Is there a JDM 6th Gen?

Hi guys, I had a 5th gen for a couple of years than got a TDM, VTR and now I'm thinking of jumping back on the VFR. 

I went to see a 6th gen in my city and it was in good condition, but one thing that caught my eye was that the tank logo was different, like the ones on the new 1000 cbr's.  I asked the owner about it and he said it was becouse it's a JDM version (Japanese Domestic Market) as he checked the VIN. I didn't get the VIN myself thinking I will be able to find the info online, but I can't seem to find any information on google or here about JDM versions of the VTEC or even liveries and color versions over the years.

Does anyone know if this is really a JDM version and are there any differences other than the tank logo? I'm guessing emission regulations would probably be different so might have something different with the PAIR or something? I'm in Europe btw. 

 

[image: 51592493206378382_Zm.jpg]
 

[image: 51592493206378382_ZY.jpg]

 

Certainly not Euro paint and wheel colours. Nor a 6th gen tank. Quite a lot of mods in there too.

News to me, but hey! that means nothing.....  :laugh:

Get the VIN.

[image: image.png.c3289c96560717cfc728d63ecbc17a9a.png]

Ha, yr right, it is a 6th Gen tank. For some reason, it just didn't look right.

My bad.

Could it be a USA import then?

I'll go check it in detail next week when I'm free from work, maybe get to ride it even as it was in the best condition from the 4 I viewed so far. My only concern is if it was crashed and repainted, thus someone putting the new type logo on it. 

Does anyone know where can I check the VIN, Honda Dealership maybe? If the owner's story doesn't check out my last option is to go look at this one. It's a little bit out the budget frame and is on the other side of the country, but at least it's in the correct colour and it's a 6.5 gen 😁

 

4 minutes ago, Skids

Ha, yr right, it is a 6th Gen tank. For some reason, it just didn't look right.

My bad.

The pictures and the light are very strange on the photos, maybe that's why. Tank seems bulkier right behind the triple clam for some reason and now I notice it doesn't have the typical HISS and Unleaded Fuel Only stickers on it.

There is a decode for the VIN somewhere.

Hopefully someone on here knows where.

Big bikes aren't actively discouraged in Japan anymore (one of the reasons why the 400cc class has disappeared), but they don't seem to sell many.  That said, it is certainly possible that there was a JDM version of the 6th gen, but the odds of one appearing in Bulgaria are probably rather small.  That bike looks crashed to me (the paint looks mis-matched between the front and mid panels).  But if you get the VIN you can check its origin.

Ciao,

JZH

29 minutes ago, JZH

Big bikes aren't actively discouraged in Japan anymore (one of the reasons why the 400cc class has disappeared), but they don't seem to sell many.  That said, it is certainly possible that there was a JDM version of the 6th gen, but the odds of one appearing in Bulgaria are probably rather small.  That bike looks crashed to me (the paint looks mis-matched between the front and mid panels).  But if you get the VIN you can check its origin.

Ciao,

JZH

I've seen some pretty rare things end up or being replicated here as the car and bike communities are crazy. So I'm not doubting it could end up here, I'm doubting if there is one and if the owner is not lying to me, but it seems the best thing is to get the VIN. 

For the colour missmatch I think it was the camera and light as there didn't seem to be a difference on the bike when I was looking at it.

I called the seller today and asked him for the VIN - JH2RC46AX5M700055

Running it on couple checkers online (I didn't find any in the search here) it comes up as produced in Manufacturing Plant: HAMAMATSU SHIZUOKA JAPAN I'm not sure where the most of them are made, but I'd guess it's around the world?

I've compared it to a VIN from the recall pined post. First one is this bike's VIN.

https://www.vindecoder.pl/JH2RC46AX5M700055
https://www.vindecoder.pl/JH2RC461X4M601209

https://www.cyclepedia.com/manuals/CPP-VIN/index.php?VIN=JH2RC46AX5M700055&submit=DECODE+VIN
https://www.cyclepedia.com/manuals/CPP-VIN/index.php?VIN=JH2RC461X4M601209&submit=DECODE+VIN

Does anyone know a better vin decoder or should I better call Honda?

Personally it looks to me like the JDM thing he tossed out at you is to throw you off the track of either repairs or mods (or both) made to the bike.  Nothing wrong with either - plenty of us have done one or both.  The troubling part of it is that IMO he's not coming clean with you.  If what he says is true, then my next question for him would be "may I please see the paperwork"?  If he has none, I'd just move on to one I could be more confident about. 

That bike is 100% a dropped bike that has been repaired with cheap Chinese fairings and most likely a resprayed tank with a newer Honda emblem.

The paint on the front fairing doesn't match to the side panels (regardless of viewing angle it should be much closer), nor do the panels beside the gauge cluster fit like proper OEM.

Highlighted below are what are signs of Chinese fairings

[image: image.png.097f5d30636f64e92169c19d3ed6e76b.png]

This is also most likely the reason it has different bar ends and grips. Another thing to note is that the front peg scrapers are much shorter than they should be. They usually break off when the bike has been dropped.

I would say this is a very dishonest seller and to stay away. Either that or the person he sold it to lied to him and he is passing on the same dishonest information.

Just my 2 cents

Maybe, it did't seem re-painted, but I wasn't really looking hard at it as I just had a couple of minutes to see it and the owner than and actually had some scratches which are not visible on the photos. On the other hand this bike was actually repainted, but I guess you couldn't tell from the pictures:

[image: 51597065393941044_Ih.jpg.0d11d5ce3fb50ccb563b6a78329b9b1c.jpg].

No one answered about the VIN. I still haven't found a decisive answer with decoders. I'll be calling the local honda dealership tomorrow.

 

I don't know about the VIN situation, however, I did a VPN to Japan and did a google.co.jp and the only 6th gen VFR's that come up in Japan have the same Honda logo as the rest of the world - I'm pretty sure the "JDM" story is Bull Snot.

[image: image.png.d56a6e3d2da1708a514acb9f3176117a.png]

Another tell-tale sign that this is a a respray/chinese fairing replacement is the VFR logo was installed on the wrong angle

[image: image.png.8346f413732dc50bd96eda976f382a14.png]

IMHO, because this guy is feeding you the Bull, i'd just walk away from it.

So what is the asking price?

Chris800, 8/30/2020 at 4:54 PM

I called the seller today and asked him for the VIN - JH2RC46AX5M700055

Running it on couple checkers online (I didn't find any in the search here) it comes up as produced in Manufacturing Plant: HAMAMATSU SHIZUOKA JAPAN I'm not sure where the most of them are made, but I'd guess it's around the world?

I've compared it to a VIN from the recall pined post. First one is this bike's VIN.

https://www.vindecoder.pl/JH2RC46AX5M700055
https://www.vindecoder.pl/JH2RC461X4M601209

https://www.cyclepedia.com/manuals/CPP-VIN/index.php?VIN=JH2RC46AX5M700055&submit=DECODE+VIN
https://www.cyclepedia.com/manuals/CPP-VIN/index.php?VIN=JH2RC461X4M601209&submit=DECODE+VIN

Does anyone know a better vin decoder or should I better call Honda?

I don't know of any online VIN checkers that give anything other than the most basic information--which does not include the market designation.  But, then again, I'm old school and have paper Honda Parts Catalogues for all of my bikes, so how would I know!

I found a .pdf of a ROW 2002 VFR800 Honda Parts Catalogue in my files, however, which confirms what I would have guessed based on my experience with VINs of somewhat older Hondas.  In your VIN, "JH2" indicates that the manufacturer is Honda, "RC46" tells us this is a VFR800, "A" I will get to in a moment, "X" is the VIN check digit (which you can ignore), "5" refers to the model year 2005, "M" refers to Honda's Hamamatsu factory, the "7" in the serial number section tells me that model is from the eighth year of RC46 production (1998 to 2005), and the "00055" says that this was the 55th [something] to roll off the line when it was manufactured (probably actually in 2004, but that's irrelevant).

Now, back to the "A" I mentioned above.  That is the fifth digit in the Vehicle Descriptor Section, and this is the most critical digit in the entire VIN if you want to identify the market for which it was originally designed.  "A" is usually the letter Honda used at that time to indicate a model intended to be sold in Europe or the UK, but the exact meaning of the letter or number in that position in the VIN changes from year to year, so you really have to look at the Parts Catalogue for the specific model to know what an "A" means in a given year.  Because an "A" usually means a European bike, I would have said it was not a Japanese model because of that, but then I found this:

Looks like there were J-spec 6th gens (these are photos of the Japanese version of the bike's Honda Parts Catalog from Yahoo! Japan Auctions):

[image: spacer.png]

[image: spacer.png]

[image: spacer.png]

But, look at the last photo.  That page from the J-spec Parts Catalogue shows that all of the Japanese models had Frame Numbers and Engine Numbers, not 17-digit VINs, so a genuine 2005 J-spec VFR should have "RC46-14xxxxx" stamped on the frame.  So, that bike is not a Japanese model.  (Note also the identification picture: they also had standard Honda wings on the tank.)

So, what market was it originally intended to sell in?  Most likely, somewhere in Europe, based on the "A" in the VDS.  But you'd need to ask Honda or check the VDS code in the 2005 ROW Honda Parts Catalogue to know for sure.

Ciao,

JZH

Dutchy, 9/1/2020 at 8:38 AM

So what is the asking price?

It was 2500euro, guy said he'd give it for 2200 euro, as he said it needs new pads, oil and stuff. Otherwise prices here are between 2000 and 3000 euro. My budget was 2500, but half the bikes within it were re-painted or not well taken care of.

 

JZH, 9/3/2020 at 2:17 AM

I don't know of any online VIN checkers that give anything other than the most basic information--which does not include the market designation.  But, then again, I'm old school and have paper Honda Parts Catalogues for all of my bikes, so how would I know!

I found a .pdf of a ROW 2002 VFR800 Honda Parts Catalogue in my files, however, which confirms what I would have guessed based on my experience with VINs of somewhat older Hondas.  In your VIN, "JH2" indicates that the manufacturer is Honda, "RC46" tells us this is a VFR800, "A" I will get to in a moment, "X" is the VIN check digit (which you can ignore), "5" refers to the model year 2005, "M" refers to Honda's Hamamatsu factory, the "7" in the serial number section tells me that model is from the eighth year of RC46 production (1998 to 2005), and the "00055" says that this was the 55th [something] to roll off the line when it was manufactured (probably actually in 2004, but that's irrelevant).

Now, back to the "A" I mentioned above.  That is the fifth digit in the Vehicle Descriptor Section, and this is the most critical digit in the entire VIN if you want to identify the market for which it was originally designed.  "A" is usually the letter Honda used at that time to indicate a model intended to be sold in Europe or the UK, but the exact meaning of the letter or number in that position in the VIN changes from year to year, so you really have to look at the Parts Catalogue for the specific model to know what an "A" means in a given year.  Because an "A" usually means a European bike, I would have said it was not a Japanese model because of that, but then I found this:

Looks like there were J-spec 6th gens (these are photos of the Japanese version of the bike's Honda Parts Catalog from Yahoo! Japan Auctions):

[image: spacer.png]

[image: spacer.png]

[image: spacer.png]

But, look at the last photo.  That page from the J-spec Parts Catalogue shows that all of the Japanese models had Frame Numbers and Engine Numbers, not 17-digit VINs, so a genuine 2005 J-spec VFR should have "RC46-14xxxxx" stamped on the frame.  So, that bike is not a Japanese model.  (Note also the identification picture: they also had standard Honda wings on the tank.)

So, what market was it originally intended to sell in?  Most likely, somewhere in Europe, based on the "A" in the VDS.  But you'd need to ask Honda or check the VDS code in the 2005 ROW Honda Parts Catalogue to know for sure.

Ciao,

JZH

This was the answer I was waiting for, thanks JZH. I decided to wait to see if any new ads pop up during winter, plus the prices will probably go down as well and where I am these bikes don't sell like the cbr's and the r1's anyway, so I'm not rushing getting one given I'd probably ride it at least a couple of years.

JZH, 9/2/2020 at 4:17 PM

I don't know of any online VIN checkers that give anything other than the most basic information--which does not include the market designation.  But, then again, I'm old school and have paper Honda Parts Catalogues for all of my bikes, so how would I know!

I found a .pdf of a ROW 2002 VFR800 Honda Parts Catalogue in my files, however, which confirms what I would have guessed based on my experience with VINs of somewhat older Hondas.  In your VIN, "JH2" indicates that the manufacturer is Honda, "RC46" tells us this is a VFR800, "A" I will get to in a moment, "X" is the VIN check digit (which you can ignore), "5" refers to the model year 2005, "M" refers to Honda's Hamamatsu factory, the "7" in the serial number section tells me that model is from the eighth year of RC46 production (1998 to 2005), and the "00055" says that this was the 55th [something] to roll off the line when it was manufactured (probably actually in 2004, but that's irrelevant).

Now, back to the "A" I mentioned above.  That is the fifth digit in the Vehicle Descriptor Section, and this is the most critical digit in the entire VIN if you want to identify the market for which it was originally designed.  "A" is usually the letter Honda used at that time to indicate a model intended to be sold in Europe or the UK, but the exact meaning of the letter or number in that position in the VIN changes from year to year, so you really have to look at the Parts Catalogue for the specific model to know what an "A" means in a given year.  Because an "A" usually means a European bike, I would have said it was not a Japanese model because of that, but then I found this:

Looks like there were J-spec 6th gens (these are photos of the Japanese version of the bike's Honda Parts Catalog from Yahoo! Japan Auctions):

[image: spacer.png]

[image: spacer.png]

[image: spacer.png]

But, look at the last photo.  That page from the J-spec Parts Catalogue shows that all of the Japanese models had Frame Numbers and Engine Numbers, not 17-digit VINs, so a genuine 2005 J-spec VFR should have "RC46-14xxxxx" stamped on the frame.  So, that bike is not a Japanese model.  (Note also the identification picture: they also had standard Honda wings on the tank.)

So, what market was it originally intended to sell in?  Most likely, somewhere in Europe, based on the "A" in the VDS.  But you'd need to ask Honda or check the VDS code in the 2005 ROW Honda Parts Catalogue to know for sure.

Ciao,

JZH

Very interesting - good stuff!  Note the 3 categories in the left hand column - "VFR", "VFR ABS", and particularly the 3rd one - "VFR ABS - Special".  I wonder what "Special" designates  . . .  It's also shown on the owners manual and per the numbers appears to be coded A7, vs A6 for the plain ABS designated units.

Google says a7 special is the 2007 red white blue

There was a J spec for 8g and that was also  RWB