Honda VIN codes in the 1990's

stephenc · L Plate Warrior Joined: 04 Nov 2021 Karma :

Hi All, I have a 1995 Honda CBR1000F UK registered from new. Looking at the VIN and engine codes the other day I realised that the model code on my bike is SC30. CBR1000F's should have a model code of either SC21 (pre '89) or SC24. The SC30 model code was for the CB1000F Big One that was produced in 1994/1995. There is no question that my bike is a CBR1000F (completely different frame amongst other things) and there's also no question that the VIN is dodgy in any way - matching engine and frame and vin recorded as SC30 from new on the V5. My suspicion is that Honda had some kind of import controls in the 90's and over estimated how many Big Ones they would sell. It looks like they only sold about a dozen whereas they sold hundreds of the CBR. Could they have recoded some CBR's to SC30 to take up import allocation for the CB1000? What's your opinion? Was this something manufacturers did in the 90's?

sickpup · Old Timer Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

Different countries can have diofferent country codes. The Big One wasn't sold here so it's model code could be used here for a different model.