Enduro question

[Indybum]

I have a xr400 and found a site that sells the kits to convert them to be road legal and was curious if you can do this in NY.   The guy at the place says you can but when I called NY they said it is what it is.   Any help would be good!

[JoeR]

You might be able to do it, but it's a pain in the butt.  You have to do through the same process as a person that made their own homebuilt vehicle, including the vehicle inspection process in Albany.  It has to meet Safety and Emissions requirements for the model year, and you need to have a receipt for any part you put on the vehicle that it didn't come with stock...depending on the guy doing the inspection.
In many cases it cheaper to go buy a road legal bike, than to make one.
Joe

[Phantom]

You USED to be able to do that here in Jersey too but the Federal Government has clamped down on States that allow this recently by telling them to get the non-DOT compliant bikes off the road or loose Federal Highway Funds... I'm sure it's not much different in NY.

A friend of mine in Pulaski (board member) was going to buy an off road bike at a dealer (new) and they told him they could convert it and get him tags but when it cane down to it they could not do it so he ended up not buying the bike.

Most off road bike Certificates of Origin are stamped "For off road use only" and when DMV sees that they shut you down.
Some bikes here in Jersey squeeked through but the owners started getting letters of request from DMV for return of the "Mistakenly Issued" plates and registrations.

This is why I waited until I found a DRZ 400 (S model) I don't want the hassel of trying to get a non approved bike through the system only to find out a monyh or two later that "a mistake was made"

[Phantom]

Oh forgot to mention this...

Vermont will issue plates for anything / anywhere. A lot of enduro riders register their bikes there I wouldn't want to plate a bike with Vermont plates if I were riding it ourside of an organized event such as an actual enduro but it is and option if you are going to just use the bike to actually run enduro events.
if you are going to be riding the bike around town and avery day/weekend I would look for a legal bike to start with.

[Indybum]

Thanks for your info.   That's pretty much what I've been told about the title being one or the other.   Looking at the bikes online I just don't see that there is any difference in the frames or anything other than the abvious, turn signals and such.   Don't know what I'm going to do yet but thinking about trading or selling mine and looking into the drz400s.    Just don't understand why Honda doesn't make a 400 that's either or.

[rapidrobert]

The question you have to ask your self before you go bike shopping is how much am I going to ride it in the dirt and who am I going to be riding with. If you are riding with your buddies with dirt bikes or real enduros and 75% of your riding time is in the dirt I would buy a ktm, husky, or the new yamaha. but if you ride 75% on the road and you are interested in trail riding on hard packed dirt roads or hard packed trails. then I would look at the drz s, klr, XL honda ect.
I had a xl 600 and It sucked off the road even with dot knobbies and suspension upgrades it was a trail bike at best, so it spent most of its life as a road bike. Rapidrobert...