Restricted motorcycles of 25kw (33bhp) & certificates

For those people that have taken their test on a learner legal 125cc motorcycle and have gained their standard restricted motorcycle licence. You are entitled to ride a motorcycle producing a maximum power of 25kw (33bhp) with a power to weight ratio not exceeding 0.16kw/kg.

Some people find motorcycles that fit into this lower power category, but the majority select a bike that normally has a higher power output and have them professionally restricted. The restriction needs to be "Permanent" i.e. not a switch or something easily or quickly changeable.

You can get a dealer to fit a proper kit and they give you a certificate showing all the details, or you can have a bike permanently restricted by other means and get a professional dyno tester to prove it in writing.

After two years from the date of your passing your standard motorcycle test, you automatically get a full unrestricted licence and can ride any bike, any power, any size. So now you can un restrict you bike and whiz off into the distance. But what are the laws in the meantime?

What certificate or proof do I need that my bike is restricted?
The onus is on you the rider is to have acceptable proof that the restriction has been satisfactorily done and for you to have documents to show to the police that will assure them that your bike complies.

If you are on a bike that produces under the limit then you should be ok as the police and motorcycle industry have produced a fairly definitive list. The insurers should have full access to this list too.

However in the case of restricted motorcycles, things are a bit trickier to get right.

Most motorcycle dealers will be able to fit a restrictor kit that has been manufactured and tested for a particular bike and meets EU standards. The dealer will then be able to give you a certificate with all the relevant details and also a dealer stamp on it to make it hard to forge or copy. This certificate is not government issued like a CBT or a MOT certificate. It's created by either the dealer or the restrictor kit manufacturer and is there to show due diligence and an audit trail. They often hold the information on a central database so the police can check with them and also so you can get duplicate if you loose the original.

What is restriction and who is a dealer?
If I have my mate fit a decent restrictor kit for my bike - can't he just give me a certificate he's just made up, and isn't that just a good as a more expensive job at the dealer?

Well no - not really. You have to be sure that the jobs been done well and that the bike is actually restricted to the proper level.

If you buy a bike with a certificate that has no real provenance, or if you have a go at restricting it yourself and write or copy your own certificate. Then the potential problem is that your bike may actually make more power than it should. Follow that line and you don't have a licence to ride it and your insurance no matter how up to date is invalid.

Who cares?
You may ask "So what? - Nobody checks", but I can assure you that if you are in any way involved in an accident, even if you were not injured or if you did not directly cause the accident - The very first thing an on the ball insurance company will do is to dyno the bike's engine (or check the remaining bits), along with scrutinising your documents showing what proper an reasonable steps you took to make sure it had the correct power output.

Sadly the area is a bit of an anomaly and some insurers are really keen on certificate checks when you buy insurance or make a claim, others not so. But the bottom line question is: Has the work been done and how much hassle are you going to get over the details?

You are going to hear lots of people say that no-one checks and the police don't know what the laws are - and even that the insurers are just not interested in a certificate. But the buck stops with you when things go wrong, not the person who gave your friendly but incomplete advice in the chat room.

The pitfalls of no or bodged restriction:
If you have tried to pull the wool over your insurance company's eyes, and your own for that matter with a fake cert or dodgy restriction - the result could be points, bans, fines, bankruptcy and even jail. For example: Mr White Van swerves into you, breaking one of your legs and damaging your bike. With a £20,000 broken leg claim looming, the insurance company of Mr White Van immediately ask for a test on your bike. Police find your machine is not properly restricted and you don't have verifiable documents to say you got a dyno test or a proper kit fitted at a dealer. You can see that the accident will be pinned on the illegal unlicensed rider recklessly speeding on an unrestricted machine. You end up paying for Mr White Van's repair and your insurance co. claims you tried to gain financial advantage by deception and were defrauding them. All pretty poor.

Okay - but what about just roadside checks?
Most police will be happy with a genuine certificate from a reputable and known dealer who they can check with. The dealer should have fitted a known brand restrictor that meets EC regulations and testing regimes. Again (and possibly even better) most police should be fine with a decent dyno certificate stating the bike's frame, engine, reg and the person who owns it, along with the power rating as specified in EC regulation. This can be a bit more tricky as Dyno testers are less well known than bike dealers and their provenance a bit harder to ascertain.

Importantly - most dynos test power at the rear wheel, not the final drive (crank) as is stipulated in Directive EU 95/1/EC. If it's producing 33bhp at the rear wheel - then its producing too much at the crank! Not a huge problem you may think but for sure if an insurance company want's to wriggle out of it's liability then this is a possible and probable way for them to do it. Same deal with the police who may be looking at the letter of the law.

A decent dyno house will be able to have calculations and methods to extrapolate the power at crank from rear wheel testing data - and this is what you need.

If you are going for a dealer fitted kit, keep in mind that the certificates are often related to the bike and the rider. The industry has wised up to people restricting their bikes, un restricting when their two years is up and then selling on with a handy certificate. Along with over keen riders simply getting the restriction fitted and then binning it to ride a full power machine, again with a handy unnamed certificate. Suppliers F1 International link the machine and rider as they state the certificate is considered a Section 9 legal document admissible in court. Basically some dealers and manufacturers state that if you have a certificate in your name along with the bike details, it will have more sway with police, courts and insurers.

The down side is that it's possible some companies may see this as a means of separating you from your cash just to name you on their database and give out a new certificate. Currently police and insurers have indicated that they are happy with a certificate in a different persons name but for the same bike. A statement of change of owners and that the bike was sold restricted should be fine along with the old restriction certificate.

So there you have it - dyno from crank with fully detailed certification, or main dealer certificate of a EC standard meeting restrictor kit. Getting your name on the cert is helpful should you ever need it to stand up in court, or a statement that the bike was sold restricted to you from the person named on the original.

Bern Adams July 2010