What will I need to ride a motorcycle in California ?

[stratus17]

Hello everybody,

I live in Switzerland, I have a Swiss license and insurance for riding a motorcycle.
In 2 weeks I will have the opportunity to go to California for 14 days.
I am thinking of buying a small (and cheap: less than 2000 USD) motorcycle for the duration of my stay in California.
I will give it to my brother who live in Los Angeles when I go back to Switzerland.
What kind of papers will I need for the motorcycle and myself to ride legally in California ?
Thanks in advance.

[atadaskew]

You will need the title to the bike to buy it, and on it it requires an address and your driver's license.  I'm not sure if your Swiss license is acceptable to transfer the title BUT the easiest thing by far is to just buy it in your brother's name seeing you are going to give it to him in 2 weeks anyway.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

You will need the title to the bike to buy it, and on it it requires an address and your driver's license.  I'm not sure if your Swiss license is acceptable to transfer the title BUT the easiest thing by far is to just buy it in your brother's name seeing you are going to give it to him in 2 weeks anyway.

And while you're at it, do you have a bike I can ride while I'm in Switzerland in May?  

[Blunder]

You'll be a tourist so your Swiss license should be OK to operate a motor vehicle in California and any of the neighboring states such as Nevada, Oregon and Arizona. I'm sure you can get an International license through your local motoring association. California may have onerous paperwork requirements but it doesn't compare to what the Swiss government demands.

As Dante has posted, get your brother to buy the bike and have all the paperwork in his name. Have him get insurance and the paperwork that goes with it. All he needs to do is verify that you have his permission to ride said bike should you get pulled over and you'll have no problems. If plod does pull you over fake an ignorance of English, show your passport and Swiss license and get away with a warning.

[miles]

Your Swiss license will be OK. As has been suggested, ownership paperwork will be much easier if the bike and insurance are in your brother's name.

California is a helmet-required state, so either bring one or plan on buying one here.

The rules of the road are the same as you are used to, so there should be no nasty surprises.  California allows lane-splitting, but no other states do, so if you wander across the border into Oregon, Arizona or Nevada remember that these places are not so friendly to such maneuvers.

Plan on getting a decent-sized bike.  Distances can be quite large (the state is 1400km long) and a bike smaller than 500cc might not be up to the task.  YOu should still be able to find an inespensive bike in that range.  Try http://www.craigslist.org for good deals, and don't be shy about asking people here on the board to look at potential bikes for you.  Many of us would be happy to do so.

Ask about ride details when the time gets closer.  Look at this thread: http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,51385.0.html and you can see the type of route help typical of this board.  Also, many of us would be willing to act as tour guide, if you want.

Depending on what time of year you plan on getting here, it can be quite hot.  I mean 40+ degrees hot in some areas.  Plan your riding gear appropriately.  The weather will be similar to Spain, so if you've ridden there in the summer you get the idea.

Keep us updated- we love this kind of thing.


 

[Mr Sunshine]

California is a helmet-required state, so either bring one or plan on buying one here.

Small note...the helmet needs to be DOT certified....aka have a DOT sticker on it.    Not all European helmets have this sticker.  Now I don't think it'll be a problem unless  you get pulled over and the Officer is being a pain in the ass about it.

On that note....be sure to cut your head off when riding...the other drivers do it and for safe keeping they stuff it up their asses.   When I was in Switzerland several years ago riding it was a pleasure.  Here not so much.  

[rgbeard]

If you allow us, we can "help" shop for the bike as well.  Give us an idea of what model(s) you'd find appropriate and we can hit Los Angeles and Orange County for you.

I'm on Craigslist literally all the time, looking for decent used Goldwings.  Throwing another bike in my search would be easy.

[Mr Sunshine]

What I want to know is what do I need to know to work in Switzerland.  There are a couple of positions in my company in Zurich....that'd be fun!

[falconati]

Don't listen to these guys.  You don't need any paperwork.  The cops don't stop you unless your a minority anyway.

[antvq]

What will I need to ride a motorcycle in California ?

A Glock  

[chornbe]

Get away from the cities and there's everything you might want in a ride, too!

[vguy]

You might contact one of the California motorcycle rental places about the license, etc. The BMW store in Signal Hill (Long Beach, CA) are usually very helpful.

[vguy]

Get away from the cities and there's everything you might want in a ride, too!

I know some of those people, starting with Roger.

[chornbe]

I know some of those people, starting with Roger.

Roger (QuietRider), Wayne (fzmax), Keith (Chips / Chips-a-hoy) and me on the top step.

Adrian and our waitress on the lower step.

That was during our '08 cross-country trip. Roger led us around California for the day and wow... can that guy ride. Some of those roads out there were truly and rightly epic to us East Coast boys.  

We shipped our bikes to Portland and rode 6600 miles home.

Chronicled here (blog style, reverse date order): http://arcposseroadtrip.blogspot.com/2008/05/day-09-arrived-and-repacking.html
http://arcposseroadtrip.blogspot.com/

[vguy]

What a ride, thanks for the links/pix.
It's so hard to tell someone from out of the area where to ride on the west coast (or Region 1).
I discover new and beautiful roads every time I go out.