Harley-Davidson Wide Glide: MOT pass rate by registration year

Which Wide Glide years pass first time, and which fall short of the model's 88.6% average, from 748 DVSA tests.

1996

highest-passing year · 89.4%

1995

lowest-passing year · 87.3%

2.1pp

spread across 3 years

Pass rate by registration year

first-time pass rate · cohorts with 50 or more tests · registration year from first use date

Highest pass rate: 1996 (89.4% of 94 tests). Lowest: 1995 (87.3% of 102).

Registered	Tests	First-time pass	vs model (88.6%)
1995	102	87.3%	-1.3 pp
1996	94	89.4%	+0.8 pp
2014	241	89.2%	+0.6 pp

Older cohorts are survivors: the worst examples have already left the road, which tends to lift the earliest years. A first-time MOT pass is a roadworthiness check, not a full mechanical inspection.

Pass rate over time

first-time pass rate by test year · 2017–2025

Questions

Which Wide Glide years have the lowest MOT pass rate?: none: no registration year of the Harley-Davidson Wide Glide falls more than two points under the model's 88.6% overall pass rate.
Which Wide Glide year has the highest MOT pass rate?: 1996, at 89.4% of 94 first tests (2005–2025).
How much does the Wide Glide pass rate vary by year?: 2.1 percentage points between the highest (1996, 89.4%) and lowest (1995, 87.3%) cohorts with at least 50 tests. Older cohorts are survivors: the worst examples have already left the road, which tends to lift the earliest years.

Full report: Harley-Davidson Wide Glide reliability, failures and mileage · ranked #1402 of 5428 models· other Harley-Davidson models: XLH 883, Flstf, Flstc, XL, XL1200C, XL883