Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

• Serial Numbers

1. Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder
2. Honda Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder
3. Gm Engine Serial Number Decoder
4. Honda Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder
5. Suzuki Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder
6. Honda Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

Classic Motorcycle Numbers Motorcycle Serial Numbers & VIN Numbers Motorcycle Serial Number Locations These vary considerably from marque to marque Engine Numbers Check these locations: Below the barrel stamped into the crankcase. On the front of the engine stamped either side of the crankcase join. Below the clutch / transmission area. This is the Suzuki motorcycles VIN decoder. Every Suzuki motorcycles car has a unique identifier code called a VIN. This number contains vital information about the car, such as its manufacturer, year of production, the plant it was produced in, type of engine, model and more.

Motorcycle Serial Numbers & VIN Numbers

Engine Numbers
Check these locations:
Below the barrel stamped into the crankcase. On the front of the enginestamped either side of the crankcase join. Below the clutch / transmissionarea. Rear of cases below carburettor area.

Frame Numbers.
By far the most common location is on the steering head. It may alsobe found on one of the rear downtubes or on the front downtubes.
Other locations include: top tube below fuel tank; lower frame rails; swing-arm pivot area.
Motobecane Mobylette 1968: Forward of the rear wheel axle on left side.
Matchless

pre-1958: Directly below saddle on upper frame rail joint.
1958-59: rear of front downtube.
1960-67: right downtube below headstock.

Rigid frames: usually stamped on the lug beneath the saddle on LHS
Plunger frames: saddle lug (same as rigid), or on the steering head, LHS
Swing arm frames: stamped into steering head and/or into a steel ID plate pop-rivetted onto the steering head.

AJS and Matchless

• 
  AJS/Matchless from c1935
  AMC engine numbers usually start with the year of production, followedby model designation, and completed with the production number of the motorcycle.
  (Source - Wikipedia)

  Jampot has sections on serial numbers.
  The AJS Matchless Club UK

Ariel Serial Numbers
redhunter.com/ariel/aomcc_prefix.htm

BMW Engine & Frame Numbers
Post-1969BMW 650 numbers
BMW Motorcycle Serial Numbers 1923 to 1969 at benchmarkworks
BMW motorcycle model, year and VIN errors

BSA Serial Numbers

Pre-war frame numbers are located on the front top frame member either near the front seat stay or near the steering head.
1950s models have the numbers located on the front downtube, either below or in front of the fuel tank. An exception to this is the early Bantams where the frame number is between the front engine mounting plate. ~ classicenglishbikes.com/

• 
  BSA NumberingSystem

  BSA Frame Numbers at BritBike.com
  BSA Dating

  BSA at sunnymeadcycles (PDF)
  sunnymeadcycles.com/files/BSA_ID.pdf

  BSA Frame & Engine Numbers
  classicenglishbikes.com

  BSA C15 Serial Numbers
  classicmotorcycles.org.uk/c15/c15_serial_numbers.htm

DKW

• DKW Vehicle Identification

  DKW NZ350 Serial Numbers

Dot
Dot frame numbers at DMC UK

Francis-Barnett
Frame & Engine Numbers

Lambretta
http://www.scooterhelp.com/serial/serial.numbers.html

Maico
Maico Numbers at Maico Madness
Maico Code Definitions

Montesa
Montesa Numbers

Moto Guzzi
Frame Numbers at mgcn.nl
V-twin frame numbers at Ozebook

Norton
Norton Numbering System
Norton Serial Numbers at Bikelinks
http://www.sunnymeadcycles.com/files/Norton_ID.pdf
http://www.bmh.com.au/norton/
Norton Engine Numbers 1945-1975

NSU
NSU Max - (1)

Parilla
nornet.on.ca parilla
nornet.on.ca parilla 3

Penton
PentonIdentification - KTM, Sachs & Puch engine information
pentonmotorcycles.com/

Peugeot
petochonsdulion.net/Afficher_Noserie.html
Also Automoto, Griffon and Meteore

Puch (See also Sears Allstate)
Puch moped chassis numbers Includes links to pages covering MS, MV, VS, VZ, SR, SRA and RL

Sachs
See also under Penton
Sachs 98ccmModell 1932

Royal Enfield

Terrot Serial Numbers

Triumph

• 
  TriumphSerial Numbers at Bikelinks

Velocettte
Velocette LE Engine& Frame Numbers

Velosolex
Velosolexengine serial numbers

Vespa Identification

• 
  scooterhelp.com/serial/serial.numbers.html
  This page includes information on Vespas made under licence by Douglas, ACMA in France, and Motovespa in Spain, along with those marketed in the United States by Sears under the Allstate marque.

Villiers

• 
  VilliersEngine Numbers
  hulsmannmotor.nl/Villiers_Motornummers

Zundapp

• zundapps.com
  zundappfool.com

Registration Numbers

France

Les numéros d'immatriculation de la belle époque (1901-1928)

'September 16, 1901 begins the first French registration system. The management of this system is carried out by the Mines Department, upon receipt of the vehicle. This service is divided into fifteen administrative regions (maps) called mineral districts, the one of Marseille including in the first years the 3 regions of North Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) as well as Monaco.

IGM & DGM Numbers on Italian motorcycles

Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

If you can't find your motorcycle's VIN, consult your owner’s manual. Sometimes the number is covered up and out of sight. If your bike is vintage, call Yamaha at (800) 962-7926 to see how long your VIN should be.

If you need to buy parts for your Yamaha motorcycle or you want to call a motorcycle shop to get repair information, you have to know how to read the vehicle identification number (VIN) of your bike correctly. It also can be interesting to know what it means for your own reference. It may seem like a simple task, but it can be tricky, especially, the first step--finding it. Not all bikes have the VIN in the same place, and older bikes’ numbers can be hard to read because of wear.

Step 1

Find the VIN on your motorcycle. If you have a traditional motorcycle, it will be on the right side of the steering stem, just below the handlebars. If you have a scooter, check the stem. If it’s not there, it will be on a metal plate affixed to the frame.

Step 2

Make sure none of the digits are missing from the VIN. All Yamaha motorcycles made after 1982 have 17-digit VINs. If yours appears to be shorter, some of the digits probably have worn off. Rub the gaps in the VIN with the side of a crayon.

Step 3

Determine what your VIN means by the order of the characters. The first character will tell you where your motorcycle is made. '1' or '4' signifies it is American made; '2' means Canada; '3' means Mexico; and Japan, Korea, England, Germany, Italy and Brazil are 'J,' 'K,' 'S,' 'W,' 'Z' and '9,' respectively. The second character represents the manufacturer. All Yamaha bikes should have 'C' there.

Step 4

Find the third digit, which identifies the division that manufactured it.

Step 5

Find digits four through eight, which identify the features of the bike.

Yamaha Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Search

Step 6

Find the ninth digit, which is a security key to ensure that the VIN is valid.

Step 7

Find the 10th digit, which indicates the model year. These digits run 'J' through 'Y' for 1988 through 2000 and then switch to a numerical system.

Translate the final seven digits as follows: Digit 11 is the plant where the bike was assembled; digits 12 to 17 signify the order in which the bikes came off the assembly line.

Tips

• If you can't find your motorcycle's VIN, consult your owner’s manual. Sometimes the number is covered up and out of sight.
• If your bike is vintage, call Yamaha at (800) 962-7926 to see how long your VIN should be.
• To find out what your VIN means, plug it into an online decoder (see Resources).

• motorcycle image by Bionic Media from Fotolia.com

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Honda Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

How to year check a motorcycle frame or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)?

I get SO many calls from customers wondering what year their motocross bike was made in that I felt it deserved a blog post.

Unfortunately there are a lot of 'chancers' out there selling their bikes to unsuspecting people as much newer than they actually are. I feel terrible for people as I sometimes deliver the news that the CRF which they believed was an 08 is actually an 04, or sometimes worse.

Where is my frame number or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) located on my motorcycle?

On every bike I've ever come across the frame number is located to the right hand side of the headstock tube. This is the tube of steel at the front of any motorcycle where the fork clamps bolts through. The frame number/VIN is ALWAYS stamped deep into the frame.

Don't be mislead by plates of light steel riveted on here. Some manufacturers do use plates (so they can position the frame number is a second, easier to read, place) but, even if there is a plate, it will ALWAYS be stamped directly into the frame itself.

Another thing to be aware of is that people try to scratch out these numbers and re-stamp fake ones. Be as careful as you can when looking, check the paint, digit alignment.......anything really.

Gm Engine Serial Number Decoder

Remember, if something doesn't feel right about a bike when you're looking at it - follow your gut instinct. Walk away if you're unsure because some day you might get an owner looking for their pride and joy back.

On a Honda frame you will notice they have a 17 digit frame number. Honda have been printing frame numbers on every single bike since 1981. With the Honda number pattern the 10th digit refers to the year. So if the 10th digit is an '8' then it's a 2008 bike. SO, then what happens before 2001 you ask? Well in 2000 the 10th digit was 'Y', in 1999 'X' and so on backwards.

As far as I'm aware almost all, if not all, manufacturers use this system.at least for bikes designated for use in Europe. My assumption is that it is the law, however, I stand to be corrected.

On bikes that were not originally built for Europe the system of identification is often different.

Let's look at an example of a motorcycle frame/VIN number:

JH2RC3605CM101581:
JH2 =

J = (Japan or Asia)

H = The H stands for ......do I have to explain!

Honda Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

2 = motorbike (it has 2 wheels!)...not sure what the quads have here though.

RC360 = Digits 4-8 refer to the bike model itself.

RC360 stands for a VFR750F Road/Street motorcycle with rear wheel drive. Every bike has a unique identifier. Some bikes even develop their name from this code - remember Joey RC45? That's what the code was.

5 = the ninth digit, this is a randomly placed code used to make the number completely unique

C = the tenth digit - 'the identifier' - a year of manufacture of 1982 as seen on out chart below.

Suzuki Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

M101581 = the last digits are used to make the number unique. Normally the manufacturer keep these in succession as the bikes come off the production line.

Interesting sidestory: I once had a customer who wanted to return a €6000 bike bacause the frame number ended in '13' . In the end we had to charge him quite a bit as the bike was already registered in his name and would reduce the bikes value otherwise. He didn't care! For no amount of persuasion could you convince this guy to stay with it!

Ford Engine Serial Number Decoder

Useful links for checking out motorcycle VIN numbers:

Sometimes if we are having trouble with identifing a bike I use Bikepics. The pics aren't fully reliable as they are owner uploaded but it's a good starting point, especially with some of the older machines.

For decoding Suzuki frame numbers I use THIS LINK.

For Yamaha Motocross bikes this is good for checking frame numbers - HERE.

Honda Motorcycle Engine Serial Number Decoder

Remember if you buying any parts from my shop I will check the year to make sure you get the right parts. I hope you find this useful.