The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is composed of 17 characters and contains three major sections:
WMI - World Manufacturer Identifier which is equivalent to the first three characters in the VIN structure. If the manufacturer builds less than 500 vehicles per year than the third digit is '9'.
VDS - Vehicle Description Section consists of six characters (fourth to ninth positions in VIN) and defines vehicle attributes specified by manufacturer.
VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section features the last eight characters of the VIN defining Year, manufacturer plant and serial (sequential) number of the vehicle. The last four characters shall be numeric.
The 10th position of the Vehicle Identification Number is a YEAR CODE.
Follow the steps to decode the Honda motorcycle VIN:
• Locate the first character. In this case, a 'J' for Japan should be present.
• The second character should be 'H' representing Honda.
• The third character (vehicle type) should be a '2,' although 'A' or '1' may also be used.
• Characters from fourth to eighth position are used by each individual manufacturer to identify the model or engine type of the motorcycle. For example: SC57 refers to a CBR1000RR sport bike, while RC040 refers to a CB750F motorcycle.
• The ninth character is a check digit that ensures that no two machines built in the last 30 years will have identical VIN numbers.
• The 10th character (year the motorcycle was manufactured) could be "6" which would represent 2006, while a "Y" would represent the year 2000. The letter code descends from "Y" to "A" (1980).
• The 11th character which represents the specific plant where the motorcycle was manufactured should be "M" referring to the Hamamatsu plant in Japan.
• 12th through 17th digits are the motorcycle's individual serial numbers.
WMI - World Manufacturer Identifier which is equivalent to the first three characters in the VIN structure. If the manufacturer builds less than 500 vehicles per year than the third digit is '9'.
VDS - Vehicle Description Section consists of six characters (fourth to ninth positions in VIN) and defines vehicle attributes specified by manufacturer.
VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section features the last eight characters of the VIN defining Year, manufacturer plant and serial (sequential) number of the vehicle. The last four characters shall be numeric.
The 10th position of the Vehicle Identification Number is a YEAR CODE.
Follow the steps to decode the Honda motorcycle VIN:
• Locate the first character. In this case, a 'J' for Japan should be present.
• The second character should be 'H' representing Honda.
• The third character (vehicle type) should be a '2,' although 'A' or '1' may also be used.
• Characters from fourth to eighth position are used by each individual manufacturer to identify the model or engine type of the motorcycle. For example: SC57 refers to a CBR1000RR sport bike, while RC040 refers to a CB750F motorcycle.
• The ninth character is a check digit that ensures that no two machines built in the last 30 years will have identical VIN numbers.
• The 10th character (year the motorcycle was manufactured) could be "6" which would represent 2006, while a "Y" would represent the year 2000. The letter code descends from "Y" to "A" (1980).
• The 11th character which represents the specific plant where the motorcycle was manufactured should be "M" referring to the Hamamatsu plant in Japan.
• 12th through 17th digits are the motorcycle's individual serial numbers.
