Maine motorcyclists urged to Go Pink

    PORTLAND, Maine — In an effort to encourage Maine motorcyclists to think pink and order a Maine Breast Cancer specialty license plate before they winterize and put their bikes away for the season, changes have been made to the original design of the plates.    Maine State Representative and breast cancer survivor and advocate Meredith Strang Burgess, who is the driving force behind the creation of the plates — the first motorcycle specialty plate in Maine — said since the idea of the plates was first mooted earlier this year, it has become clear motorcyclists wanted a license plate similar in design to the breast cancer specialty plate for automobiles.    The original design of the motorcycle specialty plate showed the pink cancer ribbon formed from an old-fashioned motorcycle chain, which although historically linked to motorbikes does not really apply to modern motorcycles. The new design features an actual pink ribbon.
Strang Burgess, an advertising executive from Cumberland, is also the creator of the Maine breast cancer specialty plate for automobiles. There are over 15,000 of the plates on the road since their introduction in 2008 with their sales having raised over $400,000 for breast cancer research and services.
She said that in order for the motorcycle plates to become an actual reality, 500 paid reservations needed to be in hand before the State would issue the plates.
“Our goal is to collect 500 reservations over the coming weeks and months. Then the new plate could come out next spring just in time for the prime motorcycle season in Maine,” she adde.
Registrations for the Maine Breast Cancer specialty license plate for motorcycles can be made online at www.mainecancer.org/motorcycle.
All the proceeds from the effort will stay 100 percent in Maine, and will be split equally between three organizations: Maine Cancer Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Fund; Maine Breast Cancer Coalition’s Support Service Fund; and Maine Breast and Cervical Health Program’s mammogram fund .
A specialty plate costs $25 in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee.