Illinois

I think the law was in reference to those "pocket-bikes" (mini motorcycles). In Chicago pocket-bikes are illegal. Police will impound it and you will be given citations.
I see a lot of idiots riding these pocket-bikes in actual traffic as if they were riding a real motorcycle. As for as motor bicycles, its still a bicycle and as long as you ride safe and responsible there shouldnt be a problem...at least in chicago. You might have a little more problems in suburbs. Whatever the case, dont argue with the police, be polite and I will continue to ride my motor bicycle.

I checked out what happened to otchy and told my laywer about it, his take was (of course) that you should have taken a laywer with you as they know the system and actualy get some respect from the court. but in the long run you may have been able to get out of it. people who build hotrods in IL. have to find a title from out of state to get a reg. in IL. as far as my friend john has been able to find out there is no provision for "home built" titles in IL. and he's been trying for around thirty years! my take on the IL. vec code is that all vec reged in IL. have to have a factory vin and a fed safety sticker, all of witch are imposible with a china girl as they are sold as an off road product.
the old (as of 1/1/2010) rule said that under 50cc was IL. lic only , but you still had to have reg and title . under the new law there are some strange rules to follow first they did change the def of a motorized bicycle calling it a"device" so then there are NO vec rules that apply...however then they add that they engine must bee under one horse power? there again if you read there def of h.p. it is not simlpy a function of cc's but several factors ie: weight, cc's , and a two thousand dynamomater test that you have to provide to the court if they request it (all of this was experinced by my friend aaron who lost his reg in il. and paid some heafty fines) second there rule requires a test by a 170lbs rider on the bike on level ground must not exceed 20mph ...? how is this realistic? every car on the road is capable of exceeding the speed limit, so if my weight exceeds 170 (by alot and i get on radar doing 20mph have i broken the law? will speed be determined by body mass? sound like disscrimination to me...! third my laywer buddy said in parting that we all need to know the bike laws as there are plenty of screwy rules there too
all ranting aside, peal your stickers ,pull off the engine plate and plead ignorance. print a copy of the new law and ride with it. most of all just stear clear of leo and his chums

__________________
we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
for he that shares the road with me shall be my brother. be he nare so vile this ride shall gentile his condition . and pedestrians now afoot will hold there manhood cheap when passed by a motor bike geek

My father was a contractor for the Sec. of State a few years back, so I asked him if he still knew anybody in there (my pops worked with some high up people in that dept.) This is his reply to my email:

"Otchy" – I have some poop from my inside guy. Read his response below.

Basically, you need to get a “Surety Bond” from an insurance company. Go to cyberdriveillinois *dot* com and search for RT OPR 26 to get the official documented facts. The forms you’ll need are RT OPR-23.9, SOS DOP-173-1, VSD 193.23, and the Illinois Tax Form RUT-50 (instructions attached but the form is not online nor downloadable – bottomline, you have to pay $25 tax for your bike *geez*).

So, this is a big red-tape thing and it sounds like you’re lucky to have gotten off with ONLY a $100 fine!!! The insurance part, the surety bond cost should be less than $50 to an insurance company, AND $39 to SOS (here is the law). Then, there’s the Title ($65) cost. The tax and title are a ONE-TIME cost – the surety bond must be renewable and the license fee of $39 is like a tag for a car – an annual cost.

The person having a final say is DEBBIE QUINN (557-0717) – she’s in the office on the 1st floor in the Howlett Building downtown next door to the Capitol (building is on corner of Edwards and 2nd Street), so any questions and stuff should go to her – deal with her directly.

This is just what I asked of him, I'm going to go about this whenever I have plenty of free time and less schooling...I will post up whenever I have a chance to go about this.

i had the cops called on me again by the same jerk neighbors, this time they sent out a cop who has the worst attitude. he caught me on the street right in front of my house and we went thru the same ol song and dance about how its a bicycle and not a moped / motorcycle. anyways he starts to tell me how he is sposed to impound my bike and what not till i pull out the printed version of this Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for SB0236 from my back pocket. that changed his attitude all they way around, and told me him and the other cops don't care and like my bike its just that these neighbors are pushing real hard to be jerks about this and if they didn't call they would of never had said anything to me.

yes.... i know that HB SB0236 says it doesn't go into effect till 1/1/10 but i secretly edited that part out of my copy and just let it roll in front of the cops and it worked.

sorry dude, but you got shafted BIG time, if you went into all that un-armed without an attorney,knowledge and research you were doomed from the minute you steped into the system.
Otchy, everything you mentioned about surety bonds and ect is a big waste of time and money. we are 4 months away from having this law go into effect and not to much good riding weather is left. save you money and aggravation. if you see a cop, leave the engine on or kill it, but always pedal. if they try to stick it to you again get an attorney and make sure that the state can't prove without a reasonable doubt that you were under engine control at the time the cop seen you. dont go out trying to make it harder for the rest of us trying to fly low on the radar by getting the system to enforce this crap about surety bonds and titles for vehicles that are un-obtainable cause its a bicycle. you end up getting newbies here convince of that and ruin their day.

also, dont EVER EVER EVER talk to a states attorney, they are the enemy, they are the ones who are trying to stick it to you, hence the name STATES ATTORNEY, they represent the state of Illinois and not you or your welfare. they make a living off of convictions, not letting you go free. keep that in mind.

Oh, I don't intend on going through all of that crap anymore now you put it that way. I am one of those newbs and am just trying to see every angle there is. I printed out a copy of the of the law as soon as I heard about it on this thread, and have folded it neatly into my wallet (with the editing) as well. But speaking of $$, don't attorneys cost a few nickels anyways, maybe $100 was cheaper, and nothing went on my record anyways. But, I didn't even think about the whole, "State's" Attorney deal, makes sense, and I'm surprised that I was actually able to make them listen to me and change thier minds, but I bet they knew what they were doing by not letting me get away "scott free." Power to the mo-bikes!! In the words of a great poet from this past decade..."Thug 'till I Die!"

I gota say i agree with otchy , don't reg anything. this will just add fuel to the fire.
it's so rare in IL for the little guy to have anything go his way , we all need to keep a low profile untill the law is in effect next year.
if people want something to do to safe guard there new rights to ride , keep an eye on chances to the local ordiance's as this is the only "law" option left to those who want to spoil our fun...
one other option that is open to group's this size is to start a fund to retain a lawyer to defend our rights in and out of court. precadance is the main way new laws are examined by a judge in IL,so every person who get's stoped and get's off help's everyone else but only if the public knows what happend as a matter of record
in my mind this is one of the most important functions of this forum "you are not alone anymore" we don't have to be the 'little guy" anymore . well orginized groups always fare better in politics then a single guy in front of a traffic judge! we live here, were all adults(sort of) ,we want the new law so stand up for it if you get the chance.

__________________
we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
for he that shares the road with me shall be my brother. be he nare so vile this ride shall gentile his condition . and pedestrians now afoot will hold there manhood cheap when passed by a motor bike geek

amen brother prussian

Maybe someone can explain how a law that limits gas motorized bicycles to one horse power can be good for this sport when a 49cc engine can produce over 2 hp? I have a model airplane engine that produces 2 hp. Do they want us to mount model airplane engines?