It wasn’t so long ago that getting your hands on a nice motorbike number plate which didn’t conform to the laws was a simple matter, show plates were easily available even though most of us never had any intention of putting our bikes on show. All we wanted was a way to make our bike stand out from the crowd and look a little tidier. Modified motorcycle number plates were a great way to buy customisation on a budget.

Things all changed for the worse at the end of last year when new legislation came in which threatens to impose large fines to any company found to be supplying motorbike number plates which aren’t road legal. Many companies who were making a small fortune making up these items for use on the road have now had to fall back on other areas of their business as they can no longer supply the products. It has been estimated that the loss to the industry is in the region of £2.5million a year.

Its not hard to see why the law would be unhappy with plates which are hard to read for law enforcement reasons. This is especially true considering how the traffic police seem to be stepping up their efforts to use speed cameras as a method of catching bikers breaking the speed limits. A fact that makes us even less impressed with the current states of affairs.

The new number plate laws come down hard on any company found to be supplying items that end up in use on the public roads. In days gone by you could simply purchase your chosen plate as a show plate and stick it on your road bike with only the threat of an unlikely £30 fine to put you off, not much of a deterrent. These days the law goes after the manufacturers themselves who have got much more to lose. Make a motorcycle plate that doesn’t conform to the legal standard and you could be in line for a £2500 and impounded of the equipment that you used to make it. Its not surprising that you’ll find it difficult to source an illegal plate these days.

The best way around the new law for anyone still looking for a custom plate is to buy one over the Internet from a foreign country where the laws don’t apply. Just remember that you could still be fined if caught.

That’s why so many bikers disregard the law and try their utmost to get motorcycle number plates made by a manufacturer who is willing to give us something which might look great but can attract the unwanted attention of your local law enforcement officers. Although the most that will usually happen in the case of illegal plates is a £30 fine and no points added to your license, it’s good to know how bike number plates should be displayed. In that way if we feel the urge we can stay close to what is legally allowed to reduce our chances of getting an on the spot fine by the police.

The DVLA states that to be within the law the registration number plate for a motorcycle should be displayed as follows:

- A number plate should be displayed on the rear of the motorcycle
- Number Plates must be easily read and conform to the British Standard
- Lettering should be black on a yellow background
- The background surface should be reflex-reflecting but the lettering mustn’t be
- Motorcycles registered after 1st September 2001 must display a two-line number plate, while older motorcycles may use a three-line plate. One-line motorcycle number plates are illegal.
- Stylised letters such as italics are prohibited
- Number plate fixing bolts shouldn’t be used to alter the appearance of letters or numbers

Standard Number Plates for motorcycles made after September 2001 must use lettering with the following characteristics:

Height: 64mm
Width: 44mm
Stroke: 10mm
Space between letter: 10mm
Space between groups: 30mm
Margins: 11mm
Space between vertical lines: 13mm

At the end of the day everyone realises that there are much worse crimes than having a motorcycle number plate that doesn’t match up to the governments ideal so make your own choice on the matter. If you really want custom plates its probably worth taking the risk as long as you don’t stray into ridiculous territory and get something that sticks out like a sore thumb.