Southern California - how many of you comply with all california bike acessorie laws ?

Everyone I ride with, including me, have pedals that do NOT have reflectors that can be seen from 200 ft away.

No one that I have talked to at my bike club has a license or registration for their bikes.

The list goes on.

Are you totally compliant ?

How many California cities still require bicycle registration? I thought that most have abandoned that because they had no budget to process the registrations.

How many California cities still require bicycle registration? I thought that most have abandoned that because they had no budget to process the registrations.


I know most cities I have checked in the south bay area have one under their municipal code

My shoes are reflective, does that count?

Registration? License? Great.... and no, never even thought about it.

The reflectors are only required during darkness, and I don't know of any cities around me that require a bicycle license anymore. Which specifically did you check?

My shoes are reflective, does that count?
Yes, as long as the reflective material meets the visibility criteria and is visible from both the front and rear. I've added some large reflective patches to my cycling shoes to supplement the little reflective tag provided by the manufacturer. Reflective ankle bands also qualify.

Here's the actual code requirement on lights and reflectors (CVC 21201):
"(1) A lamp emitting a white light that, while the bicycle is in motion, illuminates the highway, sidewalk, or bikeway in front of the bicyclist and is visible from a distance of 300 feet in front and from the sides of the bicycle.
(2) A red reflector on the rear that shall be visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beams of headlamps on a motor vehicle.
(3) A white or yellow reflector on each pedal, shoe, or ankle visible from the front and rear of the bicycle from a distance of 200 feet.
(4) A white or yellow reflector on each side forward of the center of the bicycle, and a white or red reflector on each side to the rear of the center of the bicycle, except that bicycles that are equipped with reflectorized tires on the front and the rear need not be equipped with these side reflectors. The reflectors and reflectorized tires shall be of a type meeting requirements established by the department.
(e) A lamp or lamp combination, emitting a white light, attached to the operator and visible from a distance of 300 feet in front and from the sides of the bicycle, may be used in lieu of the lamp required by paragraph (1) of subdivision (d)."

The registration requirement is on a town-by-town basis and can only be applied to residents. As long as your town doesn't require it you don't have to worry about it - even if you ride through other towns that do.

I live in unincorporated LA County- no license required. IIRC, City of LA also dropped their license requirement (which was also out of compliance with the state law, which allows a max penalty of $10 if you don't have one).

Anaheim no longer requires bicycle registration.

But I have to wonder... did you mean accessory? or accessories?

How many of us are compliant about anything?

I comply with all the accessory requirements or their exceptions save for the California Bicycle License one-- but only because my local PD offers only reduced work hours for registration which is difficult to match up with as I, well, work during work hours. I do have a university bike reg, national bike reg, and bikeregistry.com reg.

Accessory-wise, I have:

a rear red reflector (plus red light at night for additional safety)
no reflectors on spokes (but I have reflective sidewalls)
reflectors on pedals
a white light visible from 300+ ft.
a brake capable of inducing a skid on level dry concrete
handlebars that don't go above my shoulders
a frame that allows my foot to safely touch the ground
audible warnings in the forms of my voice and a rotary bike bell

I have all the necessary reflectors...sitting in my garage.

Headlights will handily reflect off the top of my head. I'm in!

lucky me, I dont live there, we still ride freely here, dont know until when, hope it will last, if it is too many rules just to ride bicycle, then I will use motorbike.

Everyone I ride with, including me, have pedals that do NOT have reflectors that can be seen from 200 ft away.

No one that I have talked to at my bike club has a license or registration for their bikes.

The list goes on.

Are you totally compliant ?

I am not compliant. No reflectors, my bad!, because they slow me down because of the extra weight. IMO, in So Cal, bike license/registration is just a scam.

Lights and reflectors wise, my commute bike is totally (actually over) compliant, my double century bike too, but not my club ride road bike or my fixed gear bike. But then, I don't ride them in the dark anyway.

I'm also in unincorporated LA county, so no worries there.

Rick / OCRR

Other than 4... my bike is covered. Portland Radbot has reflector already, got front light for commuting, all my chrome/dzr shoes has reflectors. I might actually do something on spoke for the side thing.

I only have reflective ankle straps...I have lights, but only use them when I determine I need them. I'll turn the rear on before I pull out the headlights though.

Just saw this bit:

Sale of Bicycles (LAMC 80,75) Prohibits the sale or rental of bicycles from any public or private property which is not the place of business of a duly licensed bicycle dealer.

What the heck? You can't sell your own bike? I'm sure they'd only enforce that if you were one of those Craigs list garage-based bike flippers but what a dumb ordinance.

And why do bikes have to have more reflectors than cars? Crazy.

Just saw this bit:

Sale of Bicycles (LAMC 80,75) Prohibits the sale or rental of bicycles from any public or private property which is not the place of business of a duly licensed bicycle dealer.

What the heck? You can't sell your own bike? I'm sure they'd only enforce that if you were one of those Craigs list garage-based bike flippers but what a dumb ordinance.

And why do bikes have to have more reflectors than cars? Crazy.

True, but it isn't like it is enforced.

And most reflectors on cars have been converted to lights now.

I'm not compliant at all, and I didn't know a bike liscense was required.

Lights and reflectors wise, my commute bike is totally (actually over) compliant, my double century bike too, but not my club ride road bike or my fixed gear bike. But then, I don't ride them in the dark anyway.

I'm also in unincorporated LA county, so no worries there.

Rick / OCRR
Question is: Why?
I run lights in the dark as well. But I only do this for safety. I wonder how many of us on the forum do this because of safety or because it is an ordinance. Who enforces such things?

My biggest fear is some obscure law/rule that I did not know about and some cop is gonna pull me over to ticket me for that obscure law. With the current budget situations in this state nothing would surprise me.

I'd worry more about a moving violation(like running a light or a stop sign) as this will end up on your driving record and bump up your insurance rates.

Question is: Why?

True Jan Feetz, I do it for safety and not for compliance.

Rick / OCRR

True Jan Feetz, I do it for safety and not for compliance.

Rick / OCRR

To be fair, safety is the reason why the CVC has such requirements. In a perfect world, everyone would have all of those things for the sake of their own safety and the safety of others. But since many don't, law comes in and mandates them so that those that don't feel compelled to preserve their own safety and that of others would possibly have the accessories for the sake of avoiding potential fines.

Then again, with the nearly complete lack of enforcement, using law as a back up incentive doesn't really work.

Totally compliant to the point of overkill.

Totally compliant to the point of overkill.

+1, almost daily commuter and the morning rides are fully dark so I've got lights, reflectors, stripes etc etc.