Tactical Shifting

Most states have an automatic tranmission clause in their laws. Some even go as far as to say no manual clutching or manual shifting of engine driven gears. A shift kit turns your bicycle gears into engine driven gears. In my state if you manually shift gears without a manual clutch its considered a semiautomatic but still can't be operated on the public roadways as a motorized bicycle. There's nothing in our law which says it can't shift fully and completely automatically. A legal loophole.

Here in my state when I meet others I tell them the cops probably won't bother them if they obey the traffic laws. Where a problem can occur is if you're in a multi vehicle accident. This happened to my brother and x-brother-in-law. They ran in to one another both had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. Both were charged with operating an improper vehicle on the public roadways. The judge said the bikes were improper due to a manual clutch. I will tell my fellow riders where I live whether their bike is legal or not. That is a common question I get while out riding and meeting other riders.

Yes a shift kit on a single speed would be legal and illegal if the operator manually shifts bicycle gears driven by the engine. There are many states which say the operator can't manually change gears driven by the engine.

I used to run 3 chain rings on my bike the rear 7 shifted automatically. My land lord told me I needed to change that. He is a 94 year old retired judge and is still a practicing attorney. Here's what he told me that the motorized bicycle/ moped laws were meant to limit the speed of the vehicles by only allowing a single drive ratio. That's where the automatic clause came in. Some years latter ways were figured out how to shift gears without having a manual clutch. The courts ruled since the operator had to manually shift gears some states added to the law clauses to stop this. They said it wasn't an automatic transmission system but rather a semiautomatic. A shift kited bike with a centrifugal clutch but requires manual shifting is a semiautomatic. The setup I have now shifts 5 gears fully and completely automatically. My land lord told me what I have now is considered legal until someone decides to write in another clause stopping it.

Don't misunderstood me, I'd love to manually shift I could do so very much more with it. KC the LandRider derailleur does have a cadence adjustment screw. Which can adjust at what wheel rpm the gears change. The way it shows on my tach is upshifts occur at 7800 rpm and down shifts occur at 5800 rpm.