I'm on vacation in Santa Fe, NM. On the way into town I noticed a side by side driving down a frontage road close to the highway. I was walking the beagle and noticed an ATV riding down the secondary road in front of our campground.

Hummmm.... So I googled it, and sure enough New Mexico passed and signed into law a street legal ATV / UTV law. I do not have all the regulations, but generally I read about mirrors, turn signals, license plates and the like.

This is great news to me. I now think all of the border states of my home state Colorado have street legal laws. Street legal would be huge in Colorado. There are so many "dirt roads" going into the mountains that are scenic and frankly a bit difficult for anything but a Jeep. Last year we had a resident stop by our unload parking area and say "you guys don't plan on riding those things up this gravel road?" Sure we said, have been doing it for years. There is no parking room at the trailhead and the road is very rough for our small trailers. The guy said "well, you're breaking the law". Not in New Mexico we aren't. Notice my license plate and registration.

Love it!

David

Governor signs law defining rules for OHV use on paved roads - New Mexico Department of Game & Fish

 

fantastic news

 

ATVer's are hated here in Massachusetts. That's why NH and ME get my registration dollars.

 

Funny how various states have their "cultures". Colorado is a off highway friendly state for Jeeps, dirt bikes, mountain bikes and yes ATVs on selected trails. We're going to California which has a completely different "culture'.

In Colorado there is little interest in street legal laws for secondary roads in the state house. The trails are crowded and quite frankly "challenging" for this old guy. Them are big rocks I have to navigate around and over. The technical types would love it. My ambition in mountain trail rides is the sights and smells of the mountains. I don't feel inadequate if I take an old mining road instead of a ATV trail.

Come on, Colorado. Get with the program. Have visions of all those license and registrations dollars, as well as sugar plumbs, dancing in your heads.

David

 

Here in Illinois, many local townships do allow utvs(not atvs) to be ridden on secondary roads. Registration is required as well as street legal addons like turn signals and mirrors as well. Atvs get no such love. Most small towns(except the one I live in)still allow them as long as its not a busy street and you're riding sensibly through town and not doing anything stupid. Basically, if you live outside city limits, you can ride all you want. The local police never go outside city limits unless called so you'd most likely never see them.
David, as far as Colorado goes, I'm sure there are some easier trails available for you to ride. There are the technical rocky ones you described but I'm sure there are trails that are basically the equivalent of taking a gravel road as well.

 

Hi greg74: I'm sure there are Colorado trails that are "easier" than others. I have a publication from "Funtreks" that ranks trails by difficulty, kinda like ski runs. My buddies select the trail. They know I'm a rookie and have helped me a lot in my riding technique. I suspect we will encounter some easier trails this summer, especially if we take the wives along.

David

 

I'd love to go out there sometime and ride. I just don't have the time to get too far away from home. I basically just visit the ride parks closest to me, in fact one of those I haven't been to in a while, that's the next place I'll probably go. But a trail system would be totally different. These parks are all contained to one area, having the option to pick a trail that might take all day to ride and then ride a totally different trail the next day would be great. I used to do some camping many years ago, I would probably opt for a cheap hotel room instead now.

 

All day trail rides are great. My friends take too many beer breaks, but it's nice to chitchat with them since I don't see them much. We always have things like jerky and chips to snack on. Some days we have slices of Koegel's Red Hots* and cheese on crackers. Everything is sliced before we go and put in Ziploc bags. I always have a cooler full of Powerade or Gatorade. No beer for me.

I don't know how many ATV parks there are in Michigan, but I don't think they could compare to the thousands of miles of trails there are. It would be nice if we could drive around town too. I never did understand why one type of off-road vehicle (SxS) is allowed on the road some places, but another type of off-road vehicle (ATV) isn't. They're both off-road vehicles but one is allowed on roads and one isn't. They should pick a set of rules and apply them equally to both.

* Koegel Meats, Inc.

 

I think side by sides get a bit of a break because they look like cars. Scooters and dirt bikes get a bit of a break because they look like motorcycles. Our ATVs don't look right to bureaucrats. But they are clearly classified as motorcycles because of the handlebars and straddle the engine.

The high center of gravity, balloon tires, lack of rear differential, confusion on single rider or two riders, a bit noisy mufflers, etc, can stack up against ATVs.

But not with New Mexico. I saw a 450 class two stroke ATV zooming at 45 mph on the road in front of our campground, turn signals and all.

David

 

At least there are some places to ride our ATVs, even if it's not where we want to. The scooter I had wasn't made for off-road use, and wasn't legal to ride on roads or sidewalks. Legally speaking it wasn't a moped, motorcycle, or even a scooter. I was risking a ticket every time I pulled out of my driveway. It's not me in the video. When I did a wheelie it was purely by accident.


No one else in the world has made a 2-speed scooter like this, either before or after. They are basically the same as the Uber Scoot 49X that's made by the same company, Puzey Design, in South Africa. I used my quick detach seat sometimes but not a whole lot. It had an Active engine from Italy, just like an Active weed whacker. I added a racing pipe, higher than stock second gear, a velocity stack, and an ADA racing air filter to mine. It still didn't go over 45 MPH like it says in the video. At least not with my immense weight on it. The Uber Scoot 49X is 49cc like my EVO 2X was, because anything over 50cc needs a motorcycle license in the U.S. The nearly identical 70X is 71cc and made for use in other countries. It will do 40 MPH with no mods and the 49X can do 36 MPH.

Uber Scoot 49X