Addicted Bicycle Customs - 49cc legal in Ontario?

ABC you have in a few post on this forum stated that using a 49\48cc engine kit, as opposed to the claimed 80cc kit, is legal, makes you legal or keeps you legal etc in Ontario. Can you please elaborate on how you came to that conclusion or maybe even post some links to anything you may have read that helped you come to that conclusion.

Thanks in advance...

marts1 said:

Well they legalized the ebike here just a bit ago and the only requirement for those was you had to wear a helmet. Possibly we'll be ok here.

Click to expand...

To expand on what marts1 posted when bill 126 "Ontario Road Safety Act" received royal accent on April 23 2009 Ontario legalized "factory built" power assisted bicycles that comply with the specifications defined in the Canadian MVSA and bears an authorized manufacturers label stating in both official languages that it is in compliance with the Canadian MVSA specifications. DIY power assisted bicycles, and our bicycles fitted with ICE kits, are not legal in Ontario and sadly most likely never will be. When bill 126 was being debated in 2008 comments were made by politicians that given the vast amount of variables involved with DIY vehicles of any kind in the interest of public safety it's not likely any new laws will be written to include them. This is what I was going on about in another thread, don't be lulled into thinking you can buy a 500 watt hub motor for your bicycle and your good to go in Ontario! You can't just print off a compliance label and say I've manufactured a power assisted bicycle that is in compliance with the Canadian MVSA either...whole new can of worms that thought is. Relevant to that point is if you have been following the Ontario E-Bike saga through the years you might have noticed that the premier Canadian manufacturer of ebike kits, BIONX, is now part of Magna.

Cover story: The BionX Man - thestar.com

Many speculate that one of the reasons that deal came to be is because Magna is a recognized Canadian motor vehicle parts manufacturer with the ways and means of ensuring products produced under it's wing meet MVSA and other federal specifications. A Canadian MVSA compliant product via partnering with Magna is like a dream come true for BIONX because not many Canadians wanted to touch their product since it was not certified as being MVSA compliant and as a result technically not a road legal product in most Canadian jurisdictions.

Do some research and studying guys...the bureaucratic and legal status picture with regards to powered vehicles of any kind in Canada and Ontario gets lots clearer. If your from Ontario A good place to start is the Highway Traffic Act.

Side note...

One lucky thing for us and the DIY e bike crowd happened with the passage of bill 126...even though DIY e bikes were not made "legal" they were not made "illegal" either. With regards to the law there is a difference when the words legal, illegal and not legal are used. At this point in time DIY e bikes and bicycles modified with ICE kits are "not legal" in Ontario

To expand on and show some examples of what I was talking about when I said...

You can't just print off a compliance label and say I've manufactured a power assisted bicycle that is in compliance with the Canadian MVSA either...whole new can of worms that thought is

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Compliance labels and safety marks.

Motor Vehicle Safety Act - National Safety Marks

Before you can do the above labeling you need to fit in this list somewhere and I think power assisted bicycles manufacturers fit in the restricted use motorcycle class.

Vehicle Manufacturers Registered with Transport Canada

Although not as specific as I was looking for this PDF document show most of the important stuff a vehicle manufacturer or it's agent must provide to the gov.

Transport Canada - Guidelines for importing


And we wonder why we don't have any companies like OCC up here that will build a customer a custom motorcycle from scratch!

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marts1 said:

After reading that it seems it would be impossible to legalize these bikes

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I and many in the DIY ebike crowd feel the same but hey some people feel that one day pigs will eventually fly

On that note you could go to the MTO, as others have, and go for a one off home built "HOME" designation type registration but before you do that I suggest you look for an insurance company that's willing to take on your home built thing. In another thread here a guy went through the painful and expensive process of doing this only to find out in the end that he couldn't get an insurance company to cover his ride. Then too if you go for a home built moped registration you have to provide documents about the engine, where it and all the other parts came from etc etc. Once you get that sorted out then you have to provide notarized affidavits that state everything you used to build the thing, and the thing itself, is in compliance with the LSM standards specified in the Canada MVSA...if you go read what those standards are you'll see your pretty much F'd right from the get go. I mean yep you could BS your way through it and get your documents notarized but then your providing the MTO with misleading information which in itself renders your registered vehicle illegal.

Right now you, me and others in Ontario have something that in my opinion is simply not legal. Is it worth it to turn it into to something that would be considered illegal because the braking system really is not on spec with the MVSA or the engine really is not 49cc? Lying about anything goes against my principles so for me I'm never going to try and register my modified bicycle as something it is not nor ever will be. My argument for those that say we should register them mopeds is based on that position and logic as well because the MTO says right here that it must meet the federal safety standards for an LSM.


Boy did I take this thread way off topic or what