Category: Legal & Safe

DOT Certification information

Please take some time to skim this FAQ from the NHTSA site about DOT Certification of Motorcycles and Scooters. It’s interesting to note that:

  • Few people realize this: Manufacturers do NOT submit a sample machine (or helmet) for testing, it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to manufacture, test, and label the bike (or helmet) to conform to DOT specs. DOT has absolutely no involvement in the process. This makes one wonder how many of the scooters out there bragging to be “Street Legal” really are.
  • It’s well known that many manufacturers sell their bikes as “mini-bikes” or “off-road use only” bikes to avoid DOT compliance, but reading some of the letters attached, it seems the DOT actually ENCOURAGES this for some reason. Despite their own rules describing “off road” bikes, they’ve told at least some manufacturers of potentially street-ridden minibikes to not bother trying to meet their standards.

The document also links to a search engine of companies that have compliance records with the DOT (search in “Part 566”).

Rhode Island redefines scooters, revises law

The Rhode Island General Assembly passed new legislation today that redefines moped and scooter vehicle classes and allows anyone with a regular driver’s license to pilot a under-50cc/under-4.9hp “scooter.” The law appears designed to please local rental services and dealers, especially those selling glass-pistoned Chinese scooters in gas-station parking lots. (thanks, Scooter Scoop)

Honda UK’s “My First License”

In another example of how the British motorcycle industry kicks the American motorcycle industry’s ass, Honda UK is offering “license classes”? for 5-11-year olds at local bike shows. The licenses aren’t valid, of course, but the program delivers a message about safety and responsibility to british kids (along with Honda’s sales message) at an age when their American counterparts are riding dirt bikes without helmets on their uncle’s farm.

Honda UK’s “My First License”

In another example of how the British motorcycle industry kicks the American motorcycle industry’s ass, Honda UK is offering “license classesâ€? for 5-11-year olds at local bike shows. The licenses aren’t valid, of course, but the program delivers a message about safety and responsibility to british kids (along with Honda’s sales message) at an age when their American counterparts are riding dirt bikes without helmets on their uncle’s farm.

TomTom scooter GPS

If you’ve got a $900 tax refund coming and hate getting lost, the TomTom Rider motorcycle/scooter navigation system looks pretty fantastic. Alwaysblog seemed to really like it, from what i can make out (“Rider” in italian is “to laugh,” ha.) It’d be especially fun to use on a old Vespa, where you need four hands as it is for throttling, braking, shifting, signalling, and holding your 30-pack of Old Style in place.

Progressive publishes motorcycle accident/theft stats

Last month, Progressive Insurance published a list of collision and theft statistics for 89 metropolitan areas. Chicago surprisingly placed slightly below the national average on both charts, 64th (of 89) “most likely” for collision, and 52nd (of 89) for theft. Just don’t let your bike out of your site in Honolulu, where theft is 4.28 times more likely than the national average. Thanks for the tip, Vespaway.

Motorcyclist Airbags

I’m not quite sure how much motorcycle airbags would help the chap in the video who is riding a sports bike in a t-shirt, but you can’t help the low levels of common sense in some people. Still, great to see this idea/technology put into practice. Personally, I would forget I’m wearing it, and end up looking much like the Michelin man after I forgot to unhook myself.

Piaggio & Aprilia sponsor safety classes in Italy

From Motoblog: Piaggio e Aprilia Partner di “Sicuri su due ruote”. It’s in Italian, so I can just make out the gist of it, but apparently Piaggio and Aprilia have invested in safety classes by supplying some scooters. Considering the difficulty of getting into an MSF class, and the expense of private classes, (not to mention the difficulty of targeting the scooter market for advertising) an industry-led initiative would be a fantastic idea here in America, especially since as far as we know, there are no scooter-specific classes or schools here. Does your local shop support a riding safety school, or host their own? They should! Let us know.