new member

[millsy]

I appreciate the honesty and have alot to think about. I am going to check out the t rex also. Thanks for all the responses.

[Terry Kennedy]

I have a lot of free time since my shoulders are so screwed up and would love to try and get the law ammended here in ct but have no idea on how to start the process. I am dead serious about this and would appreciate any input on how to go about it. It sounds like a losing proposition but it is worth a shot. I saw a post about trying to pass a sema law but will have to research more.

If you go the lawyer route, you will likely spend a lot of time and money and (best case) end up with a registration by stipulation, meaning that the DMV will register your car as an exception but which does not set any precedent and thus cannot be used by anyone else to register their Atom in your state. That means that a bunch of [potential] owners can't really share the costs of taking on the state.

You could look on SEMA SAN, in particular their "State Legislators Who Support the Hobby" page.

FWIW, I've driven my Atom over 34,000 miles in most of the continental US states (I still have a couple left) and have been pulled over a total of two times. The first time was right after I bought the car and it had temp tags, and they didn't know what to call it to radio in for a tag check (the in-car terminals only know about permanent tags and in-state temp tags). The second time was because the officer mis-read my plate and it came back as invalid. By the time he was walking over to me, he was apologizing for pulling me over and then got back in his car. He was a kid less than half my age...

[McFred]

FWIW, I've driven my Atom over 34,000 miles in most of the continental US states (I still have a couple left) and have been pulled over a total of two times..

That's funny. I got stopped 4 times in the first 80 miles. I've been stopped more than a dozen times total in ~12,000 miles and only received one trumped up ticket from a 4' tall lone lady cop with an attitude, who stopped me for nothing in the rain, then called in reinforcements so I could sit in the bathtub a little longer. I think I've got the locals desensitised now so it's been smooth sailing since. Can't say the same for the motorcycle though, some of those tickets are an expensive PITA. haha.

As for being legal in other states, you can look into forming a corporation/trust that's located in an Atom-friendly state. Register and insure the car in the other state under the legal entity, then as a trustee/board member, you can legally operate the car wherever the interstate reciprocity thing is working. That might be a cheaper option than throwing your hard-earned money at lawyers and politicians to get your way, prolly cheaper than moving and less fraudulent than registering it as a resident of an Atom-friendly state.

The Atom does not feel like a motorcycle. Sure, it's raw and you get a lot of wind in your face (if you opt for no windshield), and get wet when it rains. But for the most part I can attack the same set of winding canyon roads at 9/10ths and not bat an eye at the repercussions of losing traction. It's a lot of work on the R6 to keep up a casual pace on the Atom. You will attract A LOT of attention in an Atom. Some of it might be unwanted. I've had plenty of people follow me home or to work (an Audi owner followed me for 40 miles to my driveway to ask me about the Atom), you may be boxed in on the highway by inattentive rubberneckers snapping pics/vid of you instead of watching where they're going. Driving at night's a bit of a pain with it sitting so low and all the other motorists' headlights being farther off the ground than you.

But it's still very fun. Congested city streets have lost their novelty for me but an open track day or a low-traffic canyon jaunt make up for it all.

If you can afford it. Get one and see if you like it. If you don't then it should not be too hard to sell it.