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Seeking Autocycle Bill

FBSleeper

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John:

As with the others, I applaud your great work here. Thus far, I don't think that LR 1721 is listed on the online legislative site, which isn't too surprising this early in the legislative session. Do you have a copy of the full language of the bill which you could share? As an attorney in Portland, I'd be very interested in reviewing it. Does it merely redefine "motorcycle" in the Motor Vehicle Code (title 29-A) to exclude an "autocycle" ? This would mean that an autocycle would be treated as a car for all purposes under the motor vehicle laws, including for licensing, helmets, and inspection. 29-A MRSA section 1301(9), left over from the prior autocycle law, now provides that an autocycle cannot be used for a driver's test. Should that be changed as well? I have got to assume that the Elio will have a parking brake (it would be nice if the tour would come to Maine so I could see for myself, but I'm not holding my breath), but if it doesn't, then section 1902 of title 29-A will have to be modified to treat an autocycle as a motorcycle in that one instance (also, the State Police inspection regulations currently require an autocycle to have a parking brake).

Section 2902-B of title 24-A (the Insurance Code) permits an insurer to exclude coverage for injuries to a motorcycle passenger, if that insurer meets certain notice requirements. A change of the definitions in title 29-A would not change this provision of title 24-A, so section 2902-B would have to be modified to exclude autocycles from this provision. Section 13001 of title 12 defines a "motorcycle or related 2-wheel, 3-wheel or belt-driven vehicle" to be an ATV subject to a special excise tax, and special registration requirements. The definition excludes "automobiles" as defined in section 101 of 29-A, so that definition in the Motor Vehicle Code should be modified to explicitly include autocycles.

The state police inspection regulations define an autocycle to mean an enclosed motorcycle, originally manufactured as an autocycle, designed to have no more than three wheels in contact with the ground at any time. These regulations currently treat an autocycle as a motorcycle for inspection purposes, with the additional requirements that it have a parking brake system, a seat belt for each seat, a roll bar, a windshield equipped with a wiper, a steering wheel or tiller, and brakes on the two main wheels. However, the provisions for inspection of a motorcycle are inappropriate for an Elio type vehicle, including those dealing with front forks (which, among other things, regulate the angle at which they are to be set at), chains, sprockets, guards, footrests, handlebars, handlebar controls, and stands. Also, a motorcycle inspection does not include testing of the hood, air bags, reverse gear, and bumpers. Given this, these regulations will also have to be changed before an Elio can be successfully inspected in Maine.

There is no requirement in Maine that either a motorcycle or automobile have an anti-lock brake system, only that if there is one it may not be disconnected. Although it certainly would be wise to have such a system, I'm not sure that it should be required on an autocycle when it is not required on other vehicles, so I would hope that this is not included in any definition of an autocycle.

Finally, I had read somewhere that some insurance policies do not insure motorcycles in the winter, at least in those areas, such as Maine, where the weather would ordinarily preclude driving a motorcycle outdoors. Will Liberty Mutual insure an Elio year round in Maine?

Again, thanks for all your work.
 

John Painter

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The good news is LR1721 is just that, a reservation number and title for the bill. There is no language yet, so if you're up to getting involved with heping draft the bill that would be excellent! I plan on helping out as much as possible. I personally would like to see a new category. I suspect the Department will want to be more cautious and agree to amending the motorcycle statute to exempt operator and passenger of needing to wear a helmet, and clarify a motorcycle endorsement is not necessary on the drivers license if the vehicle is fully enclosed autocycle, similar to how Louisiana defines autocycle in their Title 32. They basically regulate autocycles more like a car than a motorcycle.

I've not heard of any Elio tours coming to Maine :(
http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88016&showback=
The autocycle is nothing like a motorcyle in operation, all the controls are like a car, and is way too long and wide so should not be used for a motorcycle road test. It might still be too early to know if its a good vehicle for automobile road tests, that rear wheel makes me think it will have a very tight turning radius backing up, so a bit more sensitive to parallel parking that on four wheels.

In terms of road inspection I personally think the same inspection a car gets the Elio should, all those things you point out in the I don't think a motorcycle inspection is relevant to an autocycle.

As far as I know, there is a regular parking brake in an Elio, it has all the same controls as car.

I personally like the requirement of antilock brakes on an autocycle since it sets the bar high for safety. I think in the previous statute there was question about safety of this class of vehicle. However it's not high on my priority for inclusion in the bill.

I ride dual sport motorcycles, I'm very familiar with and abide by the dual registration requirement for motorcycles ridden on and off road on approved trail system in Maine. I would agree if one were to attempt to convert an Elio to an OHV it would technically need to be dual registered, though it wouldn't meet size limitations on Maine trails since the elio is over 66" at the front wheels.

Ron was clear, he was referencing a four season policy for the Elio. I did not however pursue questions about injuries to passengers, however he was aware that I was asking about coverage for a vehicle that myself and periodically another person would ride in.

Hope you plan to throw your ideas into the pot for the bill.
John
 

John Painter

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Joel Sheltrown got back in touch with me about how to approach Maine's coming autocycle legislation, so I let him know that according to a friend of mine at the AMA that "autocycle" has been a hot topic there after all the interest in the Slingshot at IMS in DC a couple weeks back. I'm not sure that EM wants to be too tight with the AMA, but it could help. What do people here think.


From: John Painter <johnlpainter@me.com>
Date: January 19, 2015 7:24:28 PM
To: Joel Sheltrown <jsheltrown@eliomotors.com>
Subject: Re: Maine Autocycle language

I just had another thought.
I was talking to my buddy over at the AMA, Steve Salisbury (he’s their OHV governmental affairs guy), and telling him about LR1721 and he told me that “autocycles” have been a hot topic at the AMA (after a group of them got some hands on a Polaris Slingshot at the IMS) and his On Highway counterpart Sean Hutson would get in touch with me, they’ll be monitoring the bill here in Maine. AMA considers attocycles like Elio to be motorcycles even if the operator doesn’t need a motorcycle endorsement on their drivers license.
Have you been in touch with anyone at the AMA? It strikes me that it could be useful to have the AMA talking a bit about vehicles like the Elio, even if you don’t want to align too closely with the motorcycling community. Just a thought as a way to reach Elio owners or potential owners, otherwise following up with people from Maine liking your Facebook page makes sense.
John

On Jan 19, 2015, at 3:39 PM, Joel Sheltrown <jsheltrown@eliomotors.com> wrote:

Thanks John! We will have to contact the ME people to support the bill. There is a way to do that in Elio Marketing system. I don’t have access to that. Also we can target FB ME people as well.
Joel
 

archer5013

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John Painter

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Hi John,
Has that been posted anywhere that doesn't require a newspaper subscription?
~ Rob (in southern Aroostook County)
Rob, I'm not able to connect to my letter to the editor easily myself, I think the paper changed something. See if this link gets you there. http://www.sunjournal.com/comment/160693#comment-160693

It was nothing spectacular just a public thank you to Rep. Golden for sponsoring the bill and understanding that a vehicle like the Elio can make a difference in Mainer's lives in how we're able to go to work and get around.
 

archer5013

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Rob, I'm not able to connect to my letter to the editor easily myself, I think the paper changed something. See if this link gets you there. http://www.sunjournal.com/comment/160693#comment-160693

It was nothing spectacular just a public thank you to Rep. Golden for sponsoring the bill and understanding that a vehicle like the Elio can make a difference in Mainer's lives in how we're able to go to work and get around.

Thank you - that worked. I got a kick out of your mentioning the "Consumer Electronics Show" poll results, (um) we kind of stuffed the ballot boxes, ha-ha, but I suppose that it probably got a LOT of Consumer Electronics Show readers to go look up elio motors dotcom.

A couple of weeks ago George Noory on the Coast To Coast AM radio program interviewed Paul Elio. I just happened to look at the C2C website just before he came on (about 20 minutes into the first hour). It was good to hear him as usual, but I had to take it with more than a few grains of salt - considering all the delays ... so it was good anyway. On the next day, some people on an Elio Owners group page on Facebook were griping about the show and its content (just the usual bubbling that goes on amidst "social" {Tee-Vee-Consciousness} media zoo). Finally someone posted about like: "well you know [as the largest audience talk radio show in America] they have an average audience of about three million listeners".
I don't care what the darned audience is like, those people, in those numbers can jam up a website real fast - I mean it gets peoples' attention, BIG TIME - even if they just write a note for later.

Wow nice to use a group that has font features. Imagine if Facebook chose to make themselves capable of implementing real word processing functions ?
:eek:
 
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