There Are Street Legal Dirt Bikes in Los Angeles. Here's How.

Alright, alright, you probably get it by now: California is not the easiest place in the world to get your vehicles on the road. In fact, it might be the hardest, a take that we have hardly shied away from. Cali’s rules border on insane, which is ironic considering…well, you know. 

One of the most frustrating things about California is its all-out assault on anything fun. It is one of the most majestic places on the planet. It has seven distinct climates within its borders. SEVEN. Mountains everywhere. Snow. Hundreds of miles of perfect beaches. And yet they make enjoying this perfect place dang hard if you ride something on two knobby wheels. 

Today, we’re looking at what it takes to get a dirt bike street legal in Los Angeles. We remember watching John Connor tearing through the viaducts on his two-stroke, being chased by the T1000…it’s probably not quite that awesome, but we’ll see what we can do for you anyway. 

Dirt Bikes In LA (starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken)

The first thing we need to discuss here is how or what it would take to make a dirt bike street legal and why would you want to if California is so thoroughly unfriendly towards it in the first place. 

First, we are talking about real dirt bikes here, not tamed-down Enduros that have been made California-compliant. This isn’t a big deal in states that have a less authoritarian take on things like emissions laws, although honestly, there aren’t that many states that are cool with tagging and registering dedicated off-highway vehicles like two-stroke dirt bikes. So in that sense, California isn’t the only bad guy around.

But Los Angeles might be the ultimate uphill battle. It is an openly hostile environment – to dirt bikes, that is. In fact, the state as a whole has even become openly hostile toward off-road dirt bikes operating off the road as intended. Street legal dirt bikes in LA? Forget about it, right?

Not so fast.

California’s Reciprocity Laws

Let’s talk reciprocity. You’ve probably heard the word thrown around plenty and have at least some understanding of what it means, at least in practical terms. Basically, it means that if your vehicle is wearing a tag from another state, they will let it ride.

Of course, here is the kicker: YOU are supposed to be from the state your plate is from. That’s the whole point. California’s goal is to allow people just passing through to continue to pass through with a non-compliant vehicle, like a dirt bike that’s been made street legal.

You see where we’re going with this? Let’s just say your street legal dirt bike won’t have a California plate on it.

One of the best examples of this is a surplus military vehicle. California flatly refuses to allow surplus military vehicles like the Humvee, CUCV, or an LMTV to take to the roads. However, you’ve surely seen all of those at Cars and Coffee or cruising Hollywood by night – that’s because reciprocity allows you to pass through California in one of those vehicles that California themselves wouldn’t make street legal, assuming you aren’t planning on staying too long.  

So, what does this mean for dirt bikes? Supermotos? Two strokes? And the like?

According to California DMV statutes, there are two different types of grace periods for transferring your plates to California:

1. Nonresident home state entitles the owner to a grace period.

2. Nonresident home state does not have a grace period, in which case California gives you time.

This is somewhat interesting because in most cases it puts the onus on the departing state. But this really only pertains to people moving into the state, not people passing through the state. If you have a grace period from the state you left, you can operate the vehicle with your home state tags and even re-register it there, all while living in California – even Los Angeles.

However, if you become a resident of LA, you will be subject to California registration laws. At that point California wants you to move your license plate there, but do you really have to?

There Are Street Legal Dirt Bikes in LA. But How?

The LA Metro is wild. The projected population for the entire metro in 2023 is around 12.5 million. That makes it slightly smaller than the entire state of Illinois and slightly smaller than Pennsylvania.

Obviously not all of those cars are wearing California plates. But how? The answer: Register in Montana using an LLC. The LLC is a legal resident of Montana, the LLC owns the bike, and you own the LLC. Your dirt bike gets a permanent Montana plate that you never have to transfer anywhere else, even to California, no matter how long you ride around Los Angeles or anywhere else in the state. That's the secret sauce California doesn't want you to know about.

The team here at Dirt Legal has helped tens of thousands of people get street legal in this exact way. We handle everything for you on your behalf, all backed by our 100% Money Back Guarantee, so the only finger you have to lift is to anyone who says you can't ride a dirt bike in LA.

Now, here’s the deal: You have to be smart about this. If you take your two-stroke dirt bike into downtown LA, belching smoke all over the place and doing wheelies and riding on sidewalks and all that, no matter what state plates it’s wearing, you’ll probably get pulled over by the first cop who sees you. Maybe they let you go, and maybe they don’t. But frankly, if you wear out-of-state plates, but your driver’s license has all those palm trees, you'll probably meet them in court. Be forewarned. This is a fight that UTV riders have been waging in other states for years now, registering their rides in Montana through an LLC for extra protection.

A Montana LLC is your best bet in a state as finicky as California because you have the ownership being in the same state as the registration. With that said, plenty of guys have been impounded and even towed because they ran or did something else illegal. It really all depends on the local judge, the local cops, even the local cop supervisors, and then even appellate judges, but just be aware that if you get pulled over for any reason, this registration situation is probably going to come into question and you're going to have to defend it. That's why our website spends so much time explaining exactly how this works, so you know how to defend it in the off chance that you have to. Follow all traffic laws and you’ll be just fine.

Can I Ride On The 405?

Here’s the thing: the 405 might be the best place to try and run a street-legal dirt bike. It’s loud, crowded, and full of chaos anyway. It’s hard to imagine a cop deciding to pull you over unless you give them a good reason.

Let’s clarify: When you choose our service, your dirt bike is a fully street-legal motorcycle. The issues with California are its ambiguous reciprocity laws and interpretations. But from our end, everything about the process is legal. Here’s the deal: You should consider getting it done through an out-of-state LLC so that the ownership isn’t located in California. If the owner of your dirt bike is a business in Montana, CA will not be able to nail you for not registering in California, which, of course, you couldn’t have anyway because California wouldn’t register the bike in question. Montana would, and that’s that.

Red Sticker Vs. Green Sticker Vs. NO Sticker

This topic is one we are well-known for explaining. As California made it harder for off-roaders to enjoy dirt bikes in the wild, it leaves little choice for trail enthusiasts besides registering and titling out-of-state and taking their chances with Officer Friendly. 

Here’s the thing: if you get busted for violating the sticker rules, you are getting cited. But there is a chance that you can go about your day and enjoy the trails and wide open spaces by making your dirt bike street legal. Again, you are rolling the dice if it is a non-Cali-compliant bike. If you are somewhere remote and the policing is lax, you may have no problems. Of course, this doesn’t really pertain to LA very much, but you still get out of the city now and then, right?

How About Electric Dirt Bikes?

We’ve talked about e-bikes before. Given their rabid fanaticism of EVs, these should be right up California’s alley. And they are, more or less. 

However, California views them along the same lines as bicycles because they must be under 750 watts and cannot go faster than 28mph. But there are a number of e-bikes that vastly exceed these figures in both power and speed. We can help you by making them street-legal. Again, this may be another example where you must talk to the local authorities about what you are riding. Check out California’s rules about e-bikes here.

Make sure to abide by all motorcycle laws and safety equipment requirements when you operate a tagged e-bike in California because the tag on it means it is viewed as a motorcycle in the eyes of the law. As far as our services go, just tell us your bike is electric when you sign up and we will handle the rest.

How Dirt Legal Can Help

There was a lot to unpack in there. From LLCs in Montana allowing you to finally ride your street legal dirt bike all over Los Angeles and beyond, to the idea that California as a state doesn't really seem to like dirt bikes much at all, but we can fix that together.

Owning and riding a street legal dirt bike in Los Angeles is entirely possible, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't heard of Dirt Legal yet.

Our Dirt Bike Registration Services are a great way to make your dirt bike roadworthy if you want to ride it on public streets. We’ll handle everything from start to finish – all you have to do is fill out a few forms and wait on your license plate.

Montana might not have In-N-Out to eat or Topanga Canyon to ride on the weekends, but it's a dirt biker’s paradise. That’s a long way to ride on a dirt bike though. Oh well, at least your license plate can be from there.