I would not ride the bike until it's registered in my name as there is no proof that I own the bike. If I were to get pulled over, I could be accused of stealing the bike.
sorry, I don't know the answer.. but if you "lease" a vehicle,, the ownership stays in their name,, and the plate portion, and the insurance is in the "drivers" name,,, so I don't see why you can't "lease" the bike from the previous owner, and do the same .. and afaik you won't be required to safety the bike as it didn't get transfered.. but if it was me,, I'd have the final payment bill of sale signed as paid in full so the previous owner can't claim ownership... even tho the mto ownership papers are still in his name. the rest is pretty simple when you do transfer or sell the bike..The vehicle must be registered to the policy owner. You can be the primary driver/rider but the policy will still need to say the vehicle owners names.
sorry, I don't know the answer.. but if you "lease" a vehicle,, the ownership stays in their name,, and the plate portion, and the insurance is in the "drivers" name,,, so I don't see why you can't "lease" the bike from the previous owner, and do the same .. and afaik you won't be required to safety the bike as it didn't get transfered.. but if it was me,, I'd have the final payment bill of sale signed as paid in full so the previous owner can't claim ownership... even tho the mto ownership papers are still in his name. the rest is pretty simple when you do transfer or sell the bike..
again,, I dunno for sure,, but If you wanted to "lease" a motorcycle off me,, and you paid me in full .. then I don't care if you have any insurance on the vehicle. BUT,, if you still owe me money , then I want my assets protected until you pay up in full.. so *I* would insist you have full insurance coverage... now for the most part, leases are done with no money down, all monthly payments, with institutions that have rules and policies... so they would insist full insurance coverage.. but the OP didn't talk about insurance ? They just asked if it could be done, and legal.... so that is the perspective I was talking from,,Maybe they get different rules compared to us regular citizens, what i said was what my insurance company told me. And when you lease, you MUST get full coverage.
again,, I dunno for sure,, but If you wanted to "lease" a motorcycle off me,, and you paid me in full .. then I don't care if you have any insurance on the vehicle. BUT,, if you still owe me money , then I want my assets protected until you pay up in full.. so *I* would insist you have full insurance coverage... now for the most part, leases are done with no money down, all monthly payments, with institutions that have rules and policies... so they would insist full insurance coverage.. but the OP didn't talk about insurance ? They just asked if it could be done, and legal.... so that is the perspective I was talking from,,
However, auto insurance policies must be purchased by and listed under the registered owner of the vehicle.
When I bought a bike in the USA I called my agent ahead of time and gave them the serial number and had it listed on the policy before it entered the country. I may have forgotten to mention the bike was in the USA. I didn't transfer the ownership in the USA so I could avoid the US sales tax.
That is fine as long as its going to be in your name. Its like getting temp insurance on a bike that you just bought so you can ride it home.