2013 Honda Metropolitan

[JerryH]

In AZ, most off road vehicles, including dirt bikes, quads, and UTVs can be made street legal, simply by adding a mirror, horn, headlight, tail light, brakelight, and license plate light. They do not need instruments or turn signals. The catch is they must pass the same emissions standards as factory street legal vehicles, which rules out late model 2 strokes. Now, ALL vehicles in the state of AZ come with titles, and after conversion, getting it through emissions, having it inspected, and getting insurance, you can exchange your OHV title for a street legal title. There is a reason why this is possible. Other than private land, almost every single trail in the state is considered a "road" and your OHV must be street legal to ride on it. Real non street legal OHVs have been pretty much relegated to OHV parks, where you still have to have an RV plate, and OHV sticker, and still pay to get in each time, or pay about $200 for a years pass, per vehicle. Most of these off road riding areas are on what is called "state trust land" I have yet to figure out exactly what that means, as the definition has some conflicting information. And you have to stay on trails. I know one rider who was fined $500 because he rode around a big mud puddle that was in the middle of the trail. The fine was later reduced, but he still had to pay.

As for the motorized bicycle/moped/motor driven cycle thing, motorized bicycles are covered by a fairly new law, and are treated pretty much the same as regular bicycles on the street and are allowed to use the bike lanes, but cannot use bike paths unless they are electric. A motorized bicycle typically consists of a Walmart bicycle with a Chinese "Grubee" engine kit installed on it, though other types of engines are also used. They must be 48cc or under, and you cannot exceed 20 mph (legally)

A "moped" is something you don't see very much. My 1977 Puch Maxi is considered a moped. Most mopeds are relics from the '70s, though at least one company still sells new ones here. They are a factory made motorized bike, must have functional pedals, an engine no larger than 49cc, and despite what the MVD says, may be legally operated up to 30 mph. They have special "moped" plates.

A "motor driven cycle" requires motorcycle everything, endorsement, insurance, registration, MC plates, etc. They basically include any size vehicle without pedals, up to 150cc. They are not freeway legal. My Yamaha Vino 125 and 149cc Genuine Stella fit in this category, though most cops consider 149cc to be freeway legal. They can still cite you for impeding traffic if you are going too slow. So do small displacement motorcycles under 150cc, like my former Kawasaki Eliminator 125, and the Sachs Madass 50 and 125.


Honda used to make a Metropolitan II, that was restricted to 25-30 mph, and it was classified as a moped in many states, but not AZ, because it lacked functional pedals. AZ's moped laws date back to the early '70s.