I have my Warrior street legal here in Az for the express purpose of being able to ride in the Coconino Nat. Forest, in which my home is located. Our Big Brother in the Forest Service has decreed that unlicensed vehicles are not permitted to use any maintained roads, dirt or otherwise. Of course one has to use these roads to get to the one- or two- tracked trails he wishes to ride. Can you say catch 22?
To be street legal here requires the following:
licensed as a motorcycle
minimum liability insurance
mirror
horn
stop/tail/license plate light
muffler
When these alterations have been made the quad must then be hauled to the local Motor Vehicle Office to be inspected along with a proof of insurance card from your ins. co.
The lic. plate is then issued on the spot.
All this expense & hassle just so you can ride in the woods. Another excellent reason to join the Blue Ribbon Coalition before Clinton or her husband, Bill, closes ALL our public lands to us!
As to the subject of riding on public paved roads... bad idea! Most atvs have no differentials
& depend on the outside wheels in turns to slide in order to coordinate their speed with the inside wheels. On pavement this normally won't happen causing the machine to want to highside. The result I'll leave to your imagination.

 

Hot_Shoe, pretty much the same requirements to be street legal here in WY. One thing that WY has is called a "Recreational MC License". This is basically a MC license for quads only; my wife has one. You get it by taking the written MC test only, no road test required.

SayIt_FMF, I have ridden my Banshee for fairly long durations at 65 MPH. The 2 lane road I live off of is 65 speed limit and I have just cruised behind cars for pretty long distances... I think it kinda wild. I've ridden about 10 miles in one direction and about 15 miles in the other direction at speed; no sweat. Mostly, though I ride the dirt roads in my area or up in the little mountain range near me. Fun!!! (legal too)

Somebody mentioned insurance, it isn't too bad. I pay about $70 for liability on the Banshee and about $60 full coverage on the Warrior. The Banshee full coverage was a little high I guess because it is new and worth more.

 

I think my parents pay insurance for my atv.
I guess it's good to have incase the garage catches on fire and my atv burns then I get insurance money to get a new atv.

I ride on the road with my atv...and when i turn you can really feel and hear the back tires grab, because of the locked axle...it would be best if street legal atv's had rear differentials.

 

I called my county commisioner about this awhile ago, and he said that in my area quads are classified as farm vehicles (even high performance ones)so all I need is a slow moving vehicle sign and I can go anywhere someone would drive a tractor.

 

Thats good.

If they don't make quads legal everywhere then they should make them as farm vehicle's only in the country places.

 

Well ATV_MAN you may have heard about Bill 11 ( the red tape reduction act of 1999) which includes changes to the off road vehicle act of Ontario that will if passed allow local municipalities to decide whether or not ATV's will have the same rights as snowmobiles now do when it comes to riding on the shoulder of the road or even the road if there is zero shoulder. So get ready to approach your local council if this passes so that you won't miss out on this great opportunnity! Fo more info you can go to the following websites: The Off Road Vehicle Act
( http://209.195.107.57/cgi-
bin/om_isapi.dll?clientID=3061&advquery=off-
road%20vehicles%20act&headingswithhits=on&infobase =Statutes
%20Of%20Ontario&record=%7B1823A%7D&softpage=Docume nt&
wordsaroundhits=2&x=47&y=11) and copy of bill 11, go to the end of the document to see the ATV potion! (http://www.ontla.on.ca/Documents/Sta...T/b011ra_e.htm)

Enjoy!!!

 

Hot shoe: You are lucky you can go threw the "hassle" of getting your ATV licenced. My buddy lives in Az. and can bring his out here and ride any where he wants. I live here and I have to load mine up between trail heads, now thats a hassle. Went to Lake City to ride the Alpine Loop. It starts and ends there. But the damn trail starts and ends on the opposite side of town and you can not ride between them. What that means is I have to start on one end and turn around at the other and drive 60 miles back because I can't ride threw 3 miles of town!
I'm checking out what I can do to get them street legal no matter what the hassle would be.

 

I was just at Lake City area last week.I agree with you what a pain.

 

well, you could all move to sunny south dakota!
i licensed my 2000 sportsman 500 by doing exactly this....
buying a $5 bicycle rearview mirror and velcroing it to my handgrip.
i went to the courthouse, signed a letter stating i had done so and got my plates for $22 per year.

the minimum is 200cc, brake light, rearview mirror.
no motorcycle license is required, no helmet is required, nothing.

i have turf tires on my quad and it is my primary non-work vehicle. it'll go 62mph, i can go anywhere i want.

i got hassled the other day by a town cop and he was SURE i could NOT be on the road with that thing! he contacted the highway patrol and eventually the state capitol. he showed up at my house at the end of his shift and handed me a copy of the law stating i was legal, he was wrong.
done deal.

on-on!

 

I live here in Missouri and they are 'Farm Usage Only'. You have to have the orange/red triangle sign and something from the farm to ride on highways.