Pressed numberplates?

[DJ123]

Are these available for motorcycles? Are metal plate allowed to be mounted onto motorcycles, i think i read somewhere they aren't due to safety reasons

[SoulKiss]

Are these available for motorcycles? Are metal plate allowed to be mounted onto motorcycles, i think i read somewhere they aren't due to safety reasons

Only if fitting to a vintage/classic bike manufactured before a specific date.

[DJ123]

Thought as much, no way i can somehow register the SV as classic is there???

[Dave20046]

Thought as much, no way i can somehow register the SV as classic is there???

It's pre january 73 I believe....so no

Edit: I was thinking black and silver metal plates... I'm uncertain now

A quick google uncovers this

http://www.dubmeister.co.uk/webshop/uk-legal-pressed-metal-plates/uk-legal-plates/

Our plates have been developed with a large plate manufacturer that supplies for example official Netherlands plates and serves other countries and manufactures to many differing standards world wide.. They don't have to be tested by BSI, just be designed to comply, and actually comply if tested, and this is what we have done.

The BSAU 145d regulation has been finely gone through by our manufacturer and relevant sections have be exceeded or met, including a section specifically designed to exclude metal plates, which necessitated a subtle exclusive redesign of the metal base plate and different material to 'regular' Euro show plates, as well as altered letter tooling and lastly permanent laser marking of supplier info and maker info and the standard they are made to.

They have been fully tested by our manufacturer and pre tested against the BS145d standard by the German DIN institute – (in case any major flaws we hadn’t picked up on), who have set up testing environments for BSAU145d now, are testing and will award a certificate to this effect on completion.

We are fully satisfied they comply or exceed BSAU145d and have been told by a British Standards institute they can be marked as such if we are sure they comply by cross referencing DIN regs that duplicate/exceed sections of BS145d and amendments we have made, and they offered additional help if we needed, which we don't.

No UK authority has the knowledge or means to test plates other than British Standard Institute. No Police or local authority can challenge a user as they are marked correctly as to comply, and that’s the end of it as far as prosecution of the user.
If they want to test them they would have to send off to BSI and pay the £6000 to £15,000 fee...and result would be they pass anyway.

Our dealers/suppliers take proper relevant driver/vehicle ID which is a major part of plates being legal, correct lettering and physical plate spec alone is not sufficient as prevention of vehicle cloning is probably the main issue in 'illegal' plates and prosecutions.

So, we welcome any test to disprove our claim, which is that they do 100% fully comply when supplied by a DVLA registered licence plate supplier.

But despite them being road legal...I still think by law they can only be fitted to a vehicle that was originally designed to have them fitted.

Edit 2: further googling suggests providing they're uk colours and uk font they're legal ....but dubmeister are the only place to get such plates!

[DJ123]

Dave, thanks for the googling magic! I have emailed them to see if they do manufacture them in motorcycle plate sizes. I'll report back with the news.
I think they will look awesome on the bike :cool:

[Dave20046]

please do. Hopefully it's the same b.s mark for both cars and bikes (looks like they went through as lot to get it) so they can make them.
If not, you should be able to get illegal ones pretty easily and a lot cheaper. Just liable for the £60 aesthetics tax per outing.

[DJ123]

I assume it is. I can;t see why you would have 2 different b.s marks for the same item. Only difference is the size/shape of the plate. The gripe i used to hear about metal pressed plates was about the backround not being reflective.

[SoulKiss]

I think they also have to be reflective, not just orange and black

[Dave20046]

I thought the same, but I can't seem to find anything definitive saying they're illegal - just a lot of dubheads buying them ...and apparently qualm free

[DJ123]

getting a lot of mixed information from googling. Even if they do have a reflective backround, they are not of BS standard due to the material not being made of a retroflective material.


We are fully satisfied they comply or exceed BSAU145d and have been told by a British Standards institute they can be marked as such if we are sure they comply by cross referencing DIN regs that duplicate/exceed sections of BS145d and amendments we have made, and they offered additional help if we needed, which we don't.

No UK authority has the knowledge or means to test plates other than British Standard Institute. No Police or local authority can challenge a user as they are marked correctly as to comply, and that’s the end of it as far as prosecution of the user.
If they want to test them they would have to send off to BSI and pay the £6000 to £15,000 fee...and result would be they pass anyway.

All this statement says is that they haven't been tested, but would pass if done so. I can't see why a company wouldn't test them in order to make them legal and have a wider market, that is IF they would pass the test ;)

[SoulKiss]

Check this out (http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/forms/~/media/pdf/leaflets/V796.ashx)

It only mentions the type of reflective material against the Car section but I am sure that its implied that Motorbike plates should be the same material.

[ryanh1418]

Illegal. End of. The age/date of first reg of vehicle is irrelevant (bar pre 73), the current laws apply to plates supplied after Sept 2001. Plates aren't allowed to be patterned or textured, pressed metal plates are textured. Most of the stuff from that supplier's website sounds like a load of hot air.

[andrewsmith]

My last 2 plates have been the BS AU 145d req.

Metal plates seem to be in the grey area along with semi permanent plates (i.e. Piece of Yellow plastic with vinyl lettering) that comply.

If you want to clarify this go to your local bike plate shop (most normally are vinyl signage firms too) as the good ones will know the requirement.

[punyXpress]

You could try JEPSONS who do loads of classic bike plates & may just have an answer for you:
Jepson & Co Ltd
44 East Bank Road
Sheffield
S2 3QN

Sales
Tel: 0114 273 1151
Best of luck!

[squirrel_hunter]

I have seen something on this subject before, relating mainly to off road bikes as the metal can be bent back once the bike is picked up off of the floor.

I presume this foresight was used when my 125 was fitted with one, an old '88 model bike, when I started riding that was quite useful as I never needed to replace the plate. I had it MOT'ed more than once with that plate and never had a problem, was never pulled for it either.

That said I'd be interested to know the exact legalities of it for when the bike rolls again as it hasn't seen the road for some time...

[ryanh1418]

The exact legalities are they are illegal, there is no grey area. But it comes down to the overall amount of p*ss taking like with the size issue. If you put a postage stamp size plate on the back, expect problems. The actual issue with pressed plates at the moment is Garyboy Golf driver (and other sad men who should just know better) slinging on a German style pressed plate with all the German fonts, symbols and EU identifiers - clearly illegal.

A pressed plate is textured and will not have the BSAU, which is not allowed on a plate supplied LEGITIMATELY or fitted after Sept 2001. Consequently it will also not be the correct font - plates supplied before Sept 2001 only had to be substantially similar to the prescribed font, those after must be exact.

If the only issue is that it's pressed metal construction but a decent size and font that can actually be read (by eye and ANPR) then you should be OK in the real world. But technically you'd better be hiding up with Gadaffi ;)

[Dicky Ticker]

I can 100% assure you that they do not conform to the regulations on any vehicle that does not have classic status. The law changes frequently between 73 and now concerning what the spec is for number plates so it is completely dependent on the first reg date of the vehicle as to what you can fit,be it black/silver,pressed metal or kite marked reflective plastic.
I had a classic car and could not fit them because it was regd a couple of months to late--------try the VOSA sight for information and the law regarding no. plates