BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

If your bike requires an MOT, where do you take it & how much do you pay.

My RT was Tested & Passed today at Yarm MOT & Service Centre, for the sum of £20, got to be one of the best value MOT's around.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yarm-Mot ... 8152011534

How about adding your preferred MOT Testing Station.

Got my ST1300 MOT last week cost £29 which I think is a standard fee but not sure on that.


Just googled it and then max fee for a MOT for a bike is £29.65 and its VAT exempt.

Got my XJ650 tested yesterday at Yarm MOT & Service Centre for the sum of £20. I'll be taking the RT there next month.

I have my own Twincam tested at a BMW Dealer for a reasonable cost of £29.95. I like trusting my bike to a tester who has far more product knowledge than the average general M.O.T. Station. On top of that the extra £9.95 I pay over what David pays is negligible to me, I mean to say, that works out at 19 pence a week. I can recall a few years ago when a “general” M.O.T. Tester told me I had Brake Failure when they switched on the ignition and the said caption appeared momentarily on the dash ! !.

In 2017, during a service/visual health check, Cooper Sunderland (now Vertu) identified "slight play in rear diff. thrust bearing". In 2018, had a second opinion from Allan Jefferies, one of their MOT testers checked the FD unit bearings etc., he could find nothing wrong with it. What value/trust does this put on a BMW MOT. As my RT has a service/visual health check at a BMW dealer, I'm happy to have an MOT elsewhere.

My nearest Yamaha (XJ650) dealer is over 50 miles away. I do have my Suzuki car serviced & MOT'ed at a local franchised dealer.

Each to his own, as they say. I do appreciate that it’s a personal choice and I can only applaud David’s, especially considering his past experience. However, if I doubted the expertise / integrity of a Dealer to correctly identify a problem with my Final Drive I doubt if I would continue to trust that dealer with servicing / health checks no matter how attractive his terms where.
I regularly have my car M.O.T. carried out at a V.A.G. Independent garage and prior to that at a Skoda Dealer, although in this case cost didn’t come into it as they charged the same as most other testers. What they do have though is excellent knowledge of my car which has been proved to be most valuable on a number of occasions.

For the last 4 years, I've been going to the same MOT test station with both my bikes. IMO, it's good to build up a relationship with the MOT tester, they get to know you and your bike and how it's looked after/maintained. Unfortunately, the most recent guy is now retired and I had to look elsewhere. I just went back to someone who I had previously used.

If you owned a vehicle which is MOT exempt, as my +40 year old XJ650 is, would you continue to get it MOT'ed. I've now had it tested twice when it wasn't necessary, thus spending £40 I didn't need to!

For all my bikes I use an 'old school' MOT testing station.  They test the brakes by having you sit on the bike with the brakes on, before pulling you towards the wall, whilst measuring the force applied on an analogue gauge!


When I take my RT in there, the brakes don't get tested.  "They're proper complicated those bikes" was the assessment they proclaimed as we both sipped our tea!


I'm OK with that.  I trust my independent mechanic who keeps my bike in tip top condition.

Until this year I used my local garage for MOT, he does all my car repairs. I was only ever charged £20 for the MOT. I went to go there this year and he retired after the unexpected death of his son. There was no one else at the garage that could test motorcycles so I made some enquiries and found one just as local that I didn't know existed. He charged £20, the tester asked me to test the brakes as he was a bit on the short side and didn't want to drop the bike! I spent longer talking to him and his staff as they were fellow bikers.

Sullivj wrote:When I take my RT in there, the brakes don't get tested.

My understanding is that the brake test data needs to be entered into the MOT computer. If this is not completed, how can a pass certificate be issued.

I hope the DVSA examiner doesn't turn up on an RT.

The tester was stood next to me whilst the brake test was performed, he was operating the equipment and recording the data just me operating the brakes. Different I must say and not what I expected when the brakes locked it kicked the bike out of the rollers. I can see why he wasn’t keen on doing it himself given the weight of the bike and his size.

David. wrote: My understanding is that the brake test data needs to be entered into the MOT computer. If this is not completed, how can a pass certificate be issued.

I hope the DVSA examiner doesn't turn up on an RT.

I think you're right David as they normally weigh the bike with you on it, to help calculate the brake force required.  I guess when the RT was 'tested', they just got creative with the results!

Where a pull along or roller type brake tester is not suitable, a decelerometer can be used.

Got my RT MOT'ed today for £20, inc. having the brakes tested on a rolling road with the results being recorded on the D&VSA system.

£20 is good value David.