In Illinois getting caught without motorcycle classification and or no insurance can get the bike confiscated and sold along with hefty fines.

Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you want to keep posting?

 

That's the way it used to be here in NY. I forget what the numbers for "driver" and "motorcycle" were, though, as we changed to the standard "D" and "M" some years back.


I bought my first street bike in '81 and only had a learner's permit. With a permit, you could ride as long as you were accompanied by another person with a valid motorcycle license (on another bike or in a car). I used to ride with a buddy. Both of us only had learner's permits at the time. That only lasted a couple of months. My girlfriend found out about it and read me the riot act, so I got my motorcycle endorsement.

 

Up here the endorsement required for HD sized motorcycles is,,,, "A",,,,, pronounced Aye or Eh ,,,, you gotta give us Canucks high marks for consistency Aye ?

 

I did once-in Illinois. Got my license renewed,2 weeks before a ride to Sturgis. Luckily,someone wanted to know what my cdl looked like. Took it out of my wallet,and noticed there was no 'M'.. damn! -They had forgotten my 'M' classification,from the old license.
Went back to dmv to get it straightened out,and they were all 'sorry about that' but wanted me to pay a fee to correct it!! I about flipped,but walked out of there with my cdl-AM in my hand,no extra charge.

 

Not the smartest move, but I road through the 80s and 90s without a motorcycle endorsement. Insurance wasn't required which was good because I couldn't afford it back then.

 

I and several of my friends have ridden sport bikes for roughly 5 years without license. We do carry insurance. Around here we've all also been pulled over before but never ticketed for no license.

 

Talked to a Chicago Cop yesterday and he confirmed what I have read that most of the time he and others will have bike impounded...Meaning fees and having to get your M license to prove you are legal to show to judge...
Insurance is mandatory in Illinois...without it would be ticket but even with it and no license no telling what an insurance company would do if you were in an accident.... Why take the chance is my thoughts...

 

You paid for insurance. That doesn't necessarily mean you're insured.

Inform your Insurance company's head office in writing, not just your local sales agent verbally, regarding the truth of your situation and let us know what the response is.

My guess is that they'll make reference to some exclusion in your policy related to the insured vehicle being "legally" operated which they'll take to mean, "by a licensed operator".

You may already be familiar with your policy's "exclusions" section. If so, fair enough. If not, you should check it out and either obtain a license or stop paying premiums for non-existent coverage IF that is indeed your situation.

My policy covers ME against uninsured 3rd parties so their situation is no skin off my **** one way or the other. My bills get paid then its between my Insurance companies lawyers and theirs as to who owes who. I don't care.

 

As a RiderCoach in Texas I'll bet close to 50% of my students have been "riding dirty" for quite a while. The majority of those simply want to get legal but once in a while I'll have one who admits they're tired of paying the fines for having no endorsement.

Here in Texas you have to have insurance to ride off the lot on a new bike but there is nothing that says you have to have an endorsement. Test riding one is a different story; no endorsement, no test ride.

 

As it should be.

Anyone riding a motorcycle on the public roads without a motorcycle license has already demonstrated a lack of judgement that doesn't bode well. And more often than not, their riding probably reflects that.

But then again, motorcyclists, as a group, tend not to be the sharpest individuals one is likely to run across. Far too many are completely irresponsible nitwits with an IQ in the low teens.