Gizmo
Club Member
Re: 40 Year MOT Exempt Status Announced
I am not quite so paranoid. I can see the distinction between authentic vehicles that are being preserved or historic value and those that have been hacked to bits to make a custom vehicle. Up to now the radically modified vehicle classification has been around a while and a substantial number of bikes on the road would already fall fowl of this with VIN numbers transferred onto custom frames, Old V5 documents being used on modern customs etc. So far this has not been aggressively enforced. Also bikes that would blatantly fail a road side inspection being ridden with complete impunity... long may that continue, for now at least!
The MOT thing is a bit weird right from the outset but having gone this far it seems they are trying to get the age related issues and vehicle modification standards into some kind of order.
90% of riders it probably won't make that much difference but those with slightly "dodgy" paperwork may start to feel a bit exposed. Its already causing major ripples in the custom car community.
Its not too difficult to weed out the ones at risk. Modifications have to be declared on insurance forms and electronic V5 documents have been around for decades so any recorded modifications to bikes will have an electronic paper trail of some sorts.
The libertarian element of motorcycling is finally coming to an end though.
Though I don't consider myself the paranoid type (unlike those bastards who keep following me) I do think there are plenty of people in positions of authority or responsibility (judges/politicians/bureaucrats) who let their disapproval of motorcycles influence decisions they have to take which effect us.
(..and they also come into my house and hide my stuff..)
I am not quite so paranoid. I can see the distinction between authentic vehicles that are being preserved or historic value and those that have been hacked to bits to make a custom vehicle. Up to now the radically modified vehicle classification has been around a while and a substantial number of bikes on the road would already fall fowl of this with VIN numbers transferred onto custom frames, Old V5 documents being used on modern customs etc. So far this has not been aggressively enforced. Also bikes that would blatantly fail a road side inspection being ridden with complete impunity... long may that continue, for now at least!
The MOT thing is a bit weird right from the outset but having gone this far it seems they are trying to get the age related issues and vehicle modification standards into some kind of order.
90% of riders it probably won't make that much difference but those with slightly "dodgy" paperwork may start to feel a bit exposed. Its already causing major ripples in the custom car community.
Its not too difficult to weed out the ones at risk. Modifications have to be declared on insurance forms and electronic V5 documents have been around for decades so any recorded modifications to bikes will have an electronic paper trail of some sorts.
The libertarian element of motorcycling is finally coming to an end though.
Last edited: