Brake light switch thread

veravista

veravista

Senior member
Location
Derbyshire
Just a quickie.  Looks like the rear brake light pressure switch has packed up on the Jarama and it's going for an MOT in a couple of days.  Don't really want to shell out ?40 for another exact replacement so looking at an aftermarket job (under ?10) - just need to know if it's M10 x 1.0 or M10 x 1.25 before I rip it off.  Anyone know?
 
I think this is onje of those "if its fitted it must work" items but as far as the law is concerned (could be wrong here) you do have to have two independant braking systems, (they can both be on the back wheel...EEEEEK!) and a working brake light, if the front one works, you could get away with the back one not working so long as the examiner cannot see it, but if he sees it it has got to work, so cover it with a split tennis ball,and remember the current MOT does not permit any dismantling for testing purposes.
CLEM
 
Just by the slim chance the tester spots the tennis ball and starts asking embarrasing questions....the switch is M10 x 1  ;)


    Keith
 
I seem to remember that the rule for brake lights & MOTs is that bikes made after '85 need 2 working brake lights...
 
My Sunbeam Lion (1935) model 6C was made without a brake light, just the one wire going to the rear single filament bulb.Unfortunately I am obliged to retro fit one, (dont want a nasty clamp on bit of rusting BZP plated tat )consequently this bike has NEVER NOT EVER had an MOT, the last tax disc expired in 1949, long before the MOT was even thought of.Since the records for tax expiry rest with Kent county council and are lost, even though the bike is registered on a V5 at DVLA Swansea,useing its original number, they cant prosecute me for more than one months tax evasion, because they dont know when it ran out! and the fine is generally five times the tax owed, in my case it would be five times nothing since pre '72 bikes are issued with zero cost tax disc.stuff the stupid system.I only do about 70 or 100  miles per year on it, and its only insured in case of fire or theft, not because I use it.
CLEM
 
clem
or £1000 which ever is the greater.historic tax or not,and if you get an arshole of a traffic cop the bike impounded and crushed if the fine and storage charges are not paid.belive me
 
Clem,

You should be able to MOT your Sunbeam without a brake light:

according to http://www.johnparkermotorcycles.co.uk/wmot.html "For machines manufactured after 1935 you need 1 brake light working"
 
I'll just order one of these up then should be fine.

http://www.gbmotoracingparts.com/gbmoto-10x125-banjo-bolt-pressure-switch-brake-light-rearset-310-p.asp

If he fails it I'll just whine on about it being a classic and tell him they're as rare as hens teeth and I'll get one fitted as soon as I can find one...
 
sorry Bob you are wrong.Very few items are required as retrofit, brake lights are one of them ! for motorcycles that indeed do have electric lighting.

Acetylene lights are coinsidered "decorative purposes only" and bikes fitted with them are issued a daylight only MOT.

Bikes that do not have lights at all (includes brake light) are also issued with daytime only MOT's.

Any bike of any age if it is fitted with electric lighting, has to not only have a working brake light, even if that is retrofit, but also a single tone horn, which means that a bulb horn is not permitted.

Dont start me, I already tax and insure 3 cars, 2 vans, 1 lorry and 4 motorcycles.
CLEM
 
Sorry Clem, but I'm right.

to quote VOSA's MOT test manual:

"Exemptions:
If a stop lamp is fitted, it must meet the requirements of this inspection, but need not be fitted to a machine which:
a.  cannot exceed 25mph, or
b.  was first used before 1 January 1936"

http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/doitonline/bl/mottestingmanualsandguides/mottestingmanualsandguides.htm - motorcycle test guide, section 1.3: Stop lamps

I may not run as many vehicles as you do but I did, during a previous life in the haulage industry, pass my CPC
 
Looks as though I am proved wrong again, and I bow to your better knowledge and thank you for your input, Bob.

I have just got back from the local MOT station where I checked these things out with the man that does the testing (who I went to school with 42 years ago) and he is denying what he previojusly told me, so it is probably me distorting the facts over the years, sorry about that, and thanks again Bob.

CLEM
ps its still not going for the MOT tho
 
No worries Clem - it's always good for me to check these things I "think" I know as there's a lot of misinformation around on the subject of MOTs.

And if I hadn't checked I wouldn't have found the VOSA guide online  :D
Next time I go for an MOT I'll be having a good read of it first & quite possibly printing out a few pages so I can argue if need be - I've had MOT fails in the past for things that aren't grounds for a failure.
 
Well, it sailed through without the rear brake light switch working!  The young whipper snapper of a mechanic had to get the old hand to help him mind, he got stuck with it on the ramp - the old dynamic force balance trick where despite pushing it as hard as he could he could nothing but stop it from rolling back down again!  There then followed several attempts where I could hear him running it up and trying to get it to tickover before the older mechanic gave up and went and did it properly - he emerged later muttering wowfuckingbrilliantfuckingpropermotorcyclegreatbrillianthowlongbeforemyearsstopbleeding?
 
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