Where you can legally drive a side-by-side on the road — and exactly what it takes to get your machine there.
Colorado doesn't have one blanket rule. What you can do depends on where you are, because individual mountain towns and counties pass their own ordinances allowing OHVs on their streets. That's why you can ride straight from your campsite to breakfast in one town and get a ticket for the same thing an hour down the road.
Most riders asking "is my machine street legal?" actually want the second one. The equipment list below is what those ordinances typically ask for.
Pick your machine and we'll pull the parts that fit it, live from SxS Network — current prices, current stock.
Towns and areas we've actually ridden. Riding near a town and being street legal in it are different things — so each one stays marked unverified until we confirm it with the town directly.
Designated OHV route through town, with staging north of town past the Mining Museum. Follow the signs and stay on route. No OHVs on Highway 149. Valid driver's licence and proof of insurance required.
OHVs permitted on all Town of Lake City roads. Every street in town is 15 mph. Town hours 6am–11pm year-round; Hinsdale County roads 6am–11pm, June 1–Sept 30. Watch the ride →
Ouray prohibits OHVs on city streets. Ouray County allows them on county roads outside town, but you can't reach Camp Bird Road or Yankee Boy Basin from downtown, because that access is via Highway 550. Trailer in.
OHVs are prohibited on Leadville city streets except to access county roads. Unincorporated Lake County roads are designated multi-purpose and open to unlicensed OHVs — but not state highways, including Harrison Avenue.
Far end of the Alpine Loop, and generally the most OHV-friendly of the three loop towns. Confirming current town rules.
Summit County. We ran a Fourth of July weekend here street legal. Watch the ride →
Down the road from Creede, on the edge of the Rio Grande National Forest.
Italian Pass and a long day out. We rode into the night getting back. Watch the ride →
West side of Rocky Mountain National Park, on the state's largest natural lake.
Middle Park, on the Colorado River. Big open country, less traffic.
Eagle County just west of Vail — a gateway to a lot of Vail-area high country.
Western Slope hub, and a good base for the Uncompahgre Plateau.
Far north-west corner of the state. Wide open, and almost nobody out there.
Historic mining town on the back side of Pikes Peak.
Cripple Creek's smaller neighbour. Old headframes everywhere.
The county around Cripple Creek and Victor — our closest high country to home.
We're working through the rest of the state, town by town, and citing the source for each one.
We'll email you when the full Colorado street-legal list goes live — plus new trail guides with free GPX tracks.
