Maine BMV Laws

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CardInSpokes

New Member
I contacted the Maine DMV about the legality of riding Motorized bikes on Maine roads and if they need a registration. Short and sweet answer is no registration required.....BUT....they must have an engine with less than 1.5 brake horsepower. Don't most of these engines have a hp rating of 2? If that is the case they are considered "off-road vehicles" and are prohibited from riding on the streets.

That stinks!
 
I looked up motorized bikes on the maine DMV a couple of weeks ago and the laws have changed since last year(they even have pictures!lol). I'm not retyping what they have but in a nut shell if it's a maximuim of 50cc and has bigger than 10" wheels and doesn't excede 30mph then you insure and register it as a moped/scooter.You don't need to register or insure if 25cc or less not to excede 20mph. I called my insurance company . There was an awkward silence when I told him what the vehicle was and a bit of a giggle in his voice when he repeated the info back to me but he called back as promised and it's $100 a full year for liability.
 
Good to know. Planning a move to ME next year. And I can't wait to cruise my build around PTLD! I can deal with $100 a year.

Oh, and I've experienced the awkward silence/stare just this week! Went to the Urgent Care Center to get my road rash checked out. They asked for insurance purposes, how I did it. They asked if it was a motorcyle...I said, "Not really...a bike with a motor." I got the "WTH!" look then explained it requires no registration, etc. and we were all good!
 
Here is a link to the site where I got my info at Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles

I previously stated that the laws changed because I read a thread on maine laws awhile back and it was very different than what I recently found. I never bothered to look it up myself before so we could have gotten our info from different sources or it may have changed or maybe not. Like most States if you ask the same question to 10 different people you'll get 10 different answers. If I was wrong in any part of my previous post I apologize, it wasn't intentional.

I reread the link I put up and originally I considered a motorized bike a moped because it didn't fit all the criteria of a scooter. But the scooter criteria (doesn't require a registration) says it can be ridden on a roadway like a motorized bicycle or tricycle. Does it need to be registered or not???
I did get some of the info wrong in regards to mph. I also researched NH laws as I'll be crossing state lines and got the info screwed up. Again sorry for the bogus info. Brian
 
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