Has anybody gotten a ticket for riding on the street?

#1
I hear of people getting fined $800+ for riding their minibike on the street and whatnot but honestly I've ridden past 3 cops before, only one of which simply gave me a warning about them not being street legal (which I had not known about beforehand). Has anybody here gotten fined for riding on public roads? If so how much was it and what exactly happened?
 
#2
The key isn't always the fine but they can take (and keep) your bike, ATV, snowmobile if they wish to if they catch you riding a non street legal device on the road.

Just depends on the cop and the city!

Street legal means just that!
Non street legal means just that!

We all play games but some cops ain't into game playing!
 
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#3
no tickets, i live in the country. the sheriffs are really cool. i wear safety gear, when I've been stopped and take off my helmet, they just say be safe and slow down a bit, however I've only been stopped twice, 1 time on my goped and 1 on the mini,
plus I'm on the good guy list. a lot of my family is in law enforcement.
 

capguncowboy

Well-Known Member
#4
I live in the county, and the Sheriff's deputies are all country-boys too. I doubt any of them would be hard-nosed enough to say anything about it as long as you weren't speeding or weren't yielding to street-legal vehicles. I mostly just ride on the streets of my quiet neighborhood, or sometimes down to the dock in our neighborhood and cruise up along the river. No one here seems to mind.

However, I'm about a mile from the city and I know those guys have nothing better to do. I'm certain they'd cite me without a warning. I have no clue what that would cost me, and I don't plan on figuring out any time soon.
 
#6
As a young boy in the mid 60's, local law enforcement would indeed ticket us kids for riding on the streets. The punishment handed down by the judge for this dubious activity was to write standards... 500 times. "I will not ride my mini bike on the streets again". It didn't work.

Having never really been able to enjoy my Bonanza that I purchased from my hard earned Oakland Tribune paper route dollars, I recently restored and registered a 1969 Honda Z50A, K1. I now enjoy cruising the neighborhood without having to look out for John Law and his ticket book. I still have the Bonanza, but it stays off of the local streets here. DSC01718.JPG DSC01711.JPG
 
#8
I live in the country and ride my minis to the store all the time, pretty much they dont care out here, can ride all day and no one thinks twice about it.
might be cause im old and have a big beard and they figure the old coot isnt worth the hassle
 

Ding Ding

Well-Known Member
#9
I live just outside of the cities in a suburban/country area where the lots are all multiple acres. You can get a your golf cart/4 wheeler/side by side registered with the city and you ride them on the streets!

As far as mini bikes go, I ride mine all over the neighborhood. I've ridden right by the police and they haven't done anything. I've even asked them if it's legal to ride them on the street, and he gave me a long "teeeeeeeeechnically noooo" response, and then agreed that as long as I'm not bothering anyone or giving them a reason to come out then it's really a non issue. And when they see it's not a kid riding around, they give me the benefit of the doubt that I am a responsible adult not causing trouble. (jokes on them!)
 

cxbra

New Member
#10
Im in LA county, California and the cops have their hands tied with all the stuff going on around here.. Ive had about 4-5 run ins with cops. 2 of them I ran and got away and the other times I just pulled over and they told me to walk it home. Thats the thing that drew me to minibikes in the first place, the innocence. If they catch you on the road on a loud 2-stroke dirtbike then you might be in a whole different ballgame. The thing is, if you get busted then keep riding.. You might lose your bike, but thats if you are really pressing your luck.
 
#11
Not sure what the penalty is up here in Ontario Canada for being caught on the street. I used to see all kinds of motorized skate boards and pocket bikes, pretty much extinct now so I do know they go after you. I plan on putting a handicap mini license plate on one and see what happens lol, maybe they'll pity me and find something better to do!
 
#13
...Has anybody here gotten fined for riding on public roads? If so how much was it and what exactly happened?
Age has a lot to do with it. If you're not old enough to have a driver's license you'll be in a lot more trouble than if you are of legal age. I had a lot of run-ins w/police between the ages of eleven and fourteen for riding my mini and dirt bike on the street. They cared less about my bike being legal than me being legal. I never paid any big fines, but got yelled at, told to walk it home, etc., and had to go to juvenile court w/my mom once to get yelled at in a more formal setting. The court trip got me some pretty good cred w/the other kids but it didn't stop me from riding on the street. Hitting that lamp post when I was seventeen sure slowed me down for awhile, though. A week in the hospital and three months of casts...

 
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#14
I live in the country now and they are cool out here as long as your not hauling a$$. but I'm from the metro Detroit area and they will take your bike in a min. I've had several warnings out there at my brothers so I'm all done riding out there. my mini's are worth way to much to take that gamble. lol be safe guys
 
#15
I live in a small unincorporated neighborhood south of Chicago where all the kids on their loud dirt bikes are always getting hauled in for racing around the streets. All this happens as I cruise around the same neighborhood past the cops, on my nice quiet mini bikes and the cops never bother me. I also think I have the "old coot" factor going in my favor.
 

WrenchDad

Active Member
#16
Where I live (about 40 min north of Pittsburgh) You don't see mini's in town most kids don't have them (no room) and if they had any property they ride on it. Now the road I live on (township)ts goes right to town, I'm about 3 miles away The neighbor kids will ride there dirt bikes down the road to different riding spots and some times to town to get gas. But once the hit the city limits they walk. My house sits in a "Y" between to roads with a drive way coming out on both township roads. The main road is pretty straight and busy( cars go fast) so I stay off it. The other one Is less used and more of a shortcut between the main rd and other connecting roads. I pulled out of my drive onto the shortcut just ahead of a state cop one time and he motioned me over. Talking across the seat out the window He asked where I live and I pointed behind me to the house. Then he asked what I was doing and I said just a test drive to check my adjustments. He said Take it back home now. I said Ok and he left.
Now I'm a licensed adult and I wasn't driving all over the place either . But they usually only come out this way when they are called for something or they are going up to the boys home at the end of my road. So if they see some of the kids on dirt bikes on the road they will Just tell them to keep it off the road. or walk it.
 
#17
lmao your lucky when i lived in jourdanton texas i was about 12 and my parents had gotten my brother and i a 185 and a 125 for xmas. wasnt long before you could see us jotting across town. the cops would look for us with a truck and trailer right behind them. they had tried to chase us before but we went down a road that was undrivable in a car and the cop busted his oil pan . we made sure to not get caught.
 
#18
thats not true youd be surprized at how much property "vanishes" from police impounds. one time a cop impounded my car for some bs reason and while i was waiting he was telling his partner how much his wife was gonna love my car once he bought it dirt cheap at the police auction. we had our whole 911 dispatchers in two cities high on meth so at this point anythings possible.
 
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