Guys,

I need some help. I have a friend who has a K100 and would like me to help him either restore or sell it. How do I determine what year this bike is?

Thanks,

Tony in Florida

http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi

In general, the model year is the production year +1. (At least in the US.)

Doesn't he a have a title?

Hello!

Just post the frame number here and we will tell you what you want.

Cheers

All motor vehicles have a compliance plate on which the VIN, model and date etc are stamped. On a K100 its on the rear most frame strut from the gearbox back up to the seat. Some countries its on the left, some its on the right.
Cheers

In the US it's a silver sticker on the frame rail back by the center stand handle.  They wear off or get very tattered though so many K bikes no longer have them or they are unreadable. And if you get the frame powder coated there is no way to preserve it.

But all K bikes have the VIN stamped into the frame on the right side above the transmission.

As the previous posts say run the check on the numbers on the frame or VIN number...

But a quick way:

By your right foot, on the sump of the engine, on a vertical smooth strip you will see numbers......the engine is coded to the week and year....the first four digits on my 1984 K100RT are 3284 meaning it was manufactured in week 32 of 1984. The remaining digits represent the number from that week. Of course an engine change renders that nonsense.

Another is that up to 85 the seat has the handles in the seat and are screwed to the underside as part of the seat. When you open it look at the rear of the petrol tank and if you see a single bolt holding it down then it's the early model, it will also have a 4 litre and 7 litre fuel warning light on the left clock, later ones have only a single 5 litre warning light.

And interestingly a 1984 production number seems to surface in US as a 1985 model......

Its difficult to register a vehicle in Australia without a compliance plate. Ours are a metal plate riveted onto the frame on the right side.

Here's another way to identify the year if you've just got the VIN.
Your vehicle's VIN 10th digit, is used worldwide to encode the model year of the vehicle.

B = 1981 G = 1986 M = 1991 T = 1996 1 = 2001 6 = 2006 B = 2011
C = 1982 H = 1987 N = 1992 V = 1997 2 = 2002 7 = 2007 C = 2012
D = 1983 J = 1988 P = 1993 W = 1998 3 = 2003 8 = 2008 D = 2013
E = 1984 K = 1989 R = 1994 X = 1999 4 = 2004 9 = 2009 E = 2014
F = 1985 L = 1990 S = 1995 Y = 2000 5 = 2005 A = 2010 F = 2015

Thanks for all the advice! I'll take another look and let you know what I find...

Tony

Guys,

I found a tag of the right downtube behind the engine:

BMW 100

10   01048
13   04163

What does this translate to?

Thanks

You need to find the 16 character VIN that will start with WB.

You will find The Frame Numbers on The right side of the frame.
Just at the hight where right you knee is when you sit on the bike.

See pictures
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Here you see the plate with the number, in the middle of the picture
[img][/img]

Cheers

US bikes don't have those plates.  There's a federal compliance sticker on the left side of the frame and also a stamped VIN on the right side of the frame.

Thanks Duck, I'm learning! :-)

Cheers

Guys,

The numbers on the VIN plate are hard to read but I think they are:

WB1 051 406 005 333  Does this help, at all, with the year and other model info?

The numbers above the VIN plate are even harder to read and not all there but the last digits look like:
81 or 8L


Thanks!

According to the WB1 it's an R 60/7 made 6/77 so that as sure as hell isn't right.
The engine number will give a date for engine manufacture but not model.

What are the last seven digits of the VIN stamped into the right frame?  That's all we need....

We require a number similar to this:

WB1056302 L 0123456 or

0123456 K100 (early models). 

Or something very similar.  The seven numbers in bold are then inserted as the VIN number into realoem.com but only after you select the motorcycle and classic options. 

If some numbers are unreadable then make them up.  Hopefully it will be in the same batch.