Motorcycle plates often deviate from their full-sized passenger-car brethren in terms of registration aspects, features, and design...and staggered registration is no exception.

When the state of Delaware pioneered staggered registration with its quarterly system in 1941-42, motorcycles were staggered and issued month tabs just like passenger-car plates. Other states were notoriously slow to follow, though.

Wisconsin, Missouri, Oregon, New Jersey, and Connecticut enthusiastically hopped on the staggered registration train for passenger cars through the course of the next two decades...but left motorcycles alone. As late as 1975, the number of states implementing monthly staggered registration on motorcycle plates could have been counted on one hand. Since there were far fewer motorcycles on the road than cars, staggering motorcycle registrations was simply lower on the priority list.

The following states and provinces still haven't adopted staggered registration. All motorcycle plates expire in the same month of the year:

• Connecticut: All expire MAR.
• Idaho: All expire DEC.
• Massachusetts: All expire DEC.
• Minnesota: All expire FEB.
• Missouri: All expire APR (DEC through 1968).
• Montana: All are "permanent" (Expire JAN for 1978-79, DEC through 2003).
• North Dakota: All expire DEC.
• Rhode Island: All expire JUN (FEB for 1982-83).
• West Virginia: All expire FEB 1 (JUL 1 through 2010).
• Wisconsin: All expire APR.
• Quebec: All expire APR through 1992.
• New Brunswick: All expire MAR.
• Nova Scotia: All expire DEC.

The following jurisdictions staggered motorcycle plates simultaneously with passenger plates, using the same methodology:

• Delaware (1942)
• Nevada (1970)
• Utah (1974)
• California (1976, with new motorcycle registrations staggered from 1971.)
• Nebraska (1976)
• Florida (1976)
• Mississippi (1976)
• Saskatchewan (1977)
• Colorado (1978)
• Louisiana (1978)
• British Columbia (1980)
• Pennsylvania (1980)
• North Carolina (1981)
• New Mexico (1982)
• Newfoundland & Labrador (1982)
• Ontario (1983)
• Iowa (1984)
• District of Columbia (1984)
• Alberta (1984)
• Maryland (1986)
• Prince Edward Island (1987)
• South Dakota (1990)
• Wyoming (1990)
• Northwest Territories (1990)
• Yukon Territory (1990)
• Manitoba (1995)
• Georgia (1997)

These states staggered motorcycle registrations at a later time than passenger plates, but evidently used the same methodology when they finally did so:

• Virginia (1975)
• New Hampshire (1978)
• Ohio (1979)
• Vermont (1980)
• Indiana (1981?)
• Kansas (1983)
• Alabama (1994)
• Michigan (2005)

The plots thicken, though. Some places used a different methodology for motorcycle staggering than they did for passenger plates, typically by letting pre-existing registrations be:

• Texas (1978). Pre-existing registrations grandfathered to MAR.
• Oregon (1978). Pre-existing registrations grandfathered to DEC.
• New Jersey (1982?). Pre-existing registrations grandfathered to MAR.
• South Carolina (1995). Pre-existing registrations grandfathered to NOV.

And now, the mystery. These ten states and provinces used an unknown methodology for assigning expiration months to pre-existing registrations when they adopted staggered registration for motorcycles for the first time. Any information to plug the holes of the unknown would be appreciated!

• New York (1967, de-staggered to APR in 1973)
• Washington (1977). Staggered simultaneously with passenger plates, but not using the same criteria.
• Alaska (1979). Possibly not staggered until 1981, unlike passenger.
• Arizona (1980).
• Hawaii (1981). Most likely used the same criteria as passenger plates, but unique stickers imply there's a chance that they didn't.
• Maine (1990; de-staggered to MAR in 2012).
• Arkansas (1994). Coincided with a plate reissue.
• Tennessee (1996?).
• Kentucky (1997). Unclear if pre-existing registrations were staggered to birth month or grandfathered.
• Oklahoma (2004). Coincided with a plate reissue.
• Illinois (2005).