Z1OwnersClub GB

I’ve now completed my restoration, and even though my 1977 Z1000 does not legally require an MOT as it is registered as a historic vehicle on the V5, I decided to get an MOT done for my own own peace of mind.

The MOT station has “failed” the bike as the VIN number on the frame is not fully legible. It is covered by a few generations of paint or powder coat. If you strain your eyes hard enough you can see that the stamped VIN matches the V5, but they want the area of the headstock to be stripped of paint.

My understanding was that pre 1999 bikes did not need to have a VIN number on the frame. Am I wrong? Do I need to strip the paint, or should I take it to another MOT station….or just not bother with an MOT?

All machines need a frame number no matter the age but i would either take it to another garage or just not bother and self declare .

bin there before. just make a vin sticker & stick to other side of headstock.
worked for me.
quote from mot testing manual

Motorcycles may have the VIN displayed in more than one location, but only one VIN must be complete and legible

zed1015 wrote:All machines need a frame number no matter the age but i would either take it to another garage or just not bother and self declare .

Thanks Zed1015. Attached is the extract from the MOT Testers Manual that led me to believe it was not needed for pre 1999 bikes. My error I guess.

I had this when I took my Z1000 for Mot after rebuilding it. Vin hard to read because of frame powder coating. I only took it for Mot as it had been off the road for so long.

The Mot tester was not going to test it, but after checking up he found as you have that pre 99 bikes don't need to show a VIN.

I took a copy of the V5 and he used that for the test.

It's now registered Historic so don't have that problem now.

Thanks Stevo

A few years ago my uk 1973 z1 had a new frame due to an accident many years ago. New frames come without numbers. All my mot guy did was put ' frame number not found' or 'frame number not visible', cant remember which but never had any problems, must have had 12 mot's while i owned it.

floydsz1 wrote:A few years ago my uk 1973 z1 had a new frame due to an accident many years ago. New frames come without numbers. All my mot guy did was put ' frame number not found' or 'frame number not visible', cant remember which but never had any problems, must have had 12 mot's while i owned it.

Thanks.