This is off topic but I don't know who to ask. I'm thinking of getting a yam wr 450 or Honda crf 450 or Kawasaki (suggestions needed) to run on the street in California. Acceleration and decent reliability are factors and want something faster than my 351 (which will be stored in my cabin anyway). Any suggestions.

My thought was that if the bike was street legal in another state california may honor that. Any expertise here?

 

CA has worked about as hard as any state to exclude non-DOT manufactured vehicles from being registered street legal. They've allegedly even gone back and cancelled some of those KTM models that had street legal titles but really hadn't met emission and some other requirements. CA also has some strict rules about bringing in vehicles from other states that weren't originally manufactured as DOT vehicles. I certainly don't know all the rules in Cali, but they're pretty harsh on their street legal regs. Here in Texas, you can still qualify an off road motorcycle as long as it meets safety inspection regs. We don't even have to have turn signals on a motorcycle here.

 

+1 California is going to be one of the toughest states to pull that off in. Having it plated and legal in another state probably won't make it easier to plate in Cali either. If you plate it in another state and leave it registered in that state, you may get away with it. Got a buddy living in Wyoming that will plate the bike in his name for you? Something like that MIGHT work. There is a thread over on the ADV forum with Wisconsin guys going through the same thing. Apparently Wi is tough too. They won't honor registrations from other states.
Dan

 

AZ is one of the easiest one. As long as the bike has head + tail lights, brake light and some sort of a horn, it can be registered street legal.
There might be some subtle details but in general all the KTM, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda 450 trail bikes can be made street legal with no problem.

In CA those conversion are now made illegal. just not going to happen.

But you can buy a street legal bike from another state (a so called 49-state legal) and bring it to CA and register it here as long as the bike has more than 7500 miles on it.

And that's exactly how I got my 2007 KLX.
The 06 - 07 KLXs are 49-state only, meaning they were not street legal in CA.
That's said in the federal emissions sticker, it only mentions EPA and 49 states etc. No mention of CA.
But I bought mine used from Nevada, took it home, made sure it had over 7500 miles on the odo and then took it to DMV. No problems what so ever to get it registered here.

--
Mikko

 

Look into Vermont as well. That's what every endure rider who can't register their bikes in jersey does...

 

My buddy street plated his YZ250f last summer!!! It can be done, just gotta have the right stuff.
Another buddy put his KX450 through. haha

 

you do not have to be a resident in Vermont to register and plate a bike there.
they will send you the plate out of state. Just ride in California with a Vermont registered bike, all set!!!

 

Just check your state's laws. Some states require you change all your vehicles paperwork to the state you live in making a vt registered bike a ticketable offense. NJ is that way...I've been told it needed to be changed but wasn't ticketed.

 

CA sounds as bad as Wisconsin. Guys here go up to Michigan to plate their bikes.

 

good info