Not to get too far off topic, but I love Northern California and Oregon. Haven't been up there in a while, but I've spent quite a bit of time in both places. Southern California is pretty unique though. I live near the beach, but within a 2-hour drive I can be up in the snow, out in the desert, at various lakes, and any kind of climate I desire. However right where I live riding gets sort of boring, which is one reason I stopped riding road bikes years ago. I'd have to ride on the freeway for miles to get to any good windy roads. Plus I'm just not a fan of riding on freeways, especially since the advent of texting. Just seems like a crapshoot, and I still drive vehicles the same way I used to ride. Assuming everyone around me is either asleep, drunk, or both.

this thread is really entertaining, its so funny how much satisfaction one can derive from getting a title and plates for an old bike!

Having moved to CA in 2014 from Chicago AND having registered several bikes without a title I can relate to this thread!
The glutton free gas and taxes are insane, but I would never go back to Midwest and freeze again, and this is coming from dude who spent his youth in an unheated garage before global warming trying to make ends meet. 

And the DMV never misses an angle to stick it to you....be very mindful of the dates you put on those forms or when you finally get done you will find yourself with only a few months left on the registration until renewals time!

Just register and title it in Vermont for less than $200. No insurance needed or mc license. Then retitle it in CA if you want. No current title needed for Vermont registration just bill of sale. Easier and cheaper and done thru the mail, simple when you figure it out, threads on this are here. Why give CA the $$?

I have to say the DMV clerk that helped me actually saved me from having the forms rejected. My title had my middle name spelled out, but on all the forms I just put my middle initial. Right toward the end she checked everything out, then handed me the forms and said to spell out your full middle name so they don't kick back the forms.

It is kind of exciting, because just three weeks ago I had a non running old bike with a gas tank full of gunk, that hadn't been registered in 30 years. I now have a running bike that is registered and insured. However along the way I saw a lot of misinformation online, and AAA also told me that I probably couldn't have it registered to my old plate. Also, no one mentioned that I could have a mobile VIN checker come out. I was told by AAA I'd have to trailer it or put it in my truck to take it to CHP to have it checked. To do that, they said I would have to go to the DMV first, and file a planned non-operation on it, so it could be transported on public streets.

Plus I read on the DMV site that you have to have a current motorcycle endorsement to get the registration. I also saw that mentioned on many sites like Quora. However that is not true.

The fees I paid we're about $186. Only $69 of that was for the actual registration, the rest was to cover the cost of connecting the old plate to the registration, and a few other fees. I think one includes CHP doing a stolen vehicle check on it. Frankly, I thought the fees were going to be higher.

So bottom line is... Put away the reading material and go straight to the DMV?
  Have you got a tank of gas through it yet?
Sneezles61

Don't tell anybody, but someone may have ridden it around my tract a number of times... and said that it is running beautifully. He also said it rides just like he remembers back in high school.

Ordered new tires and tubes from RevZilla. I thought they were going to arrive yesterday, but now they're headed back east. They went from Kentucky, to Indiana, to San Bernardino California, just an hour and a half away from me, and now they're in Flagstaff AZ. I thought only UPS did this kind of stuff, I guess FedEx likes to send merchandise on state tours as well?

By the way the original Yokohama trail sport tires are actually in pretty good shape. Hard to believe that they're 50 years old.

 

For me, stuff from out West shows up quickly... out East is is a horse of a different color... I wonder how it could be so complicated...
 I need need tires for my old grey mule too... Soon as I can push the snow blowing equipment out of doors, I'll have room to start.. 
Sneezles61

Now the tires are in New Mexico, it looks like they're going back to Kentucky.


.

I once had a part for a Yamaha restoration shipped to me From within the U.S., I'm also in the U.S., and it went international before it got to me. I have only had this bad experience with the USPS not UPS or Fedex.