Rear mudguard regulation??

[RIDLER]

anybody know of a site or the regulations about rear mudgaurds?? :confused:

building me chop and want the rear as bare as poss so not a very big rear guard, side mounted plate etc. but not sure how it will get on at the ministry test thingy.

can anyone help , or know of a site that can give me the regs on this sort of thing

cheers all. :D

[Mad Dog]

Side mounted Numberplate and lights are a MSVA fail.

The lighting has to be symmetrical, therefore you either fit it on the centreline of have to put another plate and lights on the otherside as well !!!

I have a vague feeling, and I will have to check this out, that the mudguard must cover the tyre from side to side and reach rearwards such that 2/3rds or 3/4 of the wheel is covered.

Get a copy of the MSVA regs from VOSA - the best £35 you'll spend.

[RIDLER]

cheers MD for the info, why does the law always feck up ya plans ?

:mad:

[Mad Dog]

Been law since June last year,

Best to make yer plans based on the regs - I see them as a challenge, a kind of framework that you work right to the edge of.

[BlackPig]

Just to throw a spanner in the works............ :rolleyes:

What would happen if you did the job to the required regs,and then modified it as you would with a normally registered bike ?

Surely once it's passed,it's passed,no ?

Think about it, if you can't make changes,modified custom bikes will disapear through legislation,or am I missing the point here? :confused: If you can't make changes after the "test",there are going to be a lot of secondhand bikes for sale if the owners want a different look,if you can make changes then the regs are a bit pointless,if you see what I mean? :confused:

[Mad Dog]

Just to throw a spanner in the works............ :rolleyes:

What would happen if you did the job to the required regs,and then modified it as you would with a normally registered bike ?

Surely once it's passed,it's passed,no ?

Think about it, if you can't make changes,modified custom bikes will disapear through legislation,or am I missing the point here? :confused: If you can't make changes after the "test",there are going to be a lot of secondhand bikes for sale if the owners want a different look,if you can make changes then the regs are a bit pointless,if you see what I mean? :confused:


Same thing applies to Manufactured bikes as does Single Vehicle builds.

Therefore, any bike registered after June last year cannot legally have single-side mounted plate and lights.
Whether this would be picked up by a Copper or MOT tester is another thing.

You can still make changes to these bikes, as long as they conform to the regs. Strictly speaking, fitting all yer bike bits into a nice new frame (unless it is a Factory original or replacement for original) would require a new registration under MSVA.

There are moves afoot to even prevent minor changes as per TUV regs in Germany. This would mean that you could not even vary from the Original Manufacturer specification for tyres (even if they may be better ones).

[BlackPig]

Cheers Mad Dog,having been out of the UK for a while now I didn't really look to far into the problem :o

French law,technically,doesn't allow modified vehicles,but where do you draw the line? I know where mine stops.............. :rolleyes:

[RIDLER]

i will be looking at getting it through the registation test at the ministry, then once thats done then its up to the friendly MOTer to pass it each year. :D

the feds/coppers down this end aint to clued up with all new law , as i found out in '98 when i got busted over a ton on what was supposed to be a 33bhp bandit600 . doh!!!! :rolleyes:

[Jay]

Does this mean then that now I've hardtailed me stock frame, I've gotta take it somewhere else other than just for an MOT?

[Mad Dog]

Grey area.

In principal you have made a substantial change to the Frame and Suspension such that it is not quite the bike that is described on the V5.

This is an ideal question for Chris the master sleuth on the MSVA tech thread "stickied" at the top of Workshop section.

[MSVA Tech]

Hi all,

I came, I saw, I nearly went home!

Ok mudguards, there are three areas of legislation that will affect you and your machine during your (hopefully) happy time together. Firstly there is type approval stuff which if you're not a big manufacturer means MSVA. this applies at the pre registration stage or following radical alteration which leads to re-registration.

There is no specific requirement in MSVA for a mudguard to be fitted but and there always is one, remember the test is subjective our examiners have to make decisions on what they see without using any type of destructive testing. So no mudguard at the rear could be seen as posing a potential danger (section 14 item 1) mudguard security and attachment is also mentioned in item 3.

Next up once on the road there is national legislation, the favourites being Construction and Use regs (C&U) and Road Vehicle Lighting Regs (RVLR) but there are plenty of other such as display of number plates etc.

C&U regulation 63 requires just about all vehicles to be " equipped with wings or other similar fittings to catch, so far as is possible, mud or water thrown up by the rotation of its wheels or tracks" so if you got past MSVA with a minimalist rear guard you could be pulled riding down the road with a plume of spray washing your back. But gatsos don't pull you over.

Finaly there is the requirements of the annual test aka the MoT. The Mot tester will be looking for things that are insecure and/or likely to foul other components. So in theory if whatever mudguard is fitted is secure it should be ok.

:confused: Does this sound like a load of definite maybes so far. Life n legislation is like that I'm afraid. Most things are often only turned into black and white after a test case in the courts.

Best advice I can give is retain your individuality but try not to take the mickey.

Side mounts - to save me taking up two much space have a look at the MSVA newsletters that Mike Healy has reproduced on the Trike Register site.

Hardtailing (in UK! rather your bum than mine) ok you have a bike, it is registered etc you make a change, is it still the same as described on the V5? two wheels , purple colour etc etc do it right or get it done by someone who can, it won't be subject to MSVA, will still get looked at at the next MoT tho. Type Approval cannot be enforced fully post registration thats why we still have national legislation and annual tests. This isn't just the bike/trike worlds think of all thoses tin boxes that get featured in Macks Power most of them started off as a nice type approved family yawn box (TA for cars has been around much longer than for 2/3 wheelers.

Right guys n gals if I've missed owt send another post Time is almost upon me to escape Brisl for the weekend and get ampshire bound. Got to pull the tupperware off me Sprint (goin for the sympathy vote here but even civil servants slide up the road some times) have a good weekend catch up with you all next week. :D

Chris

[RIDLER]

cool . thanks tech man . that was a very useful reply . ace . or i could go as far as to say fantastic. cheers matey :D