Trying to build your dream motorcycle? Or maybe you just want to make a few tweeks to the standard bike that you have in order to make it stand out from the crowd. There are countless ways that you can personalise your motorcycle if you are willing to spend a little money but perhaps one of the easiest and cheapest is to get your hands on some custom motorcycle number plates.

Its a bit of a pain that we have to have number plates on your motorcycle at all really if you want your vehicle to look as good as possible. There is no doubt that the majority of us would do away with them if we weren’t at the mercy of the law. Motorbike number plates do nothing for the looks of your bike and they probably ruin your colour scheme and disturb the lines of your machine.

At the end of the day we have no choice but to have a number plate fitted on our motorbike but we can make the best of a bad thing by getting some nice custom number plates made up. Any custom plates you get made up for your bike will probably not be road legal, it is up to you to decide if it is worth taking the risk of being fined by the police if stopped. Many of us get anyway with subtle changes in your plates without any trouble.

Additionally, if you’re building a show bike then getting some awesome personalised plates constructed can really make your motorcycle stand out from the crowd, making your vehicle even more original. Many number plates companies out there will make a plate to your own specifications, all you have to do is ask.

Many companies in the UK are using computer controlled design, printing and routing technology to provide a service that you are guaranteed to be happy with within a few days.

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.

If there is one thing that any motorist hates its the thought of getting caught speeding. Not only is it an inconvenience but the cost of fines and increased insurance premiums are enough to drive most of us to drink. Motorcyclists in particular have a healthy disdain for the speed limits on UK roads as they seem to be far to low for anyone on a reasonably high powered motorcycle. Its not difficult to find yourself at license losing speeds very quickly without even realising it. If there happens to be a police officer round a bend with a speed camera you could be in trouble without acting in a dangerous manner and through simple carelessness.

One area that the motorcyclist has had an advantage over the law enforcement agencies up until now has been due to the fact that average cameras captured the number plate of a speeding vehicle by photographing the rear number plate only. Because motorcycle by law must only show a number plate on the rear the system was useless and bikers where able to ignore these speed cameras.

Average-speed cameras measure the speed of your motorcycle over a fixed distance between two points to determine the average speed you were traveling. Obviously such devices have the potential to turn an exciting motorcycle journey into a tedious affair if they are able to detect speeding motorcycles.

Unfortunately the rules of the game are now changing and systems are being brought in to ensure that individuals on motorcycles are no longer immune from the average speeds cameras evil eye. Newer versions of rear-facing cameras are now in our midst and we can no longer ignore this law enforcement menace as the capture an image of the rear number plate. Expect to see them on a road near you soon as 35 local authorities have already expressed an interest in using them.