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Red Plate Eligibilty - 2008 |
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2008 WILL BE A VINTAGE YEAR FOR RED PLATES
Derek Pickard lists what we can now ride on club registration.
There are sod-all advantages in getting old, but one of the few is a wider
choice of machinery, which can be easily ridden on ridden on club
registration. And as we¹re now well into 2008, this automatically brings up
another year for red plate eligibility.
For 1983, the following new bikes can now be considered:
BMW
K100 in-line four. If you like heavy tourers, this big shafty is great.
R65LS flat twin. The then fashionable wedge-shaped headlight quickly dated.
R80ST flat twin. Bee Emm¹s lightest ever road flat twin.
HONDA
VT500 in-line vee-twin. A very rare bike and a very definite failure at the
time.
CX650 vee-twin shaft drive. Getting heavy but supa-smooth.
XL600 trail. Nicely sorted but a high seat.
KAWASAKI
GPZ750 four. Fairly compact and screaming road rocket.
MOTO GUZZI
V65 bee-twin shaft drive. Many say this light bike is the pick of them.
SUZUKI
GR650 parallel twin. Unfortunately rare but undeniably very good.
YAMAHA
IT490 two stroke trail. Too high, too fast, too wild and best forgotten.
RZ350 two stroke twin. The last and best of this amazing breed.
For all you classic fans who stick to the belief that the definition of a
classic bike is something over 25 years old (in line with red plate regs),
then welcome to 2007. Because another year has ticked over and with it comes
a whole new line up of allowable motorcycles.
Suddenly we can all look to 1982 bikes coming onto the red plate category.
And a quick look thru the official listings of what bike came out in 1982,
below is a sampling of what can now be put on red plates (according to the
factory information of what was released here in 1982):
Benelli 254 cafe racer,
Benelii 900 six
BMW R65LS sports
Ducati 600 vee twin
Honda NS50 scooter, CL250 commuter, XR250 enduro, FT500 single, CBX550
sports, VF750S sports, CB1100R sports, GL1100D tour,
Kawasaki Z550 sports, GT750 tour, GPZ750 sports,
Suzuki DR250 trail, GN250 commuter, GS1100G tour,
Yamaha XT550 trail, XJ650 turbo,
And in case you missed it, last year saw many of the big Suzuki Katana
street rockets come into the 25 year class.
Happy red plating.
Derek Pickard
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