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Motorcycle VIN Decoder

Type a motorcycle VIN and this page asks the public NHTSA vPIC service what that number encodes. The lookup returns manufacturer-submitted attributes: make, model, year, engine and plant. Use the full 17 characters or at least the first 11 as a partial pattern, with an optional model year. The result keeps missing fields blank and shows the provider’s errors and the date it was read. This is a decode, not a history report. The VIN is not saved in your browser.

0 of 17 charactersNHTSA vPIC8 second lookup
Enter a VIN and press Decode. Nothing is sent until you do, and the number is not saved.
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  • Full 17-character VINdecoded
    make, model, year, plant and engine, with the check digit arithmetic
  • Partial patternfirst 11 characters
    what the pattern fixes, marked partial, with the provider's incomplete code kept
  • Bad check digit17 characters
    flagged against the arithmetic, still sent and still decoded

Accuracy. Attributes come from the public NHTSA vPIC record and are shown with the date they were read. It is a decode of what the number encodes, not a history report: it carries no ownership, accident, theft or mileage record, and a field the provider leaves blank is shown blank rather than guessed. Each decode is one request to the public NHTSA vPIC API made from this deployment when you press Decode, under the terms in its FAQ. The number is not written to a log, not put in the page address and not stored in your browser.

Common questions

What does a motorcycle VIN actually tell you?
The number encodes what the manufacturer filed about the machine, and that is what this page shows: make, model, model year, vehicle type, body class, manufacturer, series, engine displacement in cc, cylinders, engine model, fuel type, brake system, motorcycle chassis and suspension type, and the plant city, country and company. Each of those is a field in the NHTSA vPIC record, shown with the date and time the record was read. Switch the view to see every other field the record filled in for that number as well.
Can I decode a partial VIN, or just the first characters?
Yes. Enter at least the first 11 characters and vPIC decodes the pattern rather than one machine. A pattern is marked as a pattern on the page, and the provider's incomplete code stays visible, because a pattern fixes a family of numbers and not a single motorcycle. You can also use * for a position you cannot read, which is how the standard pattern 1HD1BW51*7Y is written. The model year, when you give one, is passed to vPIC along with the pattern, which lets it place a year the characters alone do not fix. It is optional.
Is this a VIN history report? Will it show accidents, theft or previous owners?
No, and it never will. This page decodes what the number encodes in the public NHTSA record. There is no ownership, title, accident, theft, salvage or mileage field in it, nothing here is a check against a stolen vehicle database, and a decode is not evidence that a machine with that number was built, sold, registered or is on the road. If you are buying a bike, this tells you whether the number describes the machine in front of you; it cannot tell you what happened to that machine.
Why are some fields blank?
Because NHTSA has no value for them. vPIC holds what manufacturers submitted, and motorcycle records are thinner than car records: engine model, plant city and fuel type are often empty even on a clean decode. The page shows those rows blank rather than filling them in from somewhere else, which is the only honest thing to do with a missing value. Coverage is strongest for model year 1995 onward and incomplete from 1980 to 1994, and the page says which of those applies to your year.
What is the check digit, and what if mine does not calculate?
On a 17-character VIN with no wildcard in it, the ninth character is a check digit: each of the other sixteen characters transliterates to a number, each position carries a weight, and the weighted sum modulo 11 gives the digit, written X when it is 10. This page does that arithmetic itself and tells you whether the digit matches. A mismatch usually means a character was mistyped, and the most common cause is reading a 1 as an I or a 0 as an O, which is why a VIN never uses I, O or Q. The number is still sent and still decoded when the digit does not match; it is flagged, not refused.
Which model years does this cover?
Model year 1980 onward. The 17-character VIN was standardised for the 1981 model year, so earlier numbering is a different scheme and this page does not claim to decode it: a year before 1980 is refused with the reason rather than sent. Inside the covered range, vPIC is strongest from 1995 and patchy from 1980 to 1994. The year box accepts 1980 through 2028 and is optional.
Do you keep the VIN I enter?
The number goes to this site's own server, which asks NHTSA vPIC for the decode and sends you the answer. It is not written to a log, not put in the page address, not sent to analytics and not saved in your browser. The server keeps the decode for up to a day so the same number does not have to be asked twice, and a reused answer still carries the time it was actually read from NHTSA, never the time it was served. The only thing this tool remembers in your browser is whether you prefer the key fields or every filled field.
It says my number is not a motorcycle. What happened?
vPIC decoded the number as something else, a car or a truck for instance, and the page says so instead of passing it off as a motorcycle. The attributes are still shown, because they are what the record holds, but this page is built for motorcycle VINs and will not pretend otherwise. If the number came off a bike, check for a mistyped character first: the check digit line and the provider's error text both help narrow it down.
What happens when NHTSA is slow or busy?
Each of those is its own message. A lookup waits 8 seconds and then stops and says it stopped. If vPIC answers 429 the page says it is asking for fewer requests and to wait a minute. Any other error status is shown with its number, and a reply that cannot be read as a decode is a failure rather than an empty result. Nothing is ever shown as a decode when it is not one.
Can I decode Harley-Davidson, Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki motorcycle VINs?
Use the same VIN form for these makes, or for BMW, Ducati, Husqvarna, Indian, KTM, Suzuki, Triumph and Victory. The lookup uses the manufacturer-submitted US-market records in NHTSA vPIC; a make name does not mean every model or market has a complete record. The illustrative Harley-Davidson input 1HD1BW51*7Y is an 11-character partial pattern. Enter a full VIN when you have it, and give the model year if known.
Can I decode an Australian, Japanese-market or Chinese-made motorcycle?
A Chinese-made motorcycle filed for the US market can use the same lookup. A motorcycle sold only in Australia or Japan may have attributes missing from this US-market source, even with a 17-character VIN. The page has no separate Australian, Japanese-market or worldwide database.
Is an old 11-, 12- or 13-digit frame number the same as a partial VIN?
No. Accepting the first 11 or more characters of a modern VIN does not decode a complete older frame-number scheme. Vintage Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW and Triumph serials need their own manufacturer and era records. Do not pad a short frame number with zeros or treat its characters as the beginning of a modern VIN.
Can I decode an engine serial number or get a BMW build sheet?
This form looks up the motorcycle VIN, not a separate engine serial. Engine details appear only when they are part of that VIN’s returned attributes. Everything filled in shows the provider’s populated fields; it does not supply a complete BMW build sheet or factory option list.

Attributes come from the public NHTSA vPIC record and are shown with the date they were read. It is a decode of what the number encodes, not a history report: it carries no ownership, accident, theft or mileage record, and a field the provider leaves blank is shown blank rather than guessed.