LED Headlights ARE Road Legal for Motorcycles

It is LEGAL for Class 1 & 2 Motorbikes to use LED Headlight

For some time, it’s been a frustrating fact that despite the clear benefits of upgrading halogen headlights to good quality LED headlight bulbs, they have only been available for off road use.

We have posted previously about whether LED bulbs are road legal or not, but one area we didn’t hone in on is LED headlights fitted to motorbikes.

An update to the MOT rules has turned this on it’s head. Let’s look at the details…

The Old MOT Rules

Section 4.1.4 : Existing halogen headlamp units should not be converted to be used with high intensity discharge (HID) or light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp.

This is the clause that means MOT testers must fail a headlamp if the original halogen bulb has been converted to either HID or LED. So what’s changed…

The New MOT Rule

Class 1 and 2 motorcycles must not be failed for the defect ‘Light source and lamp not compatible’.
Headlamps must comply with all other requirements of the test and headlamp aim.

This is great news for motorbike owners. Of course you still need to ensure you are fitting good quality LED headlight bulbs such as those from Twenty20, Philips and Osram. However you can now ride safe in the knowledge that your brighter LED headlights will not only improve your night time visibility, as well as being seen by other road users better, but you are doing so legally without the worry of a failed MOT inspection.

This updated legislation was originally announced in an MOT special notice.

This new guidance is reflected in the MOT inspection manual, section 4.1.4.