Motorcycle license — Kentucky Permit Test

A Kentucky motorcycle is a motor-driven vehicle with a seat or saddle for the operator, built to travel on no more than three wheels touching the ground.

The number of wheels is what decides whether the machine needs a motorcycle license, not how fast it goes or what it is called.

A motorcycle is defined as any motor-driven vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the operator and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground but excluding mopeds, tractors, and vehicles on which the operator and passengers ride in an enclosed cab.

Motor bikes, minibikes and motor scooters may not be used on a street or highway unless they meet the requirements for a regular motor vehicle and the operator is licensed.

A small machine is still a vehicle once it is on a public road, and the police treat it as one.

Motor bikes, minibikes, motor scooters and any other small vehicles may not be operated upon the street or highway without first meeting the requirements for a regular motor vehicle

The only place these small machines may legally be ridden without an operator's license and the other safety equipment is on private property.

A field or a driveway is not a road. The moment the wheels reach the street every rule applies.

The only place a driver may legally ride or operate this type of vehicle without an operator’s license and other safety equipment is on private property.

A person who holds a valid intermediate operator's license, or who is at least 18, may apply for a motorcycle instruction permit.

The motorcycle permit is not a way around the graduated system. A younger rider still has to have reached the intermediate stage first.

vehicle operator’s license or a person who at least eighteen (18) years of age may apply for an instruction permit to operate a motorcycle.

An applicant for a motorcycle license is exempt from the written and skills tests if they show they completed an approved rider training course.

The course examines the rider all the way through, so the state accepts it in place of the two tests.

Applicants for a motorcycle license will be exempted from the licensing written and skills tests if they present satisfactory evidence of successful completion of an approved rider training course.

All traffic laws and regulations apply equally to passenger car and motorcycle operators.

A rider gets no allowance for being on two wheels. The same rules, the same penalties.

All traffic laws and regulations apply equally to passenger car and motorcycle operators

How does Kentucky define a motorcycle?

A motor-driven vehicle with a seat or saddle on no more than three wheels. The number of wheels is what decides whether the machine needs a motorcycle license, not how fast it goes or what it is called. Kentucky Driver Manual, p.3: “A motorcycle is defined as any motor-driven vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the operator and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground but excluding mopeds, tractors, and vehicles on which the operator and passengers ride in an enclosed cab.”