MoT or Not?

[DaveN]

Excellent points folks and well made.

My machine was put through an MoT after the restoration back in February just as a nuts-n-bolts check, but as I have yet to clock 1,000 miles in 10 months (I'm still running it in :-), I may well leave it until 2022 before another one.

[Bryanj]

Like i said 1 just after putting on road then not till majour work done

[florence]

I simply keep my historic vehicles in a good mechanical condition.  The MOT test was always pretty basic and my bike never failed in the past because I knew what was required to get it through.  There's not much point in having a test, it's always a massive inconvenience for me as there is nowhere local to have it done. With proper maintenance machinery is always going to be in good order.  I suspect 99.9% of historic vehicles are in much better condition than vehicles that still require an MOT (which is only valid on the day of the test) and, after all, we care and are interested in our vehicles; they wouldn't have lasted this long otherwise.  Our bikes are much more to us than transport, we are by definition enthusiasts, and I think that will always be worth much more than a generic test done by someone who normally only looks machinery made in the last decade or two.  It isn't very fair on testers to have to interpret regulations for vehicles that were manufactured sometimes up to over a hundred years ago and I'm sure the insurers find that the incidence of accidents involving vehicles over forty years old is statistically very small as a proportion of the whole.

[jonboo10]

 i would vote Not.Here in IOM when you import from UK you have a govt inspection before you can re-register and then no further tests as long as you keep the vehicle taxed at least 1 yr in 2. Govt test more through than a UK MOT . Thereafter its your responsibility to maintain roadworthyness.

[Bryanj]

Is that because there are no speed limits and few straights on the IOM

[Lobo]

I lived in the IOM for a couple of years - beautiful spot. (Our daughter was born there). Local lore had it that you had to say, “Hello Fairies” as you crossed the Fairy Bridge from Castletown into Douglas. The one time we didn’t (too busy chatting).... I got a ticket for speeding.
So yep, back in 1986 there were certainly ‘limits.
Happy days...

[philward]

Lobo, you just reminded me about Fairy Bridge - used to always say Hello Fairies when going over the bridge when on holiday with my grandparents in the sixties!

[billdn]

Went to the TT in 1980 and didn't say hello to the fairies - fractured femur and written off bike! Ignore the folk lore at your peril!

[MrDavo]

So yep, back in 1986 there were certainly ‘limits.

During the Manx GP in 1993, we got a ticket in the Transit for breaking the 30mph limit at the end of the Sulby Straight. An hour earlier, in evening practice I had passed the very same copper on the CBR600 at over 150mph and he didn't even look up!

I believe that MOT standards in Eire used to be somewhat lax,  don't know about nowadays though.

[TrickyMicky]

TT Races 1972. Actually stopped to talk to the fairies, wish them all happiness, and could they bless us with a proper closed in car deck on the way home!!

[Lobo]

... that last pic Tricky reminds me of the car ferry aborting it’s approach into Douglas in wild weather (1985’ish?) with a sharp turn and the thing listing .... an awful lot. Carnage down on the bike deck, with 10’s of machines toppled like dominoes.
I don’t often fret on transports, but this time was definitely an, “ey up” moment as the lean got greater and greater 😱.