Last year I aquired a K100RT. I have been slowly renovating it. I am resonably satisfied that the 43000 miles indicated is probably genuine. The engine is basicaly sound although I have had to renew plug leads, hoses and seals in the fuel system and it certainly hammers along. Now, the mystery is that the frame number 0004430 indicates that the bike was made in November 1983 and was a standard K100, but the UK registration document states first registered 15th September 1986 and it was declared new at registration. There is no engine number stamped on the engine. I have been told that the missing engine number is because the housing has been change due to a recall to fit a strengthed transmission due to a factory recall (this was not a sales pitch to sell it came from another sourse). Parts fitted indicates a pre september 1985 model (two bolt silencer fixing and rubber mounted foot peg brackets). It is clear to me that the fairing was added latter as the forks sat 35mm down with the bike at the kerb side no rider(even 20mm down on the centre stand). I have fitted RT multi rate springs and I must have had to apply at least 35mm preload.
Now is there anyone out there who can throw any light into my mystery. I did think that maybe it was purchased in Germany by a someone serving in the UK forces and then registering on there return to the UK but then why does the reg doc say declared as new at registration?? I look forward with interest to any comments.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum from another UK member. I can't answer your question, but am sure another member will be able to sort you out.

Mike

could this have been a military vehicle early in its life , and not subject to the normal registration requirements ?

just a thought

I do recall in early 80s it was common to buy vehicles abroad, especially among military. If the K was bought abroad and then brought back with no miles and not having been registered in another country then it will be registered as new. In Ireland too if you register a vehicle on 2nd January it will show that same year as the year of manufacture. The other time I have seen this happen is when trade plates were used. Either is quite legitimate and can account for this apparent discrepancy, apart from the earlier post mentioning a possible military history when it might not have been registered.

The thing now is to keep it maintained and enjoy it!!

This seems to be an odd foible of the DVLA and have seen it before when a vehicle has not been used for some years or all documentation lost. I have a 1957 Zundapp with origional bill of sale. It had one UK owner for 53 years, who stopped using it sometime in the 1970's. It then sat for many years until 2010 when it was resurected and put back on the road after applying for a new V5 log book. The V5 says date of first registration in the UK 2010. Work that one out. John

Thanks for all the replies so far. Can any one confirm the transmission tale. Is there an archieve where I can find out who 00004430 was sold to. Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

Your bike was built on 11/1983. This is a K589 European model.

You see, we can answer almost any question

Enjoy the forum.

CF

When I was working for Honda Australia we had some new bikes that were raided for parts when they were not able to be obtained from the factory and later were rebuilt from the spares bin and then plated. They were (Icant remember the exact years) but say 82 but plated 85 and some had no engine number because the engines were used elsewhere then replaced. heaven help anyone who bought one of them. And I saw much the same thing with Suzuki in the mid 70s but that was before they were plated for compliance so the problem didn't come up.
When new models come out new bikes are often raided for parts before spare parts supply becomes good. I don't know about UK but in Australia they have to be sold as a complete bike

It could quiet easily have been in the showroom for a couple of years before being sold, there are plenty of 2010/2011 vehicles still in showrooms today unregistered.

Just as an example this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kawasaki-ZZR-1400-ABS-2011-BRAND-NEW-UNREGISTERED-/251223155132?pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item3a7e1121bc

could very easily have been manufactured in late 2010 and not registered till mid 2013

There are two DVLA forms for registering vehicles in Britain. A V55/4 is used when the vehicle is new and a V55/5 when it's a pre-owned import.

Only recognised "concessionaires" can register new vehicles. If the bike had been purchase abroad by the first owner and ridden straight here, it would still have to be declared as a personal import of a pre-registered vehicle. The same applies to BFG registered vehicles, they will always be treated as pre-registered imports.

The manufacturer's dating features will indicate a rough window of assembly: Obviously they shouldn't post-date the registration (DVLA only record the year of production not the month).

BMW batch-build. It's a mistake for new owners to believe that their purchase will initiate the build of their new bike. Ordering a new bike won't mean that Kurt, Hans and Ali (plenty of Gaste Arbiter work at Spandau) will put down their copy of Bild and start putting together the bike from the stock of parts. The order will just initiate a search of the stock for the bike that most closely corresponds to the desired spec. If one requires some bits adding or removing, that sometimes happens.

Unsold stock can sit around for a few years and go unregistered. Once it is registered it will get an age related VRM that matches the date of first registration even if it's a few years old.

Sometimes the reason for the failure to sell is something as simple as the colour and it may be changed to a more popular paint scheme before it moves.

For example this K1:



Was built in 1989 (as were most of the 6,900 K1 models) and was delivered to Park Lane BMW that year. It was initially this colour scheme:



Seemingly not a very popular colour scheme as it sat in the dealership unsold until 1992 when it was changed to Classic Black Metallic and quickly sold.

I'd be inclined to agree with those who say that it sat unsold for some reason and that explains the gap between manufacture and first registration.

Thanks again for all your replies a bit of further digging and I have found that the bike model was a K100BA european. Havn't found out yet what the BA represents.When built the colour was metalic silver (Polaris metalic 576). I would not have bought a bike in silver at that time (in fact at that time I bought a new Honda CB900 and it was in metalic blue I fitted a Windjammer fairing and had it custom painted to match).
At that time the BMW dealerships in the UK were not todays corporate image carpet deep charge you twenty quid for looking afairs. I used to run in the local dealers demonstrator BMWs at that time. The bike I have was registered in Essex and there was one dealer in essex which I know was to say the least a bit dodgy ( I was working in the business in those days and knew all the dealers as part of the job). So may be it hung around got canibalised and so on. There is no sign of silver paint on any of the body work and is finished funily enough in metalic Blue the same colour as the K1 pictured above,and I think the fairing is from a K1100RT. I'll post a picture when I next have it out and take one. Thanks again to all.

Here are a couple of pictures any comments please

Can add two items to this - in 1977 Volkswagen had a brilliant car called Sirocco but late that year they ran out of bodyshells so they raided the store- found a large number of new 1973 and 1974 shells, fitted them and sold them as 1977 and 1978 cars. the problem was although they looked the same if you needed any frame parts the correct year parts did not fit so you had to supply the frame number So cannabalising did not just happen at the dealer. The other was the Police service in UK used to buy their bikes in batches and it is not uncommon to have a K-bike- built in say 1994, imported sold on but kept in crate then commissioned and registered when required possibly 6 months to a year later even into late 1995. So you never know how old a IC bike is unless you do a lot of digging.

Think of all the new unsold cars that used to lie on airfields in the 70's and 80's

Information from the past.