small number plates

[j.j]

Originally Posted by panheadpete

Hmmm...my Road King failed it's MOT last week on a small plate; I asked the tester where I could possibly fit a correctly sized plate, due to the carrier, pannier rails and rear light arrangement - got sold a std plate to get the ticket, along with instructions to fit it asap. So now I'm carrying the plate in a pannier so that if Mr Plod stops me I can ask ask him where he would like me to put it (!).
Cheers,
Pete

BEND OVER OFFICER

[MMA]

My question probably could have been better phrased.
What I meant to ask, is were the bikes that got ticketed Harleys?
It's just that my experience is that sperts bikes will get done for loud exhausts and small No. plates whilst Harleys will be ignored.
Just wondered if this has changed.

My mate got pulled and fined on the A64 North Yorkshire last weekend, he was on his way to a rally on his softail and was riding with a group of family and mates who were all on other types of bikes none of them Harleys. When stopped the sgt of the two officers walked straight past the other bikes saying '' its the Harley we're after'' or words to that effect and then remarked to my mate that ''we can always pull a group of you lot, and we'll always find summat''. The police had to get a ruler from the car to mesure the numbers and letters which were 5mm under size and they did him for that, they then seemed determined to find something else which they did'nt, but ranted on about some missing deflector that seemingly has never been on the bike in the first place .

[banquo]

Originally Posted by MMA

....ranted on about some missing deflector that seemingly has never been on the bike in the first place .

Reflector maybe? My MOT guy has been complaining about not having a rear facing red reflector, which is compulsory. I've had the bike from new, and it's never had one...

[BaZa®]

Originally Posted by MMA

My mate got pulled and fined on the A64 North Yorkshire last weekend, he was on his way to a rally on his softail and was riding with a group of family and mates who were all on other types of bikes none of them Harleys. When stopped the sgt of the two officers walked straight past the other bikes saying '' its the Harley we're after'' or words to that effect and then remarked to my mate that ''we can always pull a group of you lot, and we'll always find summat''. The police had to get a ruler from the car to mesure the numbers and letters which were 5mm under size and they did him for that, they then seemed determined to find something else which they did'nt, but ranted on about some missing deflector that seemingly has never been on the bike in the first place .

He should carry a copy of the ACPO guidelines letter

The rules are now more open to interpretation and at the discretion of the police officer at the scene. The number plate if black on yellow and clearly able to be read at a distance of 20.4 m, or 65 ft with normal vision, without the use of any vision assistance, eg normal driving test standard vision. then that is deemed to be ok. this is so A.N.P.R (automated number plate recognition systems ) can identify said vehicle.

Any other deviation from these ACPO guidelines is at the discretion of the police officer at the scene....

http://www.harley-davidson-hangout.c...al-update.html

Originally Posted by banquo

Reflector maybe? My MOT guy has been complaining about not having a rear facing red reflector, which is compulsory. I've had the bike from new, and it's never had one...

Reflector only needs to be one of these about a 50p size.

[banquo]

Originally Posted by BaZa ®

Reflector only needs to be one of these about a 50p size.

Yes, I know that BaZa; point is, it's compulsory, and mine didn't come with one for some reason. Bizarre that they can import and register machines that don't comply with the regs.

[BaZa®]

Originally Posted by banquo

Yes, I know that BaZa; point is, it's compulsory, and mine didn't come with one for some reason. Bizarre that they can import and register machines that don't comply with the regs.

Jake the standard plate holder normally comes with a red reflector widthwise across the top or bottom and I have known them to be covered up with large standard UK number plates.

[girlyglide]

Now this is not advertising:-

You can buy number plate screws that are reflective and meet the criteria for having a rear facing red reflector.

This might be construed as advertising:-
You can get them at any good bike shop so I'm told

With regard to small number plates we have had a bout of pulls in this area for small plates. We can no longer get them through the MOT either as the MOT have recently picked up our tester for passing machines fitted with them.

Last week I had to stick a standard plate over the top of a small one with silicon sealer so that it would pass. Needless to say the sealer wasn't dry before I ripped it off again.

It's getting a little silly out there. I think that maybe there is a nationwide push against small plates regardless of the directive that Baza is referring to.

With regard to that it might be counter-productive to quote chapter and verse at an officer especially as the most important clause is "at the officers discretion".

[Shifty]

I'm pretty sure the required size for a reflector is about 2 square inches, which is pretty small and (I think) can be made up of more than one separate reflector (e.g I've seen plenty of bikes pass their MoTs with 2 small reflectors, one on each bottom corner of the number plate).

[Shifty]

Originally Posted by spinlondon

My question probably could have been better phrased.
What I meant to ask, is were the bikes that got ticketed Harleys?
It's just that my experience is that sperts bikes will get done for loud exhausts and small No. plates whilst Harleys will be ignored.
Just wondered if this has changed.

Nowt wrong with how you phrased it, I was just in a daft mood

Your experience pretty much matches mine.

[spinlondon]

Nothing new there then.
I think you're right, there is a minimum area for reflectors, although I have no idea as to what that is.
A number of Harleys seem to be sold without relectors.
The standard reflector on a lot of models is attached to a bracket that clips to the No. plate holder behind the No. plate allowing the reflector to hang below the No. plate. These seem to fall off if there is not a No. plate attached, and then get lost at the dealers.
My bike came withot the reflector, but I have never had a problem obtaining an MOT.
My friend recently bought a bike from Warrs that did not have the standard reflector, but Warrs put one of the round reflectors on to the No. plate.
Attaching reflectors to No.plates may well be illegal, the regulations only allow for the blue EU flag showing GB, and now a country flag. There may well be a maximum size allowed for No. plate screws, and using reflecors may not be allowed.