Every motorised vehicle that can be legaly driven on the UK's public roads must have on display a number plate. This has been the law since 1904. At this time the government decided it was a good idea that they should be able to trace vehicles and their owners in the event of an accident of if a law was broken in any way.

Number plates and their lettering have to be an exact shape and size to conform with UK law to make them easily recognisable and easy to read. They also have to be displayed in a defined position on your vehicle. Motorcycle number plates are only required on the back of the vehicle as opposed to cars which require them on front and rear.

There are many suppliers out there who are willing to produce non-standard number plates for your motorcycle but if you want to stay within the law you'll have to get a boring old number plate that looks like everyone else's.

The law states that a motorcycle number plate should have the following qualities:

1. It should be displayed on the rear of the vehicle

2. Your number plate should be easy to read and conform to the UK standard

3. Lettering should be black on a yellow background

4. The background should be reflex-reflecting while the lettering should be solid black

5. Lettering should be of a set size. Character height is 64mm and width 44mm.

6. Motorcycles registered after September 2001 must use a two-line number plate, one-line plates are illegal for all ages of motorcycle.

Altered, rearranging or misrepresentation of the numbers and letters

Characters must be group together as on your license (eg, C125 RSB cannot be displayed as C12 5RSB)

Punishment for failing to live up to the governments standards can involve being fined up to £1000, the registration being withdrawn and the motorcycle failing its MOT.

If you want to be a little more daring and feel that its worth the risk,its possible to get yourself a nice number plate made up to your own specifications which although not legal, will help you stand out from the crowd. I recommend getting something that doesn't deviate too far from the legal requirements, that way you are unlikely to get pulled over by the police specifically for having a dodgy plate.

No matter how far you take your motorcycle number plate customisation, if you get pulled over by the police for speeding or any other traffic offense they are going to have a word with you about your illegal plate at the same time. At his time its not considered too much of a serious offense depending on how blatant your are with your special plate so often times you'll just be told to remove it and replace with a standard item.

If you get a copper who's having a bad day or your number plate is particularly bad you will find yourself facing a £30 fine. Not the end of the world really and you might think the risk is worth it.

The government has been really clamping down recently on manufacturers who supply these plates to the public making it more difficult than ever to get your hands on one. Its now actually illegal to supply a number plate with a UK license number on it for use on the UK road. To get around this fact some suppliers have come up with a genius plan. They supply you with a blank number plate and a transfer that you apply to give a sort of do-it-yourself number plate system. You'll also be able to find supplier who will make one up for you, you'll just need to get it under the counter but you'll probably have some friends in the motorcycling community who can point you in the right direction.