Sur-Ron-class legality across all 50 states

MCL 257.217i was added by 2018 PA 680, effective 28 March 2019. ORV licence $26.25 plus a $10 trail permit, $36.25 total, running 1 April to 31 March; the licence is required to ride eligible county roads.

SB-586 (signed October 2025, effective January 1, 2026) formally classifies Sur-Ron-class bikes as off-highway electric motorcycles requiring a Green Sticker — not electric bicycles or mopeds. A separate 2024 law, SB-1271, bars selling or labeling a vehicle as an 'electric bicycle' unless it meets Vehicle Code 312.5. SB-1167 (introduced February 2026) has since advanced through the legislature: it passed the Senate, moved to the Assembly, was amended in Assembly on June 22 and July 1, 2026, cleared Assembly Appropriations, and as of the August 20, 2026 official status was read a third time and amended and ordered to third reading — an active bill in the Assembly floor process, still unsigned. The latest bill text broadens the prohibition on advertising, selling, offering for sale, or labeling motor-driven cycles, mopeds, and similar vehicles as electric bicycles; adds disclosure, labeling, battery-safety, incident-reporting, and definition changes; and still includes a proposed highway/public-right-of-way operating prohibition/removal authority for 2- or 3-wheel electric devices capable of more than 20 mph on motor power alone unless the device is Vehicle-Code-authorized. The current governing law remains SB-586 until any pending bill is enacted.

Confidence on this record is medium. We have not confirmed whether the Colorado DMV will title or register a non-FMVSS off-road motorcycle, which is what separates restricted from a genuine conversion path. Our previous claim that a plated bike still needs an OHV permit for designated trails also sits awkwardly with § 33-14.5-101(3)(g), which excludes Title 42-registered vehicles from the OHV definition, and needs re-verifying with CPW.

Senate Bill 3077, the "Ride Safe Act", was filed by Governor Maura Healey on 4 May 2026 and had a committee hearing on 28 May 2026. It would set a speed-based framework for e-bikes, mopeds and similar vehicles. It has NOT been enacted and does not govern anything today - we flag it because it would reshape this classification if it passes, not because it currently applies. Verify its status before relying on this note.

12 CSR 10-23.428, 'All-Terrain Vehicles Modified for Highway Use', was rescinded effective 30 December 2005; Missouri had a highway-conversion rule and repealed it. RSMo 301.010's August 2025 amendment was a cotton-trailer act and changed nothing relevant. Sourcing note: we previously cited dor.mo.gov/pdf/Section7.pdf, which still returns HTTP 200 but carries a Last-Modified date of 28 June 2021 — a legacy chapter set stranded by a site rebuild. The current manual is a single 6.4 MB file revised August 2025.

P.L.2025, c.285, approved January 19, 2026, added an 'electric motorized bicycle' class — a two-wheeler with fully operable pedals and a motor over 750W capable of exceeding 28 mph — and folded it into the motorcycle definition. A pedal-less off-road bike is unaffected and remains a dirt bike. The change does create a dead zone for high-power pedal e-bikes, which are now motorcycles, excluded from the new e-bike registration program, and unregisterable because they are not FMVSS-compliant.

2025 Public Chapter 255, effective 24 April 2025, repealed § 55-8-203 outright and rewrote § 55-8-185 to allow ATV operation — including two-wheelers under the § 55-8-101(1)(B) definition — on state highways posted at 45 mph or less and on county roads, capped at 35 mph. Note that Tennessee has no statewide safety inspection: the emissions programme was abolished by 2018 Public Chapter 953.

Utah's HB 381 ('Electric Mobility Device Amendments,' Rep. Paul Cutler) was signed March 24, 2026 and took effect May 6, 2026, with a second tranche of requirements following on May 5, 2027. It writes electric power into the motorcycle definition — an e-moto exceeding e-bike limits is a motorcycle, full stop, needing licensing and registration — and creates a distinct 'E-Motorcycles and High-Powered Devices' category for machines marketed as e-bikes that exceed the legal e-bike limits. The Utah Highway Safety Office states the trigger as a device that travels over 20 mph without pedalling **or** exceeds 750 watts, which a Sur-Ron-class bike clears on both counts. E-motorcycles on public roads require a driver license and a motorcycle endorsement; riders under 16 may not operate a high-powered device on a public road at all; and every rider under 21 must wear a helmet — DOT (FMVSS 218) on an e-motorcycle or high-powered device, CPSC only for e-bikes and e-scooters. Jurisdictions such as Summit County (Park City) have paired the law with stepped-up enforcement against illegal e-moto riding.

2024 Acts cc. 436 and 510 amended § 46.2-100 so that off-road motorcycles are deemed motorcycles rather than all-terrain vehicles. Our previous record carried the pre-2024 rule. Note that § 46.2-915.1(A)(2)'s age exceptions are written in cubic centimetres, which has no meaning for an electric machine — a genuine gap where the law does not address this vehicle class.

Statutes current through 2025 Wis. Act 247. Not yet verified by us: a reported registration bar at Wis. Stat. § 341.10(6) and Wis. Admin. Code Trans 305.065(3) requiring a federal-safety-standard label for road registration. If those hold, Wisconsin is restricted-only with no conversion path; we have not read them and do not assert either way.

From January 1, 2025 an OHV decal purchase requires completing the 'Safe & Ethical Riding in Arizona' course. SB 1517 (ch. 221, Laws 2025, signed June 20, 2025) amended only § 28-2156, which applies to vehicles with four or more nonhighway tires and does not reach a two-wheeler.

CS/SB 382 (2026) as filed would have created an 'electric motorcycle' class for machines of 750W or more capable of exceeding 28 mph. That definition was stripped before passage, and the Governor vetoed the remaining bill on June 25, 2026. Florida law is unchanged; expect secondary sources to report this incorrectly.

HB 308 (2025), which would have amended § 40-3-30.1 for 'miniature on-road vehicles,' was vetoed on May 14, 2025 (Veto No. 1). HB 957 (2026), on the same subject, was tabled in the Senate on March 31, 2026. No 2022, 2025 or 2026 act amended § 40-3-30.1. Our text of subsection (f) is the 2020 enacted version; the codified O.C.G.A. sits behind a paywall we could not reach, and amendments in 2021, 2023 and 2024 have not been ruled out.

Public Act 104-0414, the Micromobility Fire Safety Act, took effect January 1, 2026 and reaches this product directly: its 'personal e-mobility device' definition expressly includes an electrically propelled off-highway motorcycle, and § 15(b) bars manufacturing, selling, leasing or renting one unless its electrical system has been tested to ANSI/CAN/UL 2272, with traction batteries required to meet UL 2271. Violations are enforceable by the Attorney General under the Consumer Fraud Act. If you are buying in Illinois, ask the seller for the UL 2272 certification before you pay.

Chapter 198 of the Laws of 2024 (signed July 11, 2024) added VTL § 2261(6): every limited use motorcycle sold by a dealer must be registered at the time of sale. NY DMV applies this as of January 7, 2025. S2436A, which would ban certain NYC off-road motorcycle sales, has passed the Senate but remains in Assembly committee.

HB 847 (2025), 'Off-Road Motorcycle Registration Eligibility,' passed the House 110-0 and died in Senate Rules on May 7, 2025; its 124cc displacement test could not have been met by an electric machine in any case. S.L. 2026-46 (§ 19, effective December 1, 2026) rewrites the electric-bicycle definition into three classes but retains the operable-pedals and 750W limits, so it does not open a path for this class.

ORC 4511.01 was amended effective June 30, 2025 (HB 54) and September 30, 2025 (HB 96), but the motorcycle and electric-bicycle definitions are unchanged from the prior official text. Chapter 4519 has not been substantively amended since HB 26 (2017).

§ 3722 was added by Act 92 of 2022, effective 60 days after July 11, 2022. No 2025 or 2026 act has amended § 3722 or § 7702.

HB 3297 (88th Leg., ch. 851), effective January 1, 2025, eliminated the annual safety inspection for non-commercial vehicles. No 2025 act changed the chapter 551A, chapter 664 or § 541.201 definitions.

ENACTED July 15, 2026: Governor Green signed HB2021 as Act 259, effective immediately upon signature. It creates a 'high-speed electric device' (e-Moto) category — anything exceeding 750 watts or 28 mph — and BANS those devices from any public roadway, bicycle lane, travel path, bicycle facility, or other public area statewide. A Sur-Ron-class electric dirt bike lands squarely in that category: as of July 15, 2026 it is explicitly barred from all public areas in Hawaii, one of the strictest treatments in the country. The act also bans mopeds/electric motorcycles from bike-only facilities, raises the scooter/micromobility helmet age from under-16 to under-18, and requires proper registration with penalties. Legal riding for a Sur-Ron-class bike is now effectively private property and the DLNR OHV areas only.

A January 2026 Kansas Legislative Research Department memo summarizes the Kansas e-bike boundary: an e-bike is a pedal bicycle with an electric motor under the statutory limits and is excluded from the motor-vehicle definition. A Sur-Ron-class pedal-free/high-power dirt bike falls outside that e-bike treatment and should be handled as an off-road dirt bike or motorcycle-class vehicle.

In 2025, Reno/Sparks-area officials publicly warned of and stepped up enforcement against illegal electric dirt bike use, citing a rise in citations, crashes, and complaints. Clark County's comprehensive e-bike/e-scooter/motorcycle ordinance took effect May 21, 2025, barring motorcycles and all-terrain motorcycles (electric or not) from parks, trails, and recreational facilities unless designated, with escalating fines ($150 → $300 → $600, guardians liable for minors). Southern Nevada enforcement — stops, citations, and impounds of illegal or unregistered e-motorcycles — has continued into 2026. The ordinance covers unincorporated Clark County; cities such as Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas may differ, so confirm local rules.

Public Act 25-65 changes Connecticut's motorcycle and motor-driven-cycle helmet threshold from under 18 to under 21 effective October 1, 2025. Older summaries may still describe the on-road helmet rule as under-18 only, so verify current DMV/CGA text before relying on old motorcycle-helmet guidance.

Idaho Code 49-666 was amended in 2025, but the current official text still sets the motorcycle/motorbike/UTV/ATV helmet threshold at under 18 with listed exceptions. Older secondary summaries may miss the 2025 amendment history, so rely on the current Idaho Code text.

Nebraska's official minibike definition now explicitly includes a two-wheel vehicle primarily designed by the manufacturer for off-road use. Combined with DMV's title-only Not to Be Registered For Road Use language and the motorcycle-title MSO/MCO requirements, that makes older generic conversion summaries unreliable for Sur-Ron-class bikes.

Beginning January 1, 2026, Alabama Code Section 32-8-30 requires a certificate-of-title application for 2026-and-newer off-road vehicles unless an exemption applies. That title rule helps ownership tracking, but it is separate from highway registration and does not make an off-road-only dirt bike street-legal.

Iowa Administrative Code 571-46.25, effective June 18, 2025, confirms that designated riding areas require helmets for all operators and passengers and adds under-12 supervision rules. That correction matters because Iowa's lack of a universal on-road motorcycle helmet law does not mean there is no OHV helmet rule.

KRS 189.281's local OHV roadway pilot was extended in 2024; the current statute says it sunsets July 1, 2027. As of this verification date, that program is still local-ordinance based and defines eligible OHVs around four-to-six tires, so it is not a blanket two-wheel dirt-bike road path.

The Mississippi DOR FAQ now says ATVs and utility vehicles manufactured after July 1, 2025 must be titled. The same FAQ treats dirt bikes differently: voluntary title only, no license plate, and highway/city operation only if local law authorizes it.