Hi guys! UK new rider here! A little while ago I bought a project bike for the princely sum of £100. All I know is that someone has sprayed the thing yellow, it's engine size and make. How would I go about completely identifying it? The DVLA has it as a 399cc Yamaha first registered in 1995. When I bought it I was told it was a 1985 FZR400. Many thanks in advance.
Posted Apr 21, 2019, 1:04 PM UTC
The VIN should be stamped on both the frame and the engine. A lot can be learned from the VIN at any VIN decoder website.
If the VINs are different, you have a Frankencycle. :)
Brilliant Thankyou, what's a good website?
You can use Google or any other Internet search for the keywords "VIN" and "decoder" and find both governmental sites and commercial sites which offer free decoding services. For example, google.com tells me it has more than 33 million URLs, the 3 top hits are:
If I add the keyword "UK" to the search, the number of hits dramatically reduce from more than 33 million to less than 2 million, and the top 3 are:
https://uk.vin-info.com/ (well, Google actually showed me us.vin-info.com but I've revised it for you.)
http://vehicleidentificationnumber.com/International_Vin_Number_Information/uk_vin_number_check.html
Thankyou so much!
Brilliant
No.
If the VINs are different, you have a Frankencycle. :)
Wrong. Engine numbers don't match frame numbers these days. They used to, on old British bikes, old airhead BMWs and Yamahas until quite recently, but the VIN number refers only to the frame and, like I said, the days of both engine and frame numbers reading exactly the same are all but gone.
In fact, I don't know a builder whose numbers do match, though I'd be enlightened if someone knows differently.
Thank you for the correction.
I'm assuming there'll be a vin number on the bike somewhere as on the V05 the chassis number is 10 digits. Where would I search vin numbers?
Considering they only made the bikes between, i believe, 86 and 94, it's probably a first model, Japanese import, built in 86. Ignore the First reg date from DVLA, thats the date it was registered in the UK. You can try doing a VIN search on a parts website, if it has original VIN.