street legal fatcat

[Amater45]

Hey, ive been thinking of making my fatcat street legal. Im just wondering what i would have to buy to make all the lights work, and if i would need DOT approved tires. and how hard it would be. In my state, anything over 15 years old doesnt need a title so im good on that part.

[redsled]

Hey Amater,

I've also looked into this for my '86 already. Something to check on though with your licensing office is often if a bike was stamped "for off road use only", it can never be issued an insurable title even if an original title was never issued.(although I'm in BC, Canada so I'm sure my rules about the title are possibly different). Pretty sure we'd have the same hurdle in one big area though: DOT approved tires.
There are a few companies that make them, but from my research they are only made in 12" rim sizes, so finding some to fit our oddball 11" wheels would be a challenge. Or you'd have to get some custom conversion hubs made. I even considered fabbing some axles to run Yamaha TW200 wheels/tires.

But if you're lucky and your state doesn't care about all that, as for the rest you should already have the high/low beam headlight and the tailight, but you would have to hook up a brakelight, horn and the signals, as well as a speedometer/odometer.

These are not huge issues: even for mine as a trail bike I hooked up a brake light hooked up to a mechanical push switch off the rear brake pedal, and then installed a dual element bulb and holder under the factory lens, so it looks stock. I'm just finishing off a front disc conversion on mine too, so I'll add a hydraulic brake switch to the front lever once thats done and wire it into the same circuit.

The horn and signals can usually be bought as a "dual sport" conversion kit, and just require mounting the signals front and back and the flasher switch on the handlebar, then supplying fused power from the battery. And the speedometer I'm sure you could use one of those TrailTech digital computers as they can be set up to use a magnet installed on the front wheel to calculate speed.

All in all for me, it's probably legally impossible, or not worth the hurdles... If you do, all I can say is good luck!

-Redsled

[Knobby Addict]

Hello,
I have put several dirt bikes through the street legal "motor vehicle" nightmare in the fairly restrictive state, like Wr426, XR400, XR650r. The title for older bikes is not always an issue but with just a bill of sale they some times ask for the previous registration. I have had the best luck with bikes and paperwork from other states, it seems to confuse the person behind the desk and they usually just "push the paperwork through". In reality (at least in my state) you are at the mercy of the attitude of the person behind the counter. I typicall try to read the body language of the tellers as I'm in line, and steer myself to the one in the best mood.... Luck is the key! A friend of mine reg'd his NH off road titled XR400 in 10 minutes...as he was hitting on the teller?

As for the mechanical inspections I use the cheap Chinese scooter parts instaed of outraegous $$ "dual sport kits". I strip all that crap when it passes inspection. I have never seen the inspector look at a tire DOT rating. I have been turned back for the following, Chain gard must go beyond rear sprocket, lack of high beam indicator, blinkers not far enough apart, leaky fork seal (jerk couldn't find anything else).

I am a huge fan of the fat tire bikes and agree it would be cool to have a legal fat cat. But in the end I came to the conclusion for myself that a VERY similar already legal TW200 is much cheaper and easier.

Whatever you decide good luck...and if you have specific questions post them.

[Amater45]

Well there's a guy down the street from my house that's got a street legal one, in my state you dont even need mirrors, just directionals, hi/low, and a brake light. and the bike has to be able to maintain 35mph. as far as dot approved tires, that only comes when you need inspetion. if you know a guy, your good haha. but my concern is, will the bike put out enough power for all the lights?

[RapidRick]

I was talking to my parts guy yesterday when I was buying tires for my DS XR500. Now granted I live in Calif where things get real wierd with LEOs.

He told me that another DS rider with a plated XR was stopped by a BLM ranger in an "open" area, where a plate is not needed but only a off road "sticker", and was checked for DOT tires on his plated bike while riding in an clearly off road area. Fortunately, the rider did have DOT tires, and if he hadn't had them on a plated bike he would have written a ticket.

[redsled]

Well if you're going to chance the DOT tires bit for the inspection thats up to you, but I would tend to agree with RapidRick that it wouldn't be worth it to chance getting pulled over. And lets face it; you're GONNA get pulled over on a Fatcat eventually, they look like the oddest thing bombing down the backroads let alone on a highway, haha! A cop would pull you over just to find out what the heck it is you're riding!

But to answer your question on the lights, just get all LED bulb lights and flashers (except the stock headlight). LED's draw so little current compared to regular bulbs, and everythings probably wired to the battery anyways it shouldn't have any issue with a few extra bulbs. Ihavent had any issues with my brakelight mod yet and it's a standard 6watt/21watt bulb. I just have it run through a fuse off the battery.

[Amater45]

Well, i found he's selling his street legal fatcat for a whopping 500$. im interested hahaha, and theres nothing wrong with it. tempted to ask if he'd trade a ts100 for it!

[Knobby Addict]

Amater,
my advice would be to Go buy it...You'll sink $500 into a conversion pretty quick. If you don't get it send me a PM I'd be interested.... I heard there are rumors of opening up Jericho early on May 1 this year...I may be in Berlin early.

[Doink]

Any Fat Cat that runs anddrives as it should with little or noparts missing is worth upwards of $1200. $500 is a steal, especially on a bike that doesn't need to be shelved during the winter months.

[RapidRick]

That TR200 in good shape is well worth the $500 and if it was closer I'd be all over it. The real stopper is if I bought it to make it street legal I'd really have to check out the DOT tires available. Sure there are some golf cart tires that are DOT approved but quite a few of them have a fairly flat profile and aren't really rounded like the stockers. IMHO

[Amater45]

@Knobby Addict: Really, they are thinking of may 1st? hmmm.. ill keep my ears open and ill let you know if they will be open!

[Amater45]

Well, I priced out how much it would cost me to street stamp my cat, at about 250 i can get it. not too bad haha

[Amater45]

Oh, and if anyone else wants to try a fatcat street conversion, i found DOT approved tires that could fit a fatcat front and rear.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/23x8R-11-23x...ht_2920wt_1037