RHODE ISLAND

State-issued motorcycle plates began at the same time as passenger plates in May of 1904 and featured a "B" prefix.  It has not been determined if pairs or singles were issued.  First-issue motorcycle plate numbers by calendar year for 1904-08 are listed in Table 1 in the Rhode Island section of the State chapter.  The highest known "Register" motorcycle plate is #B.442, issued in June 1907, and the highest documented motorcycle number from a 1908 motor vehicle directory is #B.503 issued on May 25, 1908.

There has been some speculation that state-issued motorcycle plates were discontinued prematurely, as had occurred in Massachusetts in 1904, due to porcelain plates not holding up well on the highly vibration-prone machines.  However, plates are verified as late as June 1907 and it is assumed that Rhode Island plate issuance continued until the new 1908 law took effect on June 1, 1908.

In addition to the re-registration of all motor vehicles, 1908 Chapter 1592 required, instead of a state-issued motorcycle plate, a single owner-provided plate with 1-inch-tall numbers and "RI" abbreviation, plunging motorcycles into a decade-long pre-state era from mid-1908 through 1917.  It is not known if owners with previously-issued plates were allowed to continue using them or not.

Numbers on owner-provided motorcycle plates continued beyond where they had ended on first-issue plates, with #B513 being documented as having been assigned on June 15, 1908.  No changes were made to motorcycle plate requirements despite a major plate re-issue in mid-1912 for all other vehicles mandated by a new state law that year, so numbers continued higher with #B1350 the final number in a 1913 motorcycle listing book, and #B1630 being the highest listed as of April 1, 1914.  It is very likely that motorcycle numbers surpassed #B2000 by the end of 1917, but no pre-state motorcycle plates are known from the 1908-17 era.

Due to another change in the law, motorcycles with sidecars began to be registered with passenger plates starting on April 10, 1916.  Further details on 1916-17 sidecar registrations can be found on the Rhode Island Pre-state State page.

State-issued motorcycle plates finally resumed on January 1, 1918, at the same time that annual dated plates began for all other motor vehicles.  Motorcycle plates were issued singly with a "B" prefix, while motorcycles with sidecars were issued pairs of plates with an "N" prefix.  The statistics of each type are listed below for 1918:

      TYPE                HIGHEST MADE  REGISTERED  HIGHEST KNOWN

      Motorcycle             #B2000        1,470        #B886

      Motorcycle w/Sidecar   #N1000            ?        #N541