Follow up: Colorado law pertaining to the equipment a bicycle must have on it

For a lot of riders this will be a pain, but a minor pain now is better than a ticket, or worse, a gravestone.

Besides the laws affecting how cyclists can ride in Colorado, (See Very few people know the law, if any at all), there is a law that requires some mandatory equipment on bicycles. This law also applies to electrical assisted bicycles and Electric Personal Assisted Mobility Device (EPAMD). (EPAMD includes Segways in some states!)

Colorado Revised Statute, 42-4-221, (C.R.S. § 42-4-221) Bicycle and personal mobility device equipment states:

42-4-221. Bicycle and personal mobility device equipment

(1) No other provision of this part 2 and no provision of part 3 of this article shall apply to a bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or EPAMD or to equipment for use on a bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or EPAMD except those provisions in this article made specifically applicable to such a vehicle.
(2) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or EPAMD in use at the times described in section 42-4-204 shall be equipped with a lamp on the front emitting a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred feet to the front.

This states that you have to have a white headlight at night. Night in Colorado is between sunrise and sunset and any other time you can’t see on the highway due to weather. You light must be visible 500 feet in front of you.

(3) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or EPAMD shall be equipped with a red reflector of a type approved by the department, which shall be visible for six hundred feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful lower beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle.

You must also have a red reflector on the back which is visible 600 fee behind you with the low beams of a car.

(4) Every bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or EPAMD when in use at the times described in section 42-4-204 shall be equipped with reflective material of sufficient size and reflectivity to be visible from both sides for six hundred feet when directly in front of lawful lower beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle or, in lieu of such reflective material, with a lighted lamp visible from both sides from a distance of at least five hundred feet.

At night, you must also have reflective material on your bike on both sides that is visible by low beams from 600 feet away.

(5) A bicycle, electrical assisted bicycle, or EPAMD or its rider may be equipped with lights or reflectors in addition to those required by subsections (2) to (4) of this section.

You can bigger, brighter or more lights then the minimum ones required by law.

(6) A bicycle or electrical assisted bicycle shall not be equipped with, nor shall any person use upon a bicycle or electrical assisted bicycle, any siren or whistle.

You cannot have a siren or whistle on a bike.

(7) Every bicycle or electrical assisted bicycle shall be equipped with a brake or brakes that will enable its rider to stop the bicycle or electrical assisted bicycle within twenty-five feet from a speed of ten miles per hour on dry, level, clean pavement.

You must have breaks on your bike that will stop you within 25 feet from a speed of 10 miles per hour. If you ride a fixie, you still need a brake or brakes even though you can slow yourself down with your drivetrain. Riding without a break in Colorado can get you a ticket.

(8) A person engaged in the business of selling bicycles or electrical assisted bicycles at retail shall not sell any bi-cycle or electrical assisted bicycle unless the bicycle or electrical assisted bicycle has an identifying number permanently stamped or cast on its frame.

Retailers, all bicycles you sell must have an identifying number permanently on the frame as part of the metal. Normal this number is located on the bottom of the bottom bracket.

(9) Any person who violates any provision of this section commits a class B traffic infraction.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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