"Street legal" or plated EC250 in Wisconsin

K

Kyle01

New member
So I bought an EC250 that was plated in Michigan and when I transferred the plate the friendly folks at the dmv put the brakes on. I'm well versed in the whole 8th digit of the vin, etc etc. here's my question- I know an EC will never be street "legal". I need to connect trails and get to trails and I ride a lot of forest/logging roads (not sure if these are considered "roads" or not) I have gotten a few non-legal bikes plated without fuss, the only hurdle was giving my word and checking the box that states "manufactured for highway use/has federal certification label". This time around they told me I need to snap a photo of this sticker- which of course doesn't exist.

So my options for a bike that will never really be "street ridden" but is required (in Wisconsin) to be plated most places I'll be riding it: A- a fed certification label magically appears somewhere on the frame. B- I put the plate from another bike on it. C- I try again at another dmv.

I'm not looking for anyone to encourage law breaking (if you can really consider it breaking the law) it just seems I'm in a catch 22 here and I can't be the only one. What have others done? If this has been beat to death here just ignore me. There's pages and pages over on TT and the supermoto forums but it's mostly related to California and the red/green sticker. I can almost 100% assure you that nobody is going to give my EC a second look up in northern wisconsin.

Thanks-
 
My 01 300 is plated & titled "cycle" from original purchase. Is it street legal? Heck no. Even on USDA Forest Service roads, it is not legal. Even with headlight, taillight, brakelight it doesn't meet the state requirements for "on road" use. It's really not worth the trouble to us to bother meeting any "on road" requirements. As such, it's getting ORV tags. It gets hauled with the rest of the bikes. If a plate is a must have...maybe you bought the wrong bike. Maybe your only option is unloading the Gasser, & purchase a bike you ride on the road...legally. Just my 2 cents.
 
Kyle01 said:
So I bought an EC250 that was plated in Michigan and when I transferred the plate the friendly folks at the dmv put the brakes on. I'm well versed in the whole 8th digit of the vin, etc etc. here's my question- I know an EC will never be street "legal". I need to connect trails and get to trails and I ride a lot of forest/logging roads (not sure if these are considered "roads" or not) I have gotten a few non-legal bikes plated without fuss, the only hurdle was giving my word and checking the box that states "manufactured for highway use/has federal certification label". This time around they told me I need to snap a photo of this sticker- which of course doesn't exist.

So my options for a bike that will never really be "street ridden" but is required (in Wisconsin) to be plated most places I'll be riding it: A- a fed certification label magically appears somewhere on the frame. B- I put the plate from another bike on it. C- I try again at another dmv.

I'm not looking for anyone to encourage law breaking (if you can really consider it breaking the law) it just seems I'm in a catch 22 here and I can't be the only one. What have others done? If this has been beat to death here just ignore me. There's pages and pages over on TT and the supermoto forums but it's mostly related to California and the red/green sticker. I can almost 100% assure you that nobody is going to give my EC a second look up in northern wisconsin.

Thanks-
Click to expand...

I was able to contact a dealer and get one of those stickers for my 09 KTM 450EXC and they sent me one for $10. This bike was a Euro version that never came with a sticker. But it worked in California.....
 
I apologize- a little searching turned up a ton of posts on this. And bowhunter007- I understand where you're coming from (and own some legit plated dual sport bikes) but the issue that's unique (maybe?) to Wisconsin and I'm sure other states is that without a plate, an "off-road only" motorcycle is restricted to very few areas of riding (none of which are close to me). We don't have ORV tags for bikes or Red/green stickers. Plated and non plated are the options. What I do have immediate access too are hundreds of miles of logging/forest/fire roads and 2 track that sometimes require a few miles of pavement to connect (for sure if I hit the gas station). The place is loaded with 4 wheelers of all types (2 strokes included) riding all over town (side of the road, sidewalks if there is one, "trails" on the sides of the highway). I'm only trying to get kind of legal so I can blend in and get to my trails. Once I'm out there I usually don't see another person all damn day.
 
Also- I'm guessing your 300 isn't any more "legal" than my 250 right? My bike IS currently plated in Michigan... So it must be legal-ish there. I'm going to try a place that does title transfers but isn't the DMV. The nearest town (to my cabin and where I ride) has 2 places that do it- a car dealer and the police dept. No harm in trying.
 
Kyle01 said:
I'm only trying to get kind of legal so I can blend in and get to my trails. Once I'm out there I usually don't see another person all damn day.
Click to expand...

My GG 200 was plated in WA when I bought it, but our wonderful state of OR has the same issue - just plain stoopid (though I know there's a percentage of the population would abuse plating a dirt bike).

Anyway, for the responsible folks simply looking to get from point A to point B, a plate can be needed (I know I've wished for one several times).

I bet if you contacted Paul from County Cycles he might be able to point you in the right direction or get something that would work - he's in WI too.

On a completely unrelated note, when you first posted about your bike, you mentioned possibly getting rid of the steering damper. Are you still thinking about doing that? If so, let me know the brand as I'm thinking about getting one.
 
We're very lucky in the PNW. I only have to travel anywhere from 40 min - 2 hrs, and disappear for days(in some cases, literally).
 
I'm fine with that as well (although we don't have all THAT many "destinations" for riding). When I'm up at my cabin I'm on the trails in literally 1/4 mile from my front door. I'd likely never have an issue. But it's become routine at about the halfway point to hit the highway and gas up on some non-ethanol 93 octane, then hit my favorite bar that sits right on the wolf river for some lunch (just don't have the hot wings if you're headed back out to the woods- ask how I know!)
 
Liv2day- it's a WER dampener- let me give it a go with and without it on the bike and see what I think. Never had one on an off-road bike so I'm curious- I get into a load of deep gravel and sugar sand and if it helps me not feel quite as out of control in that crap (the gravel I've come to terms with, sand not so much) then it'll be a welcome addition.
 
Where in Northern Wisconsin Are you? My cabin is in Webster and my 250 EC has a dual registration plate from Minnesota. I hear Wisconsin is tough to plate, if you have any family or good friend in MN you could have them title it and ride with a MN Plate like I do.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    122.4 KB · Views: 17
My place is up in Keshena, Menominee County. I just was up this weekend and tried at a police station in Waupaca Co, but the girl at the counter said she couldn't do it because it was an out of state transfer...

I'm thinking I'll just ride on the expired Michigan plates and that's that. Or I go back to the dmv with my photoshopped federal certification sticker from an 09' KLX that has my vin and "Gas Gas - Spain" instead of Kawasaki - Japan.

I'm not looking for a street bike. They really need some provisions for plating an off-road bike in WI for trail use. I don't really want to go to extreme measures (like faking a sticker) I'll just run the expired plate and hope for the best. On my way out of town I passed a kid on a wr450 riding on the sidewalk and 2 guys on quads ripping down the street- right past a cop who didn't even look twice. I'm guessing I'll be fine. I'd rather be "legal" though.
 
Kyle, in SC it was easy. Used the MCO to get a title and then registered them, an EC 300 and FSE 450.
It seems you are not going to get lucky like that so trust me here, make sure you have the required insurance. I have insured all my bikes including the off road only race bikes, with the Green Lizard for next to nothing. My 4 wheeler has liability insurance from another company.

The deal is this, in SC the ONLY ticket that can take your license and screw you to tears is riding without insurance on the road. A 4 wheeler or dirt bike will do it to you if caught, even on a public dirt road.

W/O going into details, I've been told by a Trooper that insurance on my CR250R would probably save my ass on the dirt roads or crossing over or a short ride down a paved road.

I put XR250L emblems on my CR250R and took the tag off the XR and stuck on the CR. I built an LED headlight and taillight that ran off batteries. Neither was useful but they both glowed! I figured I'd never get stopped and if I did the cop would not know or care about anything except the insurance, which was for the CR and I also had the XR insured. I had both registrations......I would claim the thing was the XR but if numbers were checked I had a policy on the CR as well :) Yea, they'd have been pissed but I'd not lose my license :)

Swapping tags will cost you money in SC but not your license. Driving w/o insurance will ruin your life!
Hope this helps.
Ed
 
Last edited:
Good advice- just got the coverage switched over to it. $106/yr. I'm taking a crack at mailing the title in as well- checked the box and I'll cross my fingers!
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    115.4 KB · Views: 18
Kyle, the way it works for us is that for Gas Gas, KTM, Husaberg, Husky and a couple others.....is the MCO is not stamped "off road only". Honda CR. Yamadog, Kawa....are all stamped on the MCO. If you get a title with an MCO that is stamped, and you can, it too will be stamped "off road only" and that is the end of it.

The DMV did not even have Gas Gas in their system but the MCO was not stamped so they just added it and gave me a title which I then used to register it. We do not have vehicle inspections. No questions were asked about whether it was actually "street legal" :)

No matter what, it's the insurance that saves your ass in SC!
Ed
 
I did it a few years back with a KTM SMR450... brought the MCO to the DMV and walked out with plates. They asked if it had the federal sticker on it and I assured them it did. They let me know that if that sticker didnt exixt my registration would be null and void... but I never had an issue. Traded it in at a dealer even, they didn't care.

The original owner of the Gasser got a Michigan title so I'm guessing the MCO didn't state "off road use only" I would have been home free I think but the DMV I went to has one guy who used to ride competitively... in enduros... go figure who I got? Where I've been verbally asked to verify the stickers presence- "Floyd" sent me away and told me to bring a photo of it back with me... So i'm hoping that checking the box on the form that says the sticker is there will suffice with the mailed in application and original title. Worst case is they send me back my title but no plate. And no inspections in WI either, so once youre in, youre in.
 
Kyle01 said:
I did it a few years back with a KTM SMR450... brought the MCO to the DMV and walked out with plates. They asked if it had the federal sticker on it and I assured them it did. They let me know that if that sticker didnt exixt my registration would be null and void... but I never had an issue. Traded it in at a dealer even, they didn't care.

The original owner of the Gasser got a Michigan title so I'm guessing the MCO didn't state "off road use only" I would have been home free I think but the DMV I went to has one guy who used to ride competitively... in enduros... go figure who I got? Where I've been verbally asked to verify the stickers presence- "Floyd" sent me away and told me to bring a photo of it back with me... So i'm hoping that checking the box on the form that says the sticker is there will suffice with the mailed in application and original title. Worst case is they send me back my title but no plate. And no inspections in WI either, so once youre in, youre in.
Click to expand...

Kyle,
Unfortunately for you WI cracked down on plated dirt bikes recently. I think in 2011 they started revoking plates/registration for people who had already gotten through the system. Making it almost impossible to plate anything which wasn't 100%street legal off the showroom floor.

Most people just register it in mn or mi. If you already have a mi title you can simply transfer that into your name and you are good to go. Non mi residents are legal to register their vehicles in mi so there is no laws broken.
In mn you simply buy a mn dnr sticker fill out the checklist and they give you a license plate, however I do not know anyone personally who has tried this being a non mn resident.

Good luck!
 
Well, i'll let you guys know how mailing it in pans out... hard to tell if i just got unlucky on my visit to the dmv (Floyd asking me to bring a picture of the fed. sticker, not just verbally verifying) Who knows. Either there will be a plate in the mail or not! I like the idea of doing a michigan title... how do i go about doing that with a WI address??
 
Here's my experience with the subject. My bike got a MN street title when new in 00'. In about 05' it was sold to a fellow in WI. He went to transfer the title into his name in WI, then about a week later WI sent him a letter saying the bike was unable to be titled in WI and was denied:mad:. I bought the bike from him but the MN title was MIA due to the WI DMV. I luckily got the original owner to do an application for a lost title so my bike still has the MN street title. Now, MN is much more relaxed on plated dirt bikes. You can get a plate for one by filling out a form with no inspection needed, but you won't get a title, just a plate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
2000 EC250 jetting with FMF gnarly
Replies
1
Views
67
(F5)
(F5)
M
2002 EC300 wiring for lights
Replies
13
Views
2K
(F5)
(F5)
C
Stator or CDI??
Replies
1
Views
407
SS109
SS109
S
2021 EC250 for sale
Replies
0
Views
1K
sfiegen
S
R
Making EC300 road legal possible in Canada? Also VIN
Replies
3
Views
2K
GGs
G
Back
Top