Bike Rack and number plate

[jacob_T]

I've done a google search and hunted around the forum, so apologies if this has already been addressed...

From what I've read, to have a bike rack on the back of your car, the number plate must be clearly visible or supplemented with a bike rack number plate (which apparently will cost me about $80).

Would it be legal to relocate your number plate, say, lower down on your vehicle or to the side a bit, so it would be more visible, with the bike rack?

[ozzymac]

Hi,
Yes, it's ok to move the original number plate so it's visible.

Last time I had my rack on, I used cable ties to attach my plate to the bike rack so it was in plane view.


Cheers

[Mulger bill]

With the proviso that it will still have to be illuminated at night...

[ozzymac]

Or don't drive at night


Cheers

[Oxford]

check the rules in your state, but basically if in Qld, the plate must be visible up to 20m away at a point level with the plate and to a point at an angle of 45 degrees above. Then from each side clearly visible up to 20m away at angle of 45 degrees to each side. At night illuminated. Also remember you are not allowed to obscure brake, tail and indicator lights.

[herzog]

They don't make it easy hey?

[jacob_T]

They don't make it easy hey?

Haha. Not at all.
Does it have to be illuminated if you have one of those special bike rack plates?

[queequeg]

They don't make it easy hey?

Haha. Not at all.
Does it have to be illuminated if you have one of those special bike rack plates?

Yes, the special plate must be illuminated.

[gcouyant]

I've done a google search and hunted around the forum, so apologies if this has already been addressed...

From what I've read, to have a bike rack on the back of your car, the number plate must be clearly visible or supplemented with a bike rack number plate (which apparently will cost me about $80).

Would it be legal to relocate your number plate, say, lower down on your vehicle or to the side a bit, so it would be more visible, with the bike rack?

Good answers on this thread Jacob and here are a few other bits of advice.

Don't be tempted to use a home made plate or you face a fine for displaying a non-compliant plate in addition to the fine for obscuring the original.

I use a little Knog led bike lamp strapped to a pedal or chainring - whatever - to illuminate the licence plate at night. It's safe and effective.

The policing effort goes into a partially obscured plate and totally obscured tail lamps.

[jacob_T]

I've done a google search and hunted around the forum, so apologies if this has already been addressed...

From what I've read, to have a bike rack on the back of your car, the number plate must be clearly visible or supplemented with a bike rack number plate (which apparently will cost me about $80).

Would it be legal to relocate your number plate, say, lower down on your vehicle or to the side a bit, so it would be more visible, with the bike rack?

Good answers on this thread Jacob and here are a few other bits of advice.

Don't be tempted to use a home made plate or you face a fine for displaying a non-compliant plate in addition to the fine for obscuring the original.

I use a little Knog led bike lamp strapped to a pedal or chainring - whatever - to illuminate the licence plate at night. It's safe and effective.

The policing effort goes into a partially obscured plate and totally obscured tail lamps.

Ah yeah. I've heard of those fines for home made jobs.
I'll have to have a fiddle and see what I can come up with.
It's turning out to be more effort than it's worth. Maybe I'll just have to start riding everywhere and ditch the car.

[im_no_pro]

I've done a google search and hunted around the forum, so apologies if this has already been addressed...

From what I've read, to have a bike rack on the back of your car, the number plate must be clearly visible or supplemented with a bike rack number plate (which apparently will cost me about $80).

Would it be legal to relocate your number plate, say, lower down on your vehicle or to the side a bit, so it would be more visible, with the bike rack?

Good answers on this thread Jacob and here are a few other bits of advice.

Don't be tempted to use a home made plate or you face a fine for displaying a non-compliant plate in addition to the fine for obscuring the original.

I use a little Knog led bike lamp strapped to a pedal or chainring - whatever - to illuminate the licence plate at night. It's safe and effective.

The policing effort goes into a partially obscured plate and totally obscured tail lamps.

Ah yeah. I've heard of those fines for home made jobs.
I'll have to have a fiddle and see what I can come up with.
It's turning out to be more effort than it's worth. Maybe I'll just have to start riding everywhere and ditch the car.

I ended up finding a pretty easy solution to this problem. Roof racks.

[find_bruce]

I use a little Knog led bike lamp strapped to a pedal or chainring - whatever - to illuminate the licence plate at night. It's safe and effective.

The policing effort goes into a partially obscured plate and totally obscured tail lamps.

Great tip, I was about to wire up a whole light board for my bike rack, but this is much easier, as long as my tail light and indicators are still visible

[jacob_T]

I ended up finding a pretty easy solution to this problem. Roof racks.

Yeah Roof Racks could be pretty ideal for some. But I don't have any on my car, so it'd be a fair bit of money to install both the racks, and the bike attachments.
I also have to access a multi-level carpark with a low roof fairly regularly, and I'm not sure how a bike on the roof would mix with that. Aha.

[gcouyant]

Great tip, I was about to wire up a whole light board for my bike rack, but this is much easier, as long as my tail light and indicators are still visible

Exactly...

We (and most of our customers) who travel into remote regions on rough tracks never ever use plug in aux tail lamps because they do fail and when they do invariably cause havoc with the vehicle's fuses and electrical system - especially on some of the modern vehicles with mux type wiring.

Keeping it simple means more time to relax and ride.

[bychosis]

Picked up my bike rack plate from the local RTA yesterday. Perhaps not so ironic that there was nowhere to lock my bike, other than the water meter out the front!

[im_no_pro]

I ended up finding a pretty easy solution to this problem. Roof racks.

Yeah Roof Racks could be pretty ideal for some. But I don't have any on my car, so it'd be a fair bit of money to install both the racks, and the bike attachments.
I also have to access a multi-level carpark with a low roof fairly regularly, and I'm not sure how a bike on the roof would mix with that. Aha.

Yep, car park complexes can be a pain with roofracks (as can maccas drive-thru's). I ended up picking up a second hand set of roofracks on eBay and getting the bike holders cheap from torpedo7 so the outlay wasnt anywhere near as bad as it could have been. I dont have a towbar on my car and would have had to install a factory one as its a company leased vehicle which gets changed every 3 years so roofracks ended up being the cheaper option anyway, all I have to do is buy a new foot pack for the roof racks each time I change cars instead of install a new towbar.