2026 Q1 UK Audit

Audit of licensed or SORN'd Honda VF1000 models registered with the Department for Transport, Q1 2026, in the UK.

There were 460 Honda VF1000 motorcycles registered in the UK in Q1 of 2026, an increase of 72 since the 2015 audit. The trend first noted in 2015 has continued and sharpened: the total registered keeps rising, while the number actually road legal keeps falling — down from 86 in 2015 to 58. More of these bikes are being kept, restored and laid up than ridden. That is consistent with an ageing, increasingly collectible machine and a finite supply of parts.

These figures are drawn from the Department for Transport’s published vehicle licensing statistics, which now include per-model counts by licence status and are updated quarterly. Unlike the earlier audits on this site, no Freedom of Information request is required.

What “licensed” means here. The Department for Transport records only two states: licensed (holding a valid vehicle licence, so permitted on the road) and SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — declared off the road). There is no roadworthiness field and no MOT field. VF1000s are now past the 40-year threshold for MOT exemption, so a licensed machine may not have been inspected for years. Licensed means taxed and permitted on the road — not recently tested.

A caveat for future comparisons. From 1 April 2026 vehicles built before 1 January 1986 can stop paying vehicle tax entirely (historic tax class, which must be applied for). Free tax gives owners a cost-free reason to licence a machine rather than declare it SORN, so the licensed count may rise in coming quarters without any more bikes actually being ridden.

See also the 2011 audit and the 2015 Q2 audit.