The CB1100 Community Forum

A red beauty️

European plates are huge, not much I can do ahah.

(02-14-2025, 10:20 AM)Narciso_imp Wrote: [ -> ]European plates are huge, not much I can do ahah.

In Ireland, where we use the Euro plate, we can go down to 4" x 6" legally. Examples of three of my bikes.

I was surprised when in England that the number plates were not supplied by the government, only the number was. Then the owner had to have the plate made with the number on it. In the US and Japan, only the government supplied plate could be used. The plates are much smaller in the US for the motorcycles and scooters.

That is very interesting. We've had a weird trend here in California over the past year or so. Plates are issued by the state like they are in any other state in the U.S., and it's not legal to just have your own plate made and put it on your car or bike. The state offers several different options for plate designs, and my car has the "heritage" 60's style black and yellow plates, which cost a bit more than standard plates. But, one can go on Amazon or Etsy and have "novelty" license plates made in any number/letter configuration and in any colors. So, people have been putting these plates on their vehicles. Typically, black plate with white numbers is popular, but I've seen them color matched to the particular car. Not legal at all, but I don't know how much effort the CHP has put forth to cite people running them.

(02-17-2025, 01:49 AM)Nachodaddy_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I was surprised when in England that the number plates were not supplied by the government, only the number was. Then the owner had to have the plate made with the number on it. In the US and Japan, only the government supplied plate could be used. The plates are much smaller in the US for the motorcycles and scooters.

The plates are put on by the selling dealer and form part of the OTR (On the Road) price of the bike. But every corner "motor factor" has plate blanks and can print up number plates in 5 minutes very cheaply once you provide proof of ownership. Once on the bike they are the same for life and do not need updating or renewing. In the UK you can substitute your plate, which is just a reference to the age of the bike registration and the area it was sold in, with custom plates numbers/letters but still in an official format and from a list, i.e. they cannot be randomly generated because you like it.

The UK plates are just a recognition of the bike, they have no renewal as such. You still have to insure and pay road tax for your bike which is a separate and mandatory requirement. Law enforcement extensively use number plates for tax and insurance compliance and congestion charges. If you drive past a police car in the UK it will automatically and in real time tell the Coppers that you don't have tax or insurance, if that is the case.

The plate system in Ireland is very similar but the format is easier to understand. Year of first registration, e.g 95 = 1995 KE = is for County where the owner lives, Kildare in my case and the number is just the number next in line for vehicles registered in that time period in that county, including cars etc.

The 181 and 241 are a newer design. 181 just means the first sixth months of 2018 for the CB and first six months of 2024 for the Triumph. This was an attempt to spread sales out more evenly over the year as people clamoured for "new year" registrations packing a bunch of sales in January putting a skewed load on the Industry. If I sell the bike the registration stays the same for the life of the bike even though the new owner might live in a different county.

Took my cb1100 for a ride this sunday! Sun is back out again!

Beautiful bike. Finally getting warmer weather here in Wisconsin, been seeing others on the road but I'm waiting for the first rain to wash the roads of the sand and dirt. If God is nice to me he'll keep this weather going so I can do my first ride of the year this week!

(02-25-2025, 10:13 PM)Narciso_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Took my cb1100 for a ride this sunday! Sun is back out again!

That's a fantastic picture and your bike is so clean! Did you take it yourself with a tripod or did somebody else snap it?

(02-26-2025, 03:48 AM)Whoops_imp Wrote: [ -> ]

(02-25-2025, 10:13 PM)Narciso_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Took my cb1100 for a ride this sunday! Sun is back out again!

That's a fantastic picture and your bike is so clean! Did you take it yourself with a tripod or did somebody else snap it?

That's a fantastic picture and your bike is so clean! Did you take it yourself with a tripod or did somebody else snap it?
This is a famous mountain road in my city. Quite often amateur photographers spend the morning here taking pictures of passing riders. They then offer to sell the taken photos for a very low price.