XS1100SF Serial numbers

[egsols]

Firstly, I want to say how awesome this forum is. Finally some real know how.

I rebuilt a '79 back in 88. Needed carb work, second gear, brake kits etc. Ran it till 94 when I got married, house, kid...sat in garage since.... forgot to drain carbs, tanks, etc.

Just found another '79 good shape comestically, but too many hands on it. Using first '79 for parts it now looks and runs good cept for front brake issue which I am sure will be resolved soon.

The "new" '79 was manu'd in Sept 78 with the old one in Jan '79. They are just over 900 numbers apart. Does anyone know how many '79s were made for Canada in '79 ie. 3h41001 to ....

Ernie

[egsols]

Just refreshing this thread in case anyone might have any ideas about it. I sent an email to Yahama but no response yet.

Ernie

[mro]

Have had no luck either. Tried lookiing for this kind of info at one time because of interest in MNS XSes. Someone in Europe was able yo get some numbers for there from a manufacturer importation assoc. or something like that. Had no luck here. Did not try US commerce department tho......?


mro

[egsols]

Hey mro,

Just got this message from Yamaha...

From: Yamaha Customer Relations <YamahaCustomerRelations@yamaha-motor.ca>
To: Ernie Sperling <egsols@yahoo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 10:47:50 AM
Subject: Re: Website Customer Contact


Good morning! In Canada we imported approximately 200 XS1100SF units and
they were manufactured at our factory in Japan.

Regards,

Scott


My two 79's are 896 numbers apart.. I thought that the 3H4 was for Canada only so how could they have only made 200?

I have replied to his email asking this. Getting somewhere....

Ernie

[egsols]

Reply from Yamaha,

The serial numbers were not consecutive.

Regards,

Scott

So I guess based on their statements only 200 specials were made for Canada in 1979!

I've got 2.

[DiverRay]

That gives you 1% of all the Canuk bikes!!

[mro]

Reply i got was that they do not give out that information.


mro
wonder if they didn't know I was just joking when I said there engineers were sneaky .........

[TopCatGr58]

Originally posted by egsols
Reply from Yamaha,

The serial numbers were not consecutive.

Hey Scott, isn't that an Oxymoron????

I thought the meaning of serial was one right after another?! Leave it to Yamaha!
T.C.

[mro]

originally posted by TC
meaning of serial was one right after another

Not unusuall for a manufacturer to jump to another number (like XX100xx to XX200xx) when they make a small change on a model.


mro

[oseaghdha]

Originally posted by TopCatGr58


Hey Scott, isn't that an Oxymoron????

I thought the meaning of serial was one right after another?! Leave it to Yamaha!
T.C.

I think they meant that they did not send a consecutive batch to Canada. Maybe a couple dozen per month or so...

[olebiker]

Originally posted by oseaghdha


I think they meant that they did not send a consecutive batch to Canada. Maybe a couple dozen per month or so...

That would be my take on it as well. They shipped them all over the world.

[egsols]

Do I understand then that they would make a run of so many bikes for Canada as 3H4... then switch to a US run, 3H4......then a European run etc. In other words, the actual number following the model number would be consecutive so that a Cdn model and US model in the same year would not have the same number behind the model and the serial number would represent the entire production run worldwide?

Ernie

"3H4000176" Daily ride
"3H4001072" Previous daily ride, tbr

[egsols]

Got another email back from Yamaha today. Scott tells me that the first Special made for Canada in 1979 had number 000146. So I guess that's it, they started at 000101 and kept numbering through all of the country codes.

That would explain the difference in numbers between my two bikes with only 200 having been made for the Great White North