The following 0 had no meaning, that is, it was there and had no special meaning on my version of the BMW SI.
Next comes the 9th character, a check digit, the 4 in the case of the R65, the 9 in the case of the R100RT. {edited out for our purposes here}
Next in the VIN is the letter identifying the PRODUCTION, NOT NECESSARILY CALENDAR year, and this is always in 10th position:
Notice the B in 10th position for the R65, and D in 10th position for the R100RT. That letter is a YEAR code. This system is for U.S. production, that began in 1980.
Officially, according to the adopted International Standards for official VIN 17 character numbers, the 11th position, in the examples, this is a "6", it is to identify the assembly plant.
Here is how the PRODUCTION/MODEL year of any motor vehicle is identified:
(note! BMW takes an annual vacation near the end of each year, vehicles produced after that vacation are normally identified with the following year,
as far as PRODUCTION/MODEL year is concerned, for official identification.
1980 vehicles used A
1981 vehicles used B
1982 vehicles used C
1983 vehicles used D
1984 vehicles used E
1985 vehicles used F
1986 vehicles used G
1987 vehicles used H
1988 vehicles used J
1989 vehicles used K
1990 vehicles used L
1991 vehicles used M
1992 vehicles used N
1993 vehicles used P
1994 vehicles used R
1995 vehicles used S
1996 vehicles used T
1997 vehicles used V
1998 vehicles used W
1999 vehicles used X
2000 vehicles used Y
2001 to 2009 vehicles use digits 1-9
Everything about this bike tells me its an r65 and likely considered a 1983. But I find some contradiction to the above.
Considering the 9th indicates? Where the 10th is a r65 or r100rt or year?
