“Popular in European racing circles for years, pocket bikes have recently exploded on the scene in California,” Wired News: Speedy, Tiny and Troublesome explains — and from my recent visit back to California, I can attest to this; the miniature motorcycles were being sold by the road in the desert.
Ionko tells customers the bikes aren’t street-legal, and though he’s heard those with lights could be, the DMV won’t let riders register them. Many pocket bikes also lack the 17-digit VIN, or vehicle identification numbers, that motor vehicle manufacturers stamp on each product. Ionko and others believe this may be an obstacle to registering them.Terri Johnson, a manager with the state’s DMV, said the VINs have nothing to do with pocket bikes’ illegality on streets — it’s really about the bikes’ failure to meet safety standards, she said.
“You can’t modify it to make it street-legal, so that’s just the bottom line,” she said. “They’re not street-legal, and we’re not registering them.”