Preparing your bike for an MOT test

Why bother preparing at all?

Every motorcycle over three years old needs an MOT once a year, and the fee is capped by law, so you know roughly what it will cost. What you cannot predict is what the tester will find. A bike that feels perfectly fine on the road can still pick up a fail for something small — a brake light that only works on the foot pedal, a chain with too much slack, a number plate that has faded. None of those are expensive to put right, but they turn a twenty-minute test into a second visit.

An hour in the garage with a cup of tea and a torch will catch most of it. You do not need to be a mechanic. You need to be methodical, and you need to look at the things a tester is obliged to look at.

One more thing worth knowing: the MOT is a test of roadworthiness at the moment of inspection, not a service. Passing it does not mean your bike is in good health, and it does not cover engine condition or the state of your oil. It covers safety and legal minimums.

Lights, horn and electrics

Start here because it is quick, and because lighting faults are one of the most common reasons bikes fail. Work through everything with the ignition on:

• Headlamp: dip and main beam both working, and the aim set sensibly. If you have ever had a bulb out and pushed it back in, or fitted a taller rear tyre or lowered the forks, the aim may now be too high. A test on a flat surface against a wall is a rough check; a garage beam setter is better.
• Brake light: it must come on with the front brake and with the rear brake, separately. A sticky rear brake light switch is a classic failure.
• Indicators: all four, flashing at the right rate — between 60 and 120 flashes per minute — and the warning light on the dash working. Green corrosion inside the bullet connectors behind the front fairing causes more indicator faults than dead bulbs.
• Tail light and number plate lamp, both lit.
• Horn: a continuous, clearly audible note. A novelty or musical horn will not do. If yours sounds like a strangled duck, check the earth before buying a new one.

While you are in there, look at the battery terminals and give the fuse box a glance. Loose or furred-up connections cause faults that only appear when the bike is warm.

Brakes, wheels and tyres

Spin the wheels and look at the brake pads through the caliper — you want visible friction material, not metal backing plate. Run a finger around the discs; deep scoring, a pronounced lip on the edge or a badly warped disc will all be noted. Check the fluid level in the reservoir, and squeeze the lever: it should feel firm, not spongy, with no creep towards the bar.

Tyres matter more than anything else on this list. The legal minimum for a bike over 50cc is 1mm of tread across three-quarters of the tread width and around the whole circumference, with no cuts, bulges, cracks or exposed cords. If your tyres are close to 1mm, replace them rather than hoping. Check pressures too, and check the sidewalls for perishing if the bike has been standing.

Finally, the drive chain — adjusted to your handbook figure, usually somewhere around 25–35mm of slack at the midpoint, oiled, with no tight spots and no hooked sprocket teeth. Lift the rear wheel and check for play in the wheel bearings.

Steering, suspension and frame

With the front wheel off the ground, turn the bars slowly from lock to lock. You are feeling for a notch or a gritty spot in the centre — that is a worn head bearing, and it is a fail. Then hold the forks and push and pull to check for play. Look at the fork seals for weeping oil; a fork that has left a ring of oil on the stanchion will be picked up.

At the back, check the swingarm and shock for play and for leaking fluid. Corrosion matters too: surface rust on a mudguard is generally fine, but corrosion that has weakened a load-bearing part of the frame is a different matter. Give the bike a wash before the test. A tester cannot properly inspect what is caked in winter road grime, and a clean bike is simply easier to assess.

Exhaust, leaks and the small details

Check the exhaust is secure and has no blowing joints. Noise is judged by the tester, so a race can with no baffle is asking for trouble. Look underneath for fuel or oil leaks, and check the fuel lines and tank for weeping.

Fit the small things too: a legible number plate with the correct 64mm characters in a standard font, a working rear reflector, secure footrests and pillion pegs, and a side stand that springs up properly and does not hang down when retracted. Small plates and fancy fonts are an easy fail and an easy fix.

On the day of the test

Book ahead. You may legally ride to a pre-arranged MOT appointment without a current certificate, but check with your insurer first, and do not ride a machine you know to be dangerous just to save a journey. If the bike fails on something serious, the tester can refuse to let you ride it away.

Bring the registration number and the fee; the V5C is not required. Most testers will take the bike on a short road test to assess the brakes, so make sure it is fuelled, legal and roadworthy before you hand over the keys. If it does fail, take the failure sheet away. Everything on it is a list of jobs, and only the dangerous ones stop you riding home.