Sticking my neck out here... so be nice!

Alrighty - -

I may have made an error. I "cleaned" up the look of my bike by carefully removing the rear fender. After the fact, I read on here the other day that some State Inspections require a light to illuminate the lisc plate. I called my Insp station and sure enough. If the plate is not illuminated, then I fail my Inspection.

:biggrin:
<< Chuckles here >>>

Ok, does any one know of any kind of "micro" lighting option out there for us bikers? I don't want to put this ugly fender assembly with the plate holder back on...

Be merciful please... LOL

Big Al

 

I seen a fella mount a flush mount bright LED in the under tail area. Couldn't even see the light but illuminated the plate just enough to convince anyone who may care :mod:

 

My brother did the same thing on his '05 GSX-R. A small flushmount LED wired into the existing plate wiring worked great.

I just CUT the fender off my VFR this summer, VT state inspection is due in July. It ain't goin' back on now! So we'll see where this ends up, I know I have seen a ton of Harley's around with the plate mounted on the rigid tail, with no obvious illumination.

However... Why in the hell does your plate have to be illuminated anyways? The damn thing is REFLECTIVE. Anyone who wanted to read it at night while following you shouldn't need the help of a 5W bulb to see it...

 

My suggestion is to get a Competition Werks fender eliminator. Your factory light will mount right on it. That is, unless you somehow butchered the light and wiring?

 

comp werkes does a great job, but if not, get one of those shop lights on an extension cord, coil up most of the cord and zip tie it to the pillion seat, then tape the shop light to the tail end, lighting up the license plate. Then all you have to do is get some leads off the battery, put an inverter on there, and viola! you have a sweet, VEEEERY custom plate light!

Or just toss a tiny superbright LED under your tail light. It is pretty much 6 of one half dozen of the other ya know?

LED's can probably be procured at www.customdynamics.com or any place that sells bright ones that take a 12 v supply. Rock and roll.

 

Alex - They make license plate bolts which have built-in LEDs (in the head of the bolt). Easy fix.

eBay link

 

Keena stole my answer.

 

Customdynamics


These guys will have something to enlighten your tailectomy. I've not used them personally, but have read good reports. Please write a review (with pics) if you find something you like :thumb:

good luck lightening your load

 

i went the cheap route, and used those little windshield washer lights. they shine 90 degrees , mounted right above the plate.

 

Keeena... THAT'S IT !!!!!! Thanks for the idea. Will get some now!

Thanks to everyone's ideas. I appreciate all the help today!!!!

Big Al

 

i like the license plate bolts with the LED's in them and have seen them out there, as an alternative, i kind of went the mcgyver route and removed that nasty looking rear fender on my 87. i cut the light bar out of it, unbolted the whole assembly and then used a piece of heavy duty pipe strap (1/8" thick steel) and ran it between the two holes that are right below the rear marker lights. i maintained the original license plate mounting below the original light. at first, it looked great but then due to updraft off the rear wheel, the plate was getting sucked under and would be bent when i got home from a ride, so i went down to the local steel yard and picked up a piece of 1/8" aluminum, painted it black and mounted it behind the plate.
might seem like a real hassle but i guess i never do things the easy way.

 

There ya go, easy enough to do.

 

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/metalgearworks/website/shouhinitiran/numbersupport/number_support.html

It's only 14,000 yen... that's almost 135 bucks. I will translate the page if you are interested.

 

that piece is wicked cool but for an 86/87 vfr like mine, you still have to fashion something to span the gap between the rear marker posts, which is what I did. That is awesome, send it to me...please.
drewsoped@hotmail.com
thanks

 

Do you mean me?

 

Alex-
If you use the lite'n boltz be sure to put heat shrink tubing over the wire harness coming out the back of the bolts. The road grit and gravel that the tire kicks up will tear the wires off. (Ask me how I know.)

 

heh my tail light works perfect for my plate lite..just the angle i guess..but then again if the cops say anything i will look into those LED light bolts. I might be looking onto a rumble tail universal plate mount soon to rework the bikes tail anyways..havent decided yet on that one..