Dual Sports with Plates

[JH]

Hey guys I am interested in getting a dual sport that is street legal. I know people were posting that the state pulled some plates off bikes however I didn't pay too much attention to it. Why did they do this? I have seen some bikes posted that say they are street legal just need a check up from the licensing office to get their plate back, is it that simple?

Let me know whats going on with them, thanks!

[KFhunter]

you can make any dirt bike street legal now,  when WA pulled the plates it mostly pertained to the KTM's.


I had a KTM 380 MXC  - it was a full on dirt bike with no headlight, tailight, emmisions or anything.  I had my wife go get an ORV sticker for it and the DMV gave her a license plate 


Then later the DMV realized they had a lot of bikes from KTM misclassified, so they pulled the plates. 


But a new law lets you make pretty much anything on two wheels be street legal with DOT tires, headlight, tailight - brakelight, mirrors and a WSP inspection.


hope that helps

[gasman]

KTM's were the bike that the state was pulling plates for. The exact reason, I cant remember but I think ut was the wording on the title 

You can transform a dirt bike to be street legal but there is a lot of hoops to jump through to get it done. I have friends that plan on doing it but the last I heard, there was not a shop in the area that would sign off (liability reasons).

Me, I just went out bought a bike that was all ready street legal and by passed all the BS.     

[KFhunter]

its not that hard really




imagine a CR500 motard?  hehe


wish I still had my KTM 380 - bike was a beast

[adamR]

I'm pretty sure after the morons at the state realized what they did, they withdrew their proposed "plate pulling".  A buddy of mine got a letter saying his registration was cancelled and about a month later got another letter saying nevermind.  I on the other hand never got a cancellation letter for my xr400r so I'm still good with my plates as well.

As far as I know now, if you're bike has a street legal plate it is basically grandfathered in.  However, if you want a dirtbike legalized now, you have to get it inspected with all required parts.

[JH]

Great, thanks guys!

[JackOfAllTrades]

A true dual sport bike is street legal. What you're referring to in my eyes would be an enduro, trail bike or motocross bike that does not come from the factory as a DOT recognised street legal motorcycle.

I heard they stopped pulling the registrations/plates, but I've also heard that they aren't issuing any more for bikes that don't come street legal from the factory.  What I was told when I went to do my XR, was that if the title said not for road use, if the frame was not certified from the factory via DOT for street use, (liability -and yes, if you can jump the damn thing why wouldn't it be strong enough to be street legal?), if there was not emissions reduction and such installed on the engine, that the state would not undertake the task of certifying that the bike would be legal in all aspects.

So I purchased a street legal Yamaha XT.

-Steve

[norsepeak]

buy a KTM EXC and ride on!

[Shank]

If your looking for a bike i suggest buying a dual sport bike instead of transforming a dirt bike, just my there are plenty of factory dualsport bikes out there that are great, Suzuki DRZ, some Yamaha WRs, newer KTM EXC's, Kawasaki KLR/X, some Honda XRs the list goes on. when i bought my ktm in 2004 i opted to get a lisc plate in stead of ORV tabs just so i could go from one trail to another, with out any headaches. i have yet to put anything on it to make it street legal. i never once got a letter form the DOL revoking my plate, my buddy has a converted WR that already has a plate. he got a letter revoking his plate, then a few weeks later another letter saying his plate is ok.
I have heard that alot of law enforcement agencies are cracking down on bikes with plates now. if you do have a plate you better make sure you have mirrors, t/s, dot tires blah blah blah. Also DNR at walker valley are citing people for not having a discover pass on there plated dirtbikes, How are you supposed to have a disocover pass on your truck and bike at the sametime?
On a side note, i dont think this whole plating of dirtbikes is good thing. ORV trails get most of there funding through ORV tabs, more lisc plates = less orv funding, and we all know what happens in this ulta liberal state with less funding.  I feel we should follow orgeons ORV laws to a point. all OHV NEEDS OHV TABS TO BE ON TRAILS REGARDLESS IF ITS A JEEP QUAD, OR DIRTBIKE, and if you want to be on the road, you need a lisc plate.

[whitey]

I have a CRF250X thats plated and a full blown race Husky TC450 not a light one on it and its plated. Just look around, some of these bikes come from out of state or Canada with plates already.

[Skyvalhunter]

Since the passing of HB1533 which went into effect in January you can now make your off road  bike street legal. You can either read the bill or contact coyoteoffroad.com and they will tell you what needs to be done.

[Lowedog]

KTM sent WA state VIN numbers a couple years ago of some 700 + bikes saying that they inadvertently left the wording "intended for offroad use only" off of the MSO.  I believe WA wasn't the only state that KTM sent letters too. 

Like Skyvalhunter said, legislation passed to allow converted m/c's to be inspected for street plates.  The DOL in turn purchased software that let them research the VIN #'s registered as street legal to determine the original MSO.  They sent out letters earlier this year to people who owned bikes that had originally been intended for offroad use but converted saying that they either had to turn in their plate or have the bike inspected.  I received one for my YZ450f that is plated because it was purchased in Idaho.  A couple weeks later I received another letter from DOL stating they were made aware by concerned m/c enthusiast of WA that there was no way for their system to know the original intention of the manufacturer by looking at a VIN # so they were reinstating my plate with no need to do anything. 

 

[wildmanoutdoors]

To shed maybe some more lite on the subject.

SB5800 did pass and allows "offroad only" bikes to be converted. It also allowed dealers or service centers to do the inspection at a cost of no more than 100 dollars.

The law passed but the federal standards applied also. This is impossible to convert so the bill is being appealed right now to get some of the federal mandates taken off.

The reason KTM, Husky ect could be plated is because they were European and titles from Europe do not say "OFF ROAD ONLY". There are only a couple models that can meet the state or federal guidelines.

If you have a KTM or the like that still has a plate and should not, don't be surprised the next time you go to get it registered for the year. They may pull the plate and have you get it inspected! Its happening ALLOT right now.

So be careful what you buy! If you got the cash get the KTM's that are actually street legal. Or spend the dough to convert the right way. Still cheaper than a KTM.

But heres the deal with that. Right now if you convert your bike and have say Coyote off road do the inspection the conversion will cost more because of the federal mandates that were written into the bill. This will require things that should not have been in the bill. And thats what Coyote off road has to inspect to! If you wait for the re-written law, it will be cheaper. Right now the committee and lawyers are on this. Not sure how long it will take.

Its true some bikes that come from out of state have been plated and the state will hand you a wash plate. My XR500R came from Cali with a plate and is plated in Washington now. I just added some fold down mirrors, a break light switch (rear only) and DOT approved knobbies. But it would NOT pass an inspection. Lol

DRZ's, KLR's and XR650L's are just too tame!

Once the law gets re-done my CR500 is getting plated!

[Wanttohuntmore]

I would love to plate my 300 exc, but I expect I'd have to spend about $500 just for lighting and other goodies (dot tires, etc.), just to ride on dirt roads.....  Still such BS.

[JakeLand]

ktm  exc 450 best bike out there except the exc 525!!!!

[CplRaines]

 My KLR 650 

[MikeWalking]

Nice photo. Where was that taken? 

This will be the first summer with my DRZ400S.  Looking forward to a lot of exploring. New roads and old ones at a fraction of the gas$ of the Grand Cherokee

I must be more eager than I know. I dreamed about shopping for new camera lenses last night.  The only one I have is a 70-300mm.  Not much for close shots...

[CplRaines]

We locals call it "Big Skidder" up above Discovery Bay.