Hey guys,

my buddy just got 2 gs twins. The story is his girlfriends brother hit a deer a few years ago and totalled the bike (clean title yet tho). The frame was bent and the forks.

He acquired a used bike w/out engine (junkyard, private sale... not sure) and put his good engine on the parts frame (also using the fork, but i don't think that would have vin). NO title for the parts bike.

How would he go about acquiring a clean title for this bike? How does this work, he has an engine vin vs. the frame vin. Or do they not check the engine vin?

Is the old clean vin on a plate on the old frame? Can he take the plate off of the good frame somehow and put it on the parts frame?

Thanks guys,

this is all speculation. He's over sea now, and when he comes back we are going to start work on this. But I don't wanna have him waste money, and his and my time if the bike can never be street legal due to title problems.



~mikeym

Hm.  Funny you should mention that scenario... 

yeah i know  it sounds like a goofy madeup story. (or a story to cover up a stolen bike) which to the best of my knowledge it is not that. I would not be stupid enough to post questions about switching vins off a stolen frame.

The question I have is taking 2 legit bikes and making them one again.

I own a 2000 Kawasaki Concours sport tourer... My buddy and i are 19, underclassmen in college... he asked me for advice, i didn't know what to do. I'm sure he will pop up on this forum eventually. He's leaving for Germany this Sunday.

Anyway, I want peoples opinions on how to make this thing street legal again.

~mikeym

No, no.. I'm sure that you have two legal bikes.. if you went back through my post history you might see what I meant.  A little situation I am going through right now.

oh... whew...

its been a long tough night with nothing working out for me... i was starting to get heated because i thought there was a hint of pointing towards non legit activities...

anyway, i'm gonna go thru ur post list. And see if i can find any valuable info. if u have the same problem.

If its an easy type, type her up here quick

~mikeym

No I didn't have the same problem, but someone did suggest this as a solution.  In my case, however, it would be illegal.

Basically I have no idea as to the answer to your question.  I'm sure it's possible though, after all people replace blown engines all the time.

I'm not familiar with getting a salvage title, but I'm assuming it depends on your state.

As far as I understand, getting a salvage title sometimes is a PITA.

And WELCOME!

file for a bond on the parts frame
or
do a VIN search and find the prev owner....get a lost title form and xfer it to your friend

we won't discuss the bad stuff


i walked into a bike shop today....
guy walks in and asks for a TITLED FRAME for a GSXR 1000........
and what he would need to do to get his bike tagged...........

thanks for the welcome.

btw is there an engine vin that must match the frame vin? or am i just thinking of this in my head

because if the engine doesn't need match the frame it makes the situation a little easier cause all he has to do is obtain a salvage which shouldn't be toooo bad


werase643 - can i do a vin search online for free? and get contact information? i'm not paying for my buddy... lol... so if it costs money the only thing i can do is refer it to him when he gets back...

~mikeym

Ken, I heard that Wake County wants a receipt for every nut and bolt that you put on the bike if your building a bike.      I dont know how it is in the Triad...

NY wants frame # and engine #....and runs them through a program to verify the engine belongs in the frame and if not is not on the theft list

NC is NC,
rulz is rulz
your inspector might be more of a butt than others
if the bike/car is over 6 yrs old....no pre/post inspection....in NC

also, do you blame the dmv.....lots of free/cheap parts out there.....

take good frame, grind off vin.

take clean vin and put on good bike. if it is a sticker your golden, if not, then it gets hard.
hell, really as long as you dont have inpections there is nothing to worry about.

get it insured, tags, check to be sure that bothare clean and not stollen. so thast if you are pulled you can say you have two bikes and umm must have switched it up by mistake.


a local DMV can runthe vins and find the last owner and you can do two things.

write to them and ask for the title, as you now leagaly own the bike frame
or two, request a new title be issued to you, be sure the have sale titcket to show that you did infact buy it to restore. then it is just a waiting game.

requesting a new title is not that hard and is the best way not to go to jail

grind off vin is a federal offense.....don't tell people to do that dumba$$

yeah, the bike shop i was in today was in SC.......

so what? i swaped dashes in my two eclispes  one didn't have a title and the other did. and sold the runign one a few years back.

I bought a gsxr 600 frame at a salvage auction.....
noticed the vin was altered.....
tried to sell it....since it was a theft recovered...frame/swingarm/tripple tree
guy was buying it to do the sleeper busa conversion.....8000$ conversion
when we removed the tripples......
we saw that the frame had the numbers ground off...welded up...sand blasted and re stamped
tried to talk to SC dmv....said i bought it legally in columbia at sale
wanted to sell it
and noticed the frame had been altered

I got my ass chewed out by the head of stolen vehicles in a big office in columbia for about an hour....not a gud day
sold it for scrap AL.


dashes...there are several other VINs on the car......you did wrong

I not so sure there's a VIN stamped on a car dash...  I'm thinking it's actually on the frame and most dashes are cut around it for viewing?  I'm not entirely sure tho

regardless, is the vin stamped on the gs500 frame somehow or just a plate?

u guys should know this... i believe the bike is a 93... i have not had any dealings with these bikes yet.

i'm not sure what he's gonna do, i'm prolly just gonna stay out of it now and let him take care of it

~mikeym

most modern dashes have a VIN plate pop rivited to the dash
and the rivis are special shaped
there is normally a VIN stamped in the firewall and one or two hidden somewhere in/under the car

wise choice...like we are doing here...make suggestion and stand by :cheers:good luck for your friend