Safe Speed Forums

The reason I asked the original question…

We have a guy who’s joined our IAM club with a bike imported from Australia (why would anyone do that?). His bike has all the correct paperwork and a recent MOT but it only reads in kph. His Observer is worried that he is riding illegally (in fact he’s adamant he is), but from what’s been said here, I don’t really think he can be.

Perhaps there was a mistake when the bike was registered here, but I think the bottom line is, he is daft not to at least put some pertinent mph marks on the dial.

Is that a fair summation?

_________________
It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Agreed, would be wise to at least add some mph markings

It seems certain a mistake was made during registration, and yes, they happen.

It is not an MOT requirement to have mph markings on the speedo.

Quoted from DoT’s How to register a vehicle imported into Great Britain.

“Imperial speedometer.

Great Britain uses imperial units for speed measurement. The law requires that speedometers must include a miles-per-hour display. Please note in particular that any modified display must be visible in daylight and in darkness.

Markings may be added to the existing speedometer provided they are:
Accurate: Durable: Can be seen clearly in daylight and when the instrument is lit during darkness”

Another person with an import that now reads MPH only checking in.



Note how the unit marker is "m/h" not mph and is slightly off centre. That's because they stuck a black sticker over the letter k and then fiddled the signal to the speedo electronically to drop it by the appropriate amount.

It seems to be standard practice, and I'm fairly sure that svaparts.com will sell you such a device quite cheaply.