Must you have an license plate light?
 

Do I, Don't I?

Put on my undertray and new lights but I don't have a plate light. Do I need one?


CHeers.
Neil

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

I know for sure you need one on a car to get through the MOT. Surely the same rules apply for bikes?

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

Yeah you need one.

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

think you need a red reflector as well but the standard one doesn't fit on the hamicad tail tidy. Bit of a farse since there's a great big giant strip of LED's stacked vertically above the numberplate, and they can't be turned off.

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

They're not on when it's moving, rear reflectors on vehicles are so vehicles can see them at night when they're parked. That's why the highway code says not to park facing the wrong direction. Rarely enforced but I did read of a case where a police pursuit car whacked a parked car and prosecuted the owner for having it parked backwards!

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

Yes you must have both. I got a nice one from Evotech on EBAY, single led which shines over the number plate unlike some of the car type ones which don't.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LED-NUMBER-PLA...d=p3286.c0.m14
I drilled through the number plate to fit mine, no hassle at all and is very discreet. Bike shop fitted a small sticky round red reflector onto the number plate get it through the MOT

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

My Hamicad (just fitted yesterday) fitted nicely with the original number plate light... although no reflector.

The trick with the reflector is to get a small reflective sticker and pop it somewhere inconspicuous (like on your number place) which is enough to pass the MOT and be road legal (I'm told)

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

If the tester follows the letter of the law it will fail, a sticker is not acceptable according to the MOT manual:

tbh, with modern number plates being made of retro-reflecftive material i'm not concerned about the absence of a reflector on my bike from a safety point of view, only from a legal one

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

You can get the proper prism type reflectors in stick-on form though.

Re: Must you have an license plate light?
 

yes, i assumed by sticker he meant the type that came with my R&G one

a prism type one might work, but the manual also states that the reflector must be positioned to reflect "squarely to the rear" - which one on a plate won't without some jiggery-pokery - i reckon you'd have to be visiting a fairly anal tester to fail it for that though...