Want to know what year and where your motorcycle was made? Since Triumph organizes their parts by serial numbers and aftermarket parts are organized by year models it can be tedious to determine the correct parts for your motorcycle. This Triumph VIN explanation will guide you in the right direction. A full explanation and verification of the information below can be obtained through the NHTSA website.
By Mike Grage, Customer and Technical Support at Modern British Iron
VIN Numbers Established
In 1981 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standardized the vehicle identification number format for all engine powered wheeled vehicles sold in the USA. This 17-character numbering system contains a lot of useful information for owners, and for parts and service personnel. There are four sections to a VIN. The first three characters are the world manufacturer identifier, the first character indicates the country and the second and third indicate manufacturer. The next six are the vehicle description section. The last eight are the model year, plant it was produced in and the last six are the actual serial numbers. Please note that this is for the large production North American VIN codes. There are some differences in VIN codes for small production NA, the UK, and the EU.
Triumph VIN Explanation
The fourth character that indicates the physical characteristics of the model line also changes with significant engine design changes. For example, the air-cooled vertical twin models like the Bonneville, Scrambler, and America will also have 9 in this position. The liquid-cooled vertical twin models like the Street Twin, T120, and Scrambler 1200 will have a D in this position.
Codes for the Year
The numbers 0 is not used and neither are the letters I, O, U and Q code used in the 10th position to indicate the year of production. Here is a list of the codes for each year:
S=1995 T=1996 V=1997 W=1998 X=1999 Y=2000 1=2001
2=2002 3=2003 4=2004 5=2005 6=2006 7=2007 8=2008
9=2009 A=2010 B=2011 C=2012 D=2013 E=2014 F=2015
G=2016 H=2017 J=2018 K=2019 L=2020 M=2021 N=2022
P=2023
Helpful Search
Once you know your year and model you can use it on our British Iron homepage to search for parts applicable to your bike.
