new guy question

[macdaddy]

hi ,just bought a xs11 mns , 1981 last oct. why in the registery are the vin #"s not in order,found somewhere they only made 250 of these,just figured the vin numbers would run consecetive,also have two 850 mns"s 1981,running parts bike i also bought last oct. have owned other one since 1983. anyplace i could find more info on those bikes some where. thanks for any help, nice site you guys have here , interesting.thanks , will ask more ? " later

[DiverRay]

They made a LOT more than just 250 units. You can search the VIN on this site, and get an idea of the "spot" in line your bike is from. Also, back then, Yamaha started production on the "next year" model in about July! That says if you have a "build date" of 07/80, you probably have a 1981 model.

[CatatonicBug]

I had read the same thing when I was researching my bike last fall. As much as I would like to believe there were only 250 made, the VIN's tell a different story.

[DESTRO]

What I was told is that Yamaha stopped using the 9 digit VIN# and started using the 17 digit VIN# in October of 1980. My 1981 was produced in June of 1980 and really had the VIN agents at the DMV in a puzzle for a while until they were able to sort that out. Production yaer and model year did not match up.

[CatatonicBug]

Yep. Same thing here. The VIN on my bike is different from the Serial number. After 1981, they all had the longer VINs and serial numbers.