Where Is The VIN On A Motorcycle? – FAQ

Registering your motorcycle can be a process, and knowing where is the VIN on a motorcycle is will help. Having your VIN information readily available is essential. This is what I found out.

So, Where Is The VIN On A Motorcycle Located?

My motorcycle’s VIN is located on the right side of the bike’s headtube(where steering components pass through the bike’s frame) and on the motorcycle’s emissions plate(TBR7/Boom Vader: right side swing arm).

For both my TaoTao TBR7 dual-sport motorcycle and my Grom Clone Boom Vader motorcycle, the bike’s VIN was punched into the headtube’s metal in a dot-matrix form.  

The VIN punching was deep enough to do a VIN tracing/copy with a pencil or crayon. Some states want a physical copy of the VIN to register a vehicle for their roads, and doing a VIN tracing is one way.

Do I Know If I Have The Right Numbers for the VIN?

Good questions; since a motorcycle VIN means Vehicle Identification Number, you might see letters when you look on the bike. The presence of letters can make it confusing.  

VIN is an old term when motor vehicles were rare, and manufacturers put their own number system to keep track of their vehicles.

Note: With my 1978 Suzuki GS750, the motorcycle’s VIN was simply the model number GS750 followed by what number in production it was. A simple motorcycle VIN compared to the codes buried in modern motorcycle VIN numbers. Type of engine, country of origin, etc.

Today, VIN are letters and numbers that can be decoded(with a VIN Decoder) and denote country of origin, make, model, year of manufacture, engine type, etc.

How Many Numbers In A VIN For A Motorcycle?

A promising sign you found the bike’s VIN is when you see the string of letters and numbers that might not make sense.

The typical modern VIN is comprised of 17 characters.

How To Use The Motorcycle’s VIN?

The VIN helps with the registration process of the motorcycle.

The bike’s VIN should match the Title and registration listed VIN information.

Since I registered my motorcycles in Vermont, and they small displacement engines, I only have a Vt registration and the original MCO(Manufacture’s Certificate of Origin, “a bike’s birth certificate”)

A VIN is how a bike is tracked for registration, motorcycle insurance, and hopefully doesn’t happen, police-related events.

Ride Safe, Ride Fun!