Just grabbed this off another site thought it was worth posting. Congratulations to YOU. YOU did it! SB 5800 signed into law yesterday! 04/20/2011 THE WASHINGTON STATE LEGISATURE HAS PASSED LEGISLATION PERMITTING OFFROAD MOTORCYCLE TO STREET USE CONVERSION Olympia, Washington 19 April 2011 The Legislature has passed and the Governor signed SB5800. This bill would allow properly equipped and documented off-road motorcycles to be legally converted to street use. This common sense piece of legislation was passed with strong bipartisan support, 46 to 2 in the Senate and 96 to 0 in the House of Representatives. SB5800 was sponsored by Senators Curtis King, Mary Margaret Haugen, Paul Shin and strongly supported by the Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance, the Northwest Motorcycle Association and a large number of offroad motorcycle enthusiasts. With many offroad motorcycle trails being fragmented by road building and timber harvesting, there is a growing number of riders that would like the opportunity to make their motorcycles legal to use the forest roads to connect the otherwise lost trails. The equipment requirement compliance inspection will be accomplished by motorcycle dealerships and the owner of the motorcycle will have to sign a statement that releases the State from all liability and acknowledges that they are aware that the motorcycle was not manufactured for street use and has been modified to be suitable for that purpose. The Washington State Patrol did not oppose this bill and stated before the Senate Transportation Committee that properly modified offroad motorcycles would not be any less safe than other street motorcycles. Rural communities would also benefit when these motorcyclists are able to travel into their towns and enhance the local economy. Other states have enacted similar laws and they have proven to be a safe and effective solution. With the additional fees involved, this will also be a revenue positive change for the State of Washington. Tod Petersen Political Action Committee Chairman, Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance Legislative/Land Use Coordinator, Northwest Motorcycle Association P.O. Box 61161 Seattle, WA 98141
Its huge. It effectively opens up 100's of miles of old fireroads at the least. We have mtns with fireroads crisscrossing 100's and 100's of mtn fire roads. Now i can ride from my house on weekdays after work too without loading up. Its going to be amazing. We are holding our breath that the washington state patrol or whoever adds some funky rule though between now and when it starts.
I wonder when they passed a law that you couldn't plate a dirt bike. I got my green stickered 1986 KDX200 plated for the street for the first time when I moved from California to Washington back in 1990. Then when I moved back to California I got it plated here.
Great news to say the least ... Get ready to use something other than a knobby on the rear ... I like the Kenda k270, 5.10 x 18
In 2000 the state patrol decided to quit inspecting motorcycles for road worthiness. There was never any specific law against it.
Essentially it became the case the the bike had to be certified by the mfg to be street legal or they wouldnt issue plates. Pretty much the same situation in Oregon where we are hoping to get something similar to HB5800 introduced in the next legislative session (this one is about to wrap up so wont happen this year). My TXC could become more useful with a few TE bits to legalize it, not to mention eligible for Dual Sport events.
