Believe it or not - they want to see the border of the plate. An old fella on a Harley had a chrome surround with 'Born to Ride' on it. He was booked - it was in the paper - he appealed but lost.
I don't want to be a nit-picking pedant here but there is no "standard" size for a motorcycle number plate. There will be a minimum size which will be governed by the registration mark and the legal requirement for character size and spacing :- Minimum size There is no rule governing the size of the plate, but there are rules about the size and layout of the text which obviously limits how small you can go. Post 2001, the characters must be 64mm tall and 44mm wide (except the number 1 or letter I). The thickness of the 'stroke' of the letters must be 10mm and the space between letters must be 10mm. The space between the age identifier and the random letters must be 30mm, and the vertical space between the age identifier and the random numbers must be 13mm. Finally, there must be 11mm between the characters and the edge of the plate. If you apply these rules logically, it would be possible to have a legal plate with the registration 'A1 III' which was considerably smaller than one with the registration 'A888 WWW'. The article from 2018 here https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2018/july/legal-advice-motorbike/ explains more. You should be able to calculate the minimum size of plate required from the registration mark.
This might help too... https://assets.publishing.service.g...stration-numbers-and_number-plates-inf104.pdf You must also have the manufacturer and BS AU 145d on the plate to show it is legal - even if the spacing, font size etc are correct u can still be nabbed. Funnily, I saw two trials bikes in Gloucester this week with no plates and jumping red lights... Some people are so naughty.
Here in Ireland you can legally go down to 152mm x 102mm (6" x 4"). A nice size. Legal option sizes also include 192mm x152mm, 178mm x127mm and Oblong 230mm x 75mm.
I had an illegal plate and I got stopped but not prosecuted. And the problem is? Police do not get any money from tickets issued or from prosecutions. It is not revenue raising. Break the speed limits rtf and you take the risk if getting done. If you don't like the risk then don't do it...The same applies for every ithefiffence .
OMG, my 54 years, 66 bike passion for m/cling must pale in comparison to the passion required to ride in the UK. Please take no personal offense. I'm referring to the conditions, traffic, length & lack in number of inspiring roads, weather, regulations, etc. I do, honestly admire your persistence littleade makes a point about your NHS. That concept is constantly debated here in the US & will probably become reality in time. Unfortunately. I can't understand why the investment of health care investment; length/cost of college, building hospitals & misc facilities, cost of equipment, overhead, research & cost to bring medicine to health care is expected to be free by anybody who's overweight, smokes, does drugs, is reckless/careless etc just because they were born. Become educated, obtain the best employment available to you and factor YOUR healthcare into YOUR budget. Please, support your personal choices yourself.
Still a fucking great country and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, and although we all like to moan and groan, there is a lot of freedom here, you can still find empty un-policed roads with stunning scenery and great places to stop and meet up with other likeminded people. But thanks for the Dale Carnegie style lecture, I’ll be trying a bit harder tomorrow.
You're welcome. I do envy your general acceptance of lane splitting "filtering". I've gotten 2 tickets in Ga dispute creeping by on the outside when traffic was stopped for miles on an interstate. My bike was air cooled. That risk plus the "my space" mentality outside California would likely get us run into, off the road or shot.
An interesting debate. I was in South and Mid Wales for several days a few weeks ago in my car and noted many speed traps on entering villages, particularly when going from an unlimited section to a 30mph limit. What was noticeable was that all drivers slowed down when entering the limited area. The work the Police are doing is having an effect on driver habits. Where I live I seldom see this and the driving standards are frankly shite. Which does make you think. Thankfully I had been warned about the increased Welsh speed Policing and avoided a ticket.. In this area we are lucky and have some good roads but too much traffic, To go quick it is a very early start...
I live with the Brecon Beacons at the bottom of my street and Llandovery is my main ride over the beacons and the amount of idiots I see who think they are John maguinness or Dunlop and now the TT coming they will be out in their hundreds and the police are out because again the minority ruin it for the majority so be squeeky clean and dump the illegal plates loud exhausts and ride properly you are not on a race track or closed road you share it with other people and lorries and tractors and police so you only have yourself to blame. I've been stopped once and that was in 1975 on my kh250 at 11pm nothing on the road except me and a bored copper who asked me where I was going and asked me my registration number which I didn't know as it was only 2weeks old I know it now Lny 63op the only plate of all the cars or bikes I've ever owned that I remember. So he just said OK off you go.I think they just want to look at your bike in admiration sometimes or envy. So if you do want to ride like a hooligan book a track day and if you don't want to be stopped stay legal Michael Greenhaf Merthyr Tydfil
I was in a bike shop last year with my son (he was looking to do a trade. He didn't...). The owner was bumping his gums about the different classes of bike, the A1 and A2 licence. His point was that even though the bikes may be smaller, or restricted, or whatever, you can still exceed the speed limit. So you can still get a fine or a ticket, or a ban... So it's rider beware. Thing I'm seeing here in this thread is the common sense. Comments like 'book a track day', 'don't do the crime if you don't want the fine' (paraphrasing!) for example. Remember the average age of forum members? Yeah, we've learned a bit of sense over the years Yes, I will admit I like to twist that right hand too, but where its safe to do so. Speed limits are there for a reason. As my test examiner said for the emergency stop "stop like a kid stepped in the road in front of you". You never know. Agree though... In all walks of life, it's the choobs that spoil it for everyone else. Hmm. Roads..... Some wonderful roads for a ride out where I live. Seaside, mountains, views.... Bends. Actually.... Really struggling to think of any long straights round here....
I've heard that North Wales Police have a reputation for picking on bikers for the most minor infringement, which might well be ignored elsewhere - (some of us were wondering how we might fair at last years GMU). These crackdowns are probably just the norm for this time of year - decent warmer weather, fair weather bikers out of hibernation, more bikes on the road etc. Locally, there is a growing public campaign started by residents along the A272 and A32 in Hampshire, two of the Souths most popular bike routes and packed with bikers at weekends, to have something done about the speeding and excessive exhaust noise. Loomies cafe is situated (almost) at the junction of these two roads, which explains its popularity. I assume locals would like to see it closed in the hope that the bikes will go elsewhere (they won't 'cos they'll still use the roads). I now avoid it and the above roads at weekends as they are far too busy. Apparently, plod was out in force last Wednesday evening (bike meet at Loomies and Station cafe at Alton) with a mixture of speed cameras, marked and unmarked cars and bikes. Lost of online moaning about being pulled for dark visors, small plates, noisy exhausts and speeding. Maybe this was done to keep the locals quiet and maybe not - will probably all calm down in a couple of weeks. Police say they are doing it as a safety measure - too many bikers killed each year in this area. (At least four I've heard about in the last month so they may have a point)
It is interesting that most of the views on this thread do lean towards staying legal, but with complaints about being pulled for what could classed as minor infringements (small number plates etc). I don’t go for non standard changes to my bikes, so the police have no reason to pull me and if they do will not find anything. Back in the day I got 3 speeding tickets in as many months in north wales and I have to say it had the desired effect of slowing me down. I’m not saying that I don’t exceed the speed limits any more, but I’m a lot more careful about where I do it.
