Originally Posted by
heroic
Why not just get your bike licensed as a moped? If it's capable of higher speeds it makes sense to enforce construction & use regulations, safety equipment and trained rider requirements. Your kinetic energy goes up as the square of your velocity, and as such, you're going to do four times as much damage when you hit someone at twice the speed.
Licensing a bike as a moped doesn't mean it's going to be up to "safety standards"
From what I understand all it takes to license an ebike as a moped is turn signals, brake lights, and a head light. The DMV does an inspection to make sure those are equipped and then you can get your license plate. Having an ebike that goes over 40mph is fun but not necessarily smart. In the wrong hands that could easily lead to death. But the same could be said for biking in general. Standard bikes aren't "designed" to go that fast. Many are able to go those speeds without incident because bikes are overengineered, but there's a reason motorcycles have disc brakes and shocks.
I think the main reason the OP doesn't license his bike is then he would be responsible for obtaining insurance and other financial obligations. I don't know about anyone else but that's one of the main reasons I ride an E-bike, to get away from a monthly required obligation "tax" just to ride.