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Posted by Pete
- December 07, 2017, 03:21:38 AMFor those of you who are interested, the VIN system is described in an article in the January 2018 issue of "The Classic Motorcycle Magazine" which is now on sale.
- The VIN system was initially defined in ISO377 of 1977. The current revision is ISO3779 of 2009.
- The VIN does not tell you anything about where a bike was sold.
- Manufacturers start a year with a block of numbers. They do not necessarily use all of that block of numbers. The numbers are not necessarily used in sequence.
The System works like this:
Character 1: Where vehicle built.
Characters 2 & 3: Identity of manufacturer.
Characters 4 to 8: Identifies vehicle model, version of model, engine type (characters chosen by and for convenience of manufacturer).
Character 9: Security code (calculated by an algorithm from the rest of the VIN, it changes for each motorcycle, it can be 0 - 9 or "X").
Character 10: Year of manufacture.
Character 11: Identifies assembly plant.
Characters 12 - 17: Serial No to identify specific vehicle.
If your VIN differs slightly from this scheme it may have been allocated at a different revision of the standard.
Posted by jamman
- December 04, 2017, 13:11:55 PMMine is feb 1999 bike # 112
Posted by Troll
- August 06, 2017, 04:44:46 AMMy '01 was built in July of 2000 and the number is 099
Posted by drifter-paul
- August 06, 2017, 03:34:26 AMFrom Lane Cove, Sydney, Australia - probably the earliest and biggest shipment to OZ -- 03/99 JHBVNAJ1 9XA002599
And who started this potential shit fight and why !!! 
Posted by freebrd1230
- August 05, 2017, 12:11:08 PMI have 1999 1500, number 588
Posted by BugzeeMalone
- March 10, 2017, 22:35:38 PMMy 1500J is 663. It is a 1999 but was Kawasaki's own display bike so it wasn't sold and registered until 2002 here in New Zealand.
Posted by ElCaminoGuy
- February 14, 2017, 12:16:57 PMOld thread, I know. But better late than never. Right? My '99 is 0076. Do I win a prize? (It'd be a first)
Posted by water buffalo
- November 07, 2013, 22:01:12 PMMy VIN ends in 9xaoo4188 These are the numbers after the pre-printed characters on the sticker. not sure that means.....
Posted by Troll
- October 26, 2013, 19:25:09 PMQuote from: kawasaki101 on October 26, 2013, 07:38:54 AMAnybody here know what and/or where the build date stamp is on 1999 1500 Drifter's?
When I first got my R model, I didn't have an owner's manual (who does?) so I poked around and found this J manual. I have since found an R-1 manual....The labels are clearly marked, but they also say US only....
Posted by yamaha101
- October 26, 2013, 07:38:54 AMAnybody here know what and/or where the build date stamp is on 1999 1500 Drifter's?
Posted by Drifter1500
- June 19, 2013, 20:11:13 PMMy 2000 is 0571, built in Jan. of 2000. Did I win the prize?
Posted by Jobi
- June 02, 2013, 12:59:23 PMA 1999 Drifter 1500 with the VIN ending with 001215 here. According to what I can get this means mine was the 215th built?
Posted by John Hopkins
- May 17, 2013, 05:31:01 AMYes..
The numbers are for the 1500 only..
one number for US Canada Australia.
Another for Germany, Switzerland Austria.
and another for General which includes Britain.
for the 1999 Drifters they begin
JKBVNA
JKBVNT
or
VNT50
It seems that after 1999 the VNT50 numbers were discontinued so maybe they amalgamated two markets or stopped selling to one for some reason..
It also seems that there are no listed numbers for 2000, possibly because they had overestimated the sales for 1999, if this is the case there will be more 1500's made in 1999 than any other year.
John.
Posted by pcarrell
- May 16, 2013, 08:48:11 AMSo it's country dependent? That is a strange system!
Posted by John Hopkins
- May 15, 2013, 19:27:46 PMMine is a J1 by the numbers it was built halfway through 2000, first registered in 2001 but is a 1999 model with FI, the analogue speedo and the 16 litre seamed tank..
But it was sold in Britain and our VIN is made up of a different sequence..
the first British VIN is J1 1999 JKBVNT50JJA000001
NOTHING FOR 2000
J2 2001 JKBVNT50JJA010001
R1 2001 JKBVNT50JRA015001
R2 2002 JKBVNT50JRA005001
R3 2003 JKBVNT50JRA020001
R4 2004 JKBVNAR1*4A010001
* DENOTES VARIABLE DIGIT..
my number is JKBVNT50JJA004527 and my bike was registered in July 2001 so it looks like it was the 4527th bike to be made for the British market..that seems an awful lot of J1's to be sold in such a small market, in fact it is probably more than they sold at any time in Britain.
Kawasaki have a very strange numbering system.
John.