The checklist
- Brakes, front and rear. RCW 46.37.527.
- Mirrors, left and right, giving a view at least 200 feet to the rear. RCW 46.37.530.
- Horn. Required via RCW 46.37.539, which applies RCW 46.37.380 to motorcycles.
- Muffler in good working order, no cutouts or bypasses, no louder than stock. RCW 46.37.390 and 46.37.537.
- Tires meeting the general tread and condition standards. RCW 46.37.420.
- Head lamp and tail lamp lit whenever moving, at legal heights, plus stop lamp, rear reflector and a plate light legible at 50 feet. RCW 46.37.522, .523, .525.
- Eye protection if there is no windshield. RCW 46.37.530.
- Helmet for rider and passenger. RCW 46.37.530.
- Footrests for any passenger the bike is designed to carry. RCW 46.61.610.
The bridge statute worth knowing
Riders often assume the general vehicle equipment rules do not reach motorcycles. RCW 46.37.539 closes that gap by applying the horn, muffler, mirror and tire requirements to motorcycles directly.
It is the citation that answers "where does it say a motorcycle needs a horn," which is otherwise a genuinely hard thing to find.
Brakes, and the antique carve-outs
RCW 46.37.527 requires both front and rear brakes, unless the motorcycle was originally manufactured without one. No parking brake is required, and a sidecar wheel does not need its own brake.
There are two antique exceptions, and they are not equivalent. A motorcycle manufactured before January 1, 1931 is unconditionally exempt from the front brake requirement. A restored antique over 25 years old that was originally built without a front brake is exempt only when it is being ridden to or from, or otherwise in conjunction with, an antique or classic motorcycle contest, show or similar assemblage. That second exemption does not cover ordinary everyday riding.
There is no inspection, and that cuts both ways
Washington does not run a periodic motorcycle safety inspection. The only inspection in the vehicle code that touches motorcycles is the one-time check when converting an off-road machine for street use, and that is capped at a $100 fee.
The upside is obvious. The downside is that nothing catches a worn tire, a dead brake light or a seized caliper except you. The habit worth building is a pre-ride check that takes under a minute: tires and pressure, both brakes, lights front and rear including the stop lamp, chain or belt, and no fresh drips under the bike. Every course we run starts with that check, because it is the part riders skip first and regret most.