped"), having a displacement of 50cc's or less, a top speed of 30 M.P.H. or less, and a few other restrictions. It sounds like a motorized bicycle with a 50cc or smaller engine would qualify as this, but it won't. The reason has to do with the fact that as of the last couple years, Illinois will not register any "vehicle" as a "motor vehicle" unless it has a federal V.I.N. (a standard-format 17-digit vehicle identification number). These V.I.N. numbers are assigned and the manufacturer must show that the motorized vehicle falls into some federal classification. If the motor vehicle is to be legally operated on public roadways, there are a number of technical standards that it must pass. Since there is no classification for bicycles, bicycles don't come with V.I.N.'s, and do not meet any federal class of technical requirements for motor vehicles.

2) You cannot apply for a V.I.N. from the motor vehicle department for your bicycle. There is a provision in the motor vehicle code that says something to the effect that "if a vehicle does not have an appropriate serial number, the IL dept of motor vehicles will assign one". This measure is not applied to NEW vehicles, it is only intended and used for VINTAGE vehicles--those vehicles that were manufactured before serial numbers were required, and that were manufactured according to the federal roadworthiness standards that were in place at the time of manufacture. If you manufacture a new vehicle yourself intended for use on public roadways, then it must meet federal vehicle roadworthiness standards current at the time of its manufacture--and for a number of reasons, a bicycle won't meet these.

3) A motorized bicycle does not require a special license endorsement, provided it has an engine which would fall under the moped/motorized pedalcycle classification restrictions. A bicycle motorized with an engine that falls under the moped definitions is still only considered a bicycle by the Department of Motor Vehicles, and does not require any license at all.

4) A motorized bicycle is not tehnically defined as a "motor vehicle", and does not require insurance or registration. The only types of vehicles that are required to be titled and registered in Illinois are those that fall under federal motor vehicle classifications. (-And yes, a trailer is a "motor vehicle", even though it's got no motor--but then, trailers come with federal V.I.N.s)

5) Bicycles are already defined as a vehicle type which is legal for use on public roadways. This is the difference between a <50cc motorized bicycle being street-legal, and a go-ped or pocket bike--which are not, even though they may use engines which would fall under the moped classification limits. The technical definition of a bicycle provided in the motor vehicle code says that it is "propelled by human power" but it does not state that a bicycle is exclusively propelled by human power, and the definition does not exclude motorization. If you put a larger-than-50cc engine onto a bicycle, then you would have at least two offenses: operating an unregistered motor vehicle, and operating a motorcycle without the proper license (assuming you did not have a motorcycle endorsement).

The course of events is as follows, in November 2006:

I phoned the local D.M.V. and asked about registering a motorized bicycle, and the person on the phone said that it was possible, they'd just use the pertinent information (make, model, engine size, ect).

I went to a local title service business and ask within, and they said they didn't know how to obtain a title for a bicycle. To register a vehicle it must first have a title, so it needs either an already-existing title that is transferred, or it needs a "certificate of origin" to obtain the first title (the certificate of origin is the document which essentially serves as the "first title" on a new vehicle, before a title on it is issued). The license service said if the D.M.V. said it can be done then it'd probably be best to do it there, but to come back and tell them how to do it, because they didn't know of any alternate way.

When I went to the D.M.V. and asked, the lady in charge of the place that day said that it was not possible to get a title issued for a bicycle at all. She admitted that she did not know any further details on the legality of operating a motorized bicycle on public roads--either if there were any other requirements, or if it was even legal at all.

I emailed the Dept of Motor Vehicles website asking "...if a motorized bicycle with an engine that fell under moped restrictions could be registered as a moped, and if not, were they legal to operate on public roads?" They responded with an email that made three points:
1). A motorized bicycle that had an engine that fell under moped restrictions would not need any specific license endorsement, as long as the operator held a valid license of any type.
2) A motorized bicycle according to #1 [above] did not need to be registered at all, as Illinois had no requirement for titling or registering bicycles.
3) A motorized bicycle was not required to carry insurance of any type, as Illinois law does not require insurance on vehicles that are not titled and registered.

The email cited portions of the motor vehicle code for the above points, but the email did not state that motorized bicycles (as above) were prohibited or not.

Lastly, I emailed my local county police (St Clair county) on their web site. I attached the email from the Dept of Motor Vehicles, and explained that I was trying to find out if motorized bicycles were street-legal or not. I asked if there was anything that someone riding a motorized bicycle would be cited for, other than possibly unsafe operation. Their entire response was as follows: "The Secretary of State is the final authority on what vehicles may be used on Illinois roadways."