Clearly in question

Clearly in question

Peace officers!

By: Mark Cernicky/photo Chris Cantle  

While watching the World Supers, one evening on the DVR, I noticed how clean Jonny Rea’s #65 Hannspree Honda, CBR1000RR looked. From that point on knew I had to rid my Honda of its stock of it’s license plate bracket.   

Hotbodies ($219.95) 1/8 ABS undertail was an easy fix. The plastic piece comes pre-painted; peril yellow matched CBR-RR perfectly. Installation took a little snipping of the wiring harness and clipping of the stock tail-sections tabs to make it a tight fit.

Standing back, looking at it in place, it was an insurrection of direction. I couldn’t follow the next step of the instructions. “Drill holes desired location, bolt on the two metal “L” brackets to hang the states plate from painted plastic. But the tidy tucked tail just looked to good the way it was so…

Instead I took out the battery drilled a couple holes in the battery box, backed the bolts used to synched the plate on with, with wide washers. YUSA back in and online, installed the matching ($180) hugger guard/fender, to try and keep rear end free from flinging road reminisces.

After almost two-years, I happened to get pulled over by a motor-officer who wasn’t a fan of hack-slides or my licenses plates’ placement. He seamed to be having a bad day. After this altercation so did I. Due concerns of keeping my license valid, I paid a visited to a couple Cops I know very well.

They both where peaceable enough to show me vehicle code, CVC 5201, that reads; License plates shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle for which they are issued so as to prevent the plates from swinging, shall be mounted in a position so as to be clearly visible, and shall be maintained in a condition so as to be clearly legible. The rear license plate shall be mounted not less than 12 inches nor more than 60 inches from the ground, and the front license plate shall be mounted not more than 60 inches from the ground, except as follows: 

License Plate Lamp: CVC 24601.  Either the tail lamp or a separate lamp shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear license plate during darkness and render it clearly legible from a distance of 50 feet to the rear. When the rear license plate is illuminated by a lamp other than a required tail lamp, the two lamps shall be turned on or off only by the same control switch at all times.

That was more than just a second opinion my friends that’s code. I fought the law and law won; where our plate was bolted to the back of the battery box of CBR1000RR, looked really clean to me but to heed the advice of my peaceable officer friends. For the sake of argument —with a judge— visibility was clearly in question.