Mar 13, 2012  This is from the bicycle site Old Roads: Serial number dating information for Motobecane's is very scarce. The best way to date a Moto is by the design and tubing used on the frame, the decals, paint scheme, components and component date codes.

Information on Decoding VIN Numbers SecureVIN (tm) SecureVIN Decal or simply close this page if a new page frame has been opened. Did you know? Prior to 1954 vehicles were identified by the serial number on the engine block. VIN numbers were not mandatory until 1981. Warning on Purchasing Motor Scooters: Scooters of 50cc sold in some states might not have a VIN number on the paperwork (though it is somewhere on the frame) and some do not require registration, such as North Carolina. That makes it virtually impossible to recover a stolen scooter.

How to decode the VIN number NOTE: This info is based upon my short research on the topic. Info like the WMI is decribed in ISO 3780 (which you must pay for). The year code is decribed in ISO 3779. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is composed of 17 characters.

The standard was originally defined in ISO Standard 3779 in February of 1977. Then it was revised in 1983. The ISO VIN is designed to identify motor vehicles of all kinds: cars, trucks, busses, motorcycles etc. The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) contains three major sections: WMI - World Manufacturer Identifier (1,2,3 characters in VIN structure) If the manufacturer builds less than 500 vehicles per year than the third digit is '9'. The WMI is described in detail in ISO 3780.

VDS - Vehicle Description Section. It contains 6 characters (4th to 9th positions in VIN) and defines vehicle attributes specified by manufacturer. VIS - Vehicle Identifier Section.

Building with papercrete pdf download. The last 8 characters of VIN define Year, manufacturer plant and serial (sequential) number of the vehicle. The last four characters shall be numeric. The 10th position of the Vehicle Identification Number is a YEAR CODE. ISO recommends that in VIN code capital letters A to Z and numbers 1 to 0 may be used, excluding I,O and Q in order to avoid mistakes of misread. No signs and spaces are allowed in Vehicle Identification Number code. *********************************************** Recap with examples: Digits 1,2,3 are World, Manufacturer, Identifier Digits 4,5,6,7,8 are Vehicle descriptor Section -- *Somewhat variable based on manufacturer.

OK people, I've only got another 500 posts remaining, so I've decided to make an attempt at decrypting one last serial number format. It seems Motobecane's format has been giving people fits, so I'm willing to give it a shot, if you want to play along. Most of you already know the drill. Post pictures of your Motobecane (full drive side and detail pictures of major components, tubing decal, headbadge and serial numbers). Provide as much info as possible on the components including brand, model and date codes (when available).

Refer to the components page of the Vintage-Trek website if you need a primer on component date codes. Bonus points if you already know the year.