Old bicycle license plates

[combrinck4]

Hi all,

I am in the process of restoring an old Norman road bike. Seeing as it's local to Cape Town, I am looking for a license plate to add to mine.

I wasn't born yet in the time of bicycle licenses, so would appreciate if someone can explain to me how it worked? Was it per municipal, or province or what?

Thanks in advance! 

Edited June 22, 2023 by combrinck4

[Prince Albert Cycles]

Yes it was per municipality . I have a small collection of those plates for Prince Albert Municipality. Don’t know when the duty to license was abolished.

[ChrisF]

In the early to mid 80's I used to buy these discs from the Stellenbosch municipal offices.

 

By the early 90's this was gone. 

 

 

Pity I did not keep some of these ....

[Zebra]

....the ones I had were either attached to the front wheel NUT (yes, no skewer in them days...!) or else attached to the saddle nut & bolt...

If I remember right, they would change the SHAPE of them occasionally, to see if you were riding with an old one!

[Prince Albert Cycles]

Will post photos over the weekend

[Eddy Gordo]

Are these the same as the ones one would get at the post office? That would be in the 80's for me. I think by the time the 90s rolled round it was no more.

[Mongoose!]

11 hours ago, Prince Albert Cycles said:

Yes it was per municipality . I have a small collection of those plates for Prince Albert Municipality. Don’t know when the duty to license was abolished.

ag gooi as a picture of them when you do have time please🙏

[Dexter-morgan]

This was recently posted on one of our whatsapp groups

[KidCharlemagne]

I remember these bendable little aluminium discs that cost R1 per annum. Amusingly as a kid, I was stopped one early dusk in my neighbourhood by a copper on his motorbike. At first, I thought the traffic intervention was for riding with no light but the official was looking for this licence disc I had not had. Somewhat bemused I was let off with a warning and my dad hastily attended to this important matter.

[openmind]

Every now and then the cops would wait outside our school gate looking for licences. We became pretty good at climbing the fence at the back with bike and school bag   My dad is Dutch and refused to buy me a bike license which he (rightly) saw as unjust. 

[The Ouzo]

7 minutes ago, openmind said:

Every now and then the cops would wait outside our school gate looking for licences. We became pretty good at climbing the fence at the back with bike and school bag   My dad is Dutch and refused to buy me a bike license which he (rightly) saw as unjust. 

You also needed pet licenses back then too.

 

Talking about cops waiting by the school, they used to wait on the main road near the school with a decimeter and catch all the guys with their motorbikes that were to loud. I've become old, as I think they should bring that for both the motorbikes and cars in my area.

[Stoffel76]

Ah, the 80's... 😄

 

I vaguely remember the traffic cops coming to our school and walking up and down the bike racks checking the licences and for worn tyres...

 

I was also stopped one night riding home from scouts by a cop because I didn't have a 'proper' light on my bike (like a good scout, I'd actually rigged a torch to my handbars as my old dynamo light had stopped working...) Gave me a lecture about how it wasn't a proper beam etc and then let me go on my way.

 

Lol, can you imagine an 80's spoed cop was time travelled to 2023 and let loose... Their ticket book would be klaar in 5 min!! 🤣

[BuffsVintageBikes]

A few of my old bicycles still have their license disks on them, including my old Raleigh Chopper 😊

The disks themselves have become rather collectible in the vintage bicycle community, has too headset badges of the various makes of bicycles.

[Dexter-morgan]

Jeez we are a bunch of old folks here.

[peepeekaitjie]

13 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

Jeez we are a bunch of old folks here.

pretty much the rec room of the retirement home

[ChrisF]

Talking about "80's cops" ...

 

Back then roadblocks did a PROPER check of a car !!  In one of these my dads car had a broken light.  Out comes that massive ticket book .... nice hefty fine.... WITH the option to fix the light and go the cop shop in a week or two.  Show them the item has been rectified and the fine was cancelled.  The intent was not on making money, but to get people to keep their cars roadworthy ....

 

What a strange concept in this day and age ....