"Street legal" or plated EC250 in Wisconsin

[Kyle01]

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.

[houndog]

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

[Kyle01]

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!

[houndog]

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

[Kyle01]

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.

[boardrider247]

Originally Posted by Kyle01

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.

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!

[Kyle01]

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??

[nknudsen]

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. 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.

[boardrider247]

Originally Posted by Kyle01

how do i go about doing that with a WI address??

MI doesn't care what address you use to register the bike as I understand it.

It is covered in this thread. Sorry I'm not sure which page

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=673748

[Kyle01]

Thanks!! Hopefully I get the title back. Ugh.