Motorcycle and motorbike number plates

Order a road legal motorbike number plate for your motorcycle, scooter or moped, using an active format suitable for the vehicle. Enter your registration in our number plate builder and our motorcycle number plate maker sets the two line layout, 64mm characters and legal spacing for you. Choose an available format and finish, then check out. Your secure order link explains the required evidence; road-use production starts after payment and approval. Check the exact plate dimensions against your hanger or tail tidy before ordering.

• Two-line standard motorcycle rear format: 228mm x 178mm in the current REGUP catalogue

• 64mm characters, the size the law allows on motorcycles

• Standard, 3D gel and 4D finishes in single shade black

• Every plate stamped with BS AU 145e and our supplier mark

1. Enter your registration. Key in the registration from your logbook. The builder splits it across two lines and applies the Charles Wright font at 64mm, so the layout stays legal. Buying the bike second hand? Run a free number plate check to make sure the reg belongs to that bike.

2. Choose your size and finish. Pick the plate size that fits your hanger, then a standard, 3D gel or 4D finish, a border and an optional flag.

3. Upload your documents. Use the secure order link after checkout to provide the required name-and-address and registration entitlement evidence. Follow its document instructions; REGUP may request additional or original evidence before approval.

4. We verify, make and post. After verification your bike plate is cut, printed, stamped with the supplier mark and BS AU 145e, then posted out with any fixings you added.

Motorcycle plates follow the same core law as car plates, with three differences that catch riders out: where the plate goes, how the characters are laid out and how big they are.

• Rear plate only on motorcycles and motor tricycles first registered on or after 1 September 2001. A front plate is not allowed on these bikes.

• Bikes first registered before 1 September 2001 may also carry a white front plate, but do not have to.

• Characters are set on two lines, with the first four characters on top and the last three below for a current format registration.

• Black characters in a single shade on a yellow reflective plate, in the Charles Wright font, with no background pattern.

• The plate must carry the supplier name and postcode and the BS AU 145e mark, and be lit by the rear number plate lamp at night.

Our guide to UK number plate rules covers the full display law, including flags and identifiers. The official summary sits on GOV.UK.

Regulation 14(3) of the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 allows the smaller character dimensions for motorcycles, motor tricycles and eligible quadricycles under the applicable rules, rather than the usual car dimensions. Every measurement scales down with it:

These figures are fixed. Squeezing characters closer or trimming margins to fit a smaller plate makes the plate illegal, which is why the builder locks the legal character spacing for every motorcycle plate.

The plate must hold the registration with the required full-size characters, spacing and margins. The current REGUP standard motorcycle rear template is 228mm x 178mm. Measure the hanger and mounting area and use the exact dimensions shown in the builder.

• Standard motorcycle rear: 228mm x 178mm in the current catalogue; check the layout and mounting area before ordering

• Other formats: use only an active motorcycle format shown for your vehicle in the builder; contact REGUP if you need a different layout

• Smaller plates: only legal when a shorter registration still fits with full size characters and margins

Mini plates in 7 x 5 or 8 x 5.5 inches cannot hold legal characters for a current format registration. Undersized plates are display items, described as show plates for off road and display use only. Every format with measurements is listed in plate sizes in mm.

Custom motorbike number plates are road legal when the characters stay single shade black and the plate meets BS AU 145e. See 3D gel plates and 4D plates for how each finish is made.

You can add a border and a legal flag with its national identifier, covered in flags and national identifiers. Electric motorbikes with zero tailpipe emissions can carry the green flash. Every other finish, from borders to badges, sits under custom number plates. We do not make ghost, tinted, two tone or patterned road plates for bikes.

Bike plates take more vibration than car plates, so screw fixings with rubber or nylon washers hold better than adhesive pads alone. Fit the plate upright, square to the rear of the bike and clear of the tyre, and check the rear number plate lamp lights the whole plate.

If you fit a tail tidy, check it supports the exact selected plate dimensions without cutting or bending the plate, and that the lamp is still in place. Add number plate fixing kits at checkout, and read how to fit number plates for drilling, alignment and hanger fitting.

A registered supplier must check two documents before making any plate: one that proves your name and address, such as a driving licence or a recent utility bill, and one that proves you are entitled to the registration, such as the V5C, the green new keeper slip or a V750 certificate. Use the secure order link after checkout and follow its evidence instructions; additional or original documents may be requested before approval. Our guide to the documents you need lists every accepted document.

• A DVLA registered number plate supplier checking documents on every order

• A two-line motorcycle preview with the selected format checked before road-use production

• Road-use and display orders kept separate, with the selected road-use specification reviewed before production

• A UK vehicle data company: run a stolen vehicle check on a used bike before you buy and plate it

• Preview your plate free before you order

• Registered in Scotland, company number SC836719, 24 Fleming Avenue, Clydebank, G81 1AJ