Why does my 03 have all the looks of 04-06??
 

I bought this bike back in early April. After looking through the forums it hit me that everything I am reading is telling me my bike is a 04-06 model. Yet the title is listed as a 03. I mean silver frame, nanner seat.. Any thoughts?

Check the vin plate on the frame. It'll have the year on it. The tank, uppers and rear are definitely 06 though

Plate on frame says 03.

someone couldve swapped the sub and threw those plastics and tank on it:icon_screwy: only reason i see to do that is if dude had a f4i and wanted the split seat or the guy before you rolled it, bent the sub, seen bananna seat subs/seats are cheaper and did the swap and sold his good stuff to pay for half of it

yea def. makes sense.. Seems like a lot of effort. From my limited knowledge arent the 03 frames black as well? Either way title is clean/clear so not too many worries. Thanks for the info guys.

Hmm... you sure you wanna ask too many questions / dig too deep into this? :icon_couchhide:

I mean it's possible someone swapped the subframe / seat, uppers and tank with an 06 because they liked it. But an 03 vin on a silver frame....

Simple answer. The bike was built in 03 but is a 04 model year. My F4i said 00 on the frame but was a 01 model year. Just like you can to go the car dealership and by a 2012 model but it's not 2012. You sir have a 04.

i totally missed that LOL. Its early im not on my game

not just that.. the swingarm and frame too.. its all silver.. very odd..

does the title state 'blue' as the color? There probably isnt anything wrong with it.. who knows.. like Kuroshio said.. how much do you want to know.. it might even be an F4 with all F4i stuff put on it.. and the 03 plaque put back on..
check the numbers near the steering hub area..

Yea I know I may be digging too far. Yes the title states blue as color.

theres always exceptions to stuff and you might have stumbled upon it bro :icon_beerchug:

R Dub nailed it I have the same thing on mine I have an '03 F4i "Model" but the Bike itself was physically produced in '02 so that's what the tag says, same logic as he stated with new model cars. I have a '09 Dodge Ram if you look at the tag in the driver side door it was produced in '08. Don't worry about it your bike looks pretty legit.

It is Probably a late 03 because they switched tail sections for 2004 so its probably a rare crossover version.

What???

I know that sometimes they can goof on the title, but aside from a straight up clerical error, the title should reflect the model year of the bike and not the manufacturing year. If the title says 03, then the frame should be from an 03 (split seat).

My car follows the same sort of idea, they completely redesigned the car for 08, but mine was built in 07 (sold in late 07 as an 08 model). So, the title reads 08. If it read 07, people would think it's a completely different car. Hopefully, that all made sense.

My guess is that the previous owner stripped the black paint off the frame, making it silver, or had it powdercoated silver. They possibly sold off the dual seat setup, like someone else mentioned, or maybe the bike was wrecked and the banana seat and subframe were easier to come by. Definitely a strange scenario though.

03 frames ARE black, just to clarify

:icon_that:

This is why I say "do you really want to know?". There's no "clerical error" that'd produce a silver frame with an 03 vin. The vin has been swapped.

I highly suspect he actually has a 06 F4i...

I was referring to an error in the title, not the stamp on the frame. I was directing that towards R Dub saying it could be an 04 bike with the title saying 03, because it was built in 03.

+1
That is your answer

I know but what you're implying is one of the previous owners went through a lot of work to turn an 04 (which was really manufactured in 03) into an 06 F4i.

See why I think 1 + 1 + 1 = Mayonnaise?

I'm gonna go with something is fishy with either the title or vin. You may just want to leave it alone

I agree, it seems like a lot of work for something not many people would do (split seat to banana conversion + 06 bodywork), but people have done stranger things to bikes before. My bike is a white 2002 f4i, and my title says that. Honda never made a white f4i in 2002, but at some point my bike changed colors and that made it's way onto my title.

Also, what you're saying is that someone was able to obtain a frame stamp with matching title and for some reason slapped it on an 06. I think that would be difficult as well. People build bikes from the frame up, change frame colors (polish, powedercoat), they can also swap frames to give a totalled bike a clear title (higher resale), that's where I'm coming from.

Mike, everything about the bike says it's an 06 except the title and vin plate. So what's more likely?

• The previous owner created an 06 on an 03 vin?
• Someone used a clear vin / title to disguise an 06?

The bike is already in his possession so its too late now. I just wouldn't suggest running the engine serial # thru any databases.

My guess is it's a stolen 06 and someone used a clean title to hide that fact. Nobody at the dmv would catch the facts pointed out here

So is there a way to check the engine serial and know if its original to the frame or not? I have opened a can of worms that I cant seem to close.

does the VIN on the left-side frame sticker match the VIN on the right-side of the steering head? (it's stamped vertically on right side of frame under handlebars)...and does that match the title?

i don't think that blue/black color scheme was offered in 03 or 04, right? yours looks exactly like an 06. something is very fishy with your title if it says 03. let us know what you find out.

Blue black is only 06. Never offered any other year.

it's the frame that makes me suspicious. 04 and up Honda intentionally made the frames silver to differentiate the F4i from the 600rr. No silver frame would have an 03 vin. And it doesn't make sense to strip the bike and replace the frame just to replicate an 06. Too much work for something only a Honda enthusiast would pick up

Honestly I wouldn't wanna dig too far if I was you. I'm with kuro on that this could be a stolen bike and someone bought a frame off ebay for an 03 then used the title and removed the vin from it, put them onto your bike, to make the stolen bike legal.

You could find out you have a stolen bike and loose bike+money you have in it, and also end up in court for receiving stolen property. Even though you bought it legally to best of your knowledge you can still be charged

But then again make sure all three of the vin numbers on the frame are the same. If not a cop may someday pull you over then you are in a world of mess if he happens to look them up

i'd sell the bike on craigslist and buy a clean one. something's not right.

Interesting thread... Any new word on if the VINs matched up on the steering head?

Swapped vin sticker?!?

Basically the bike is at it should be. The year is not correct on the sticker. Check the steering head and let us know. That will clear all.

Swapped vin sticker?!?

Basically the bike is at it should be. The year is not correct on the sticker. Check the steering head and let us know. That will clear all.

Hey guys yea looked into it more. Basically what I have is a 06 with a 03 frame. It was painted over. All the vins match and I had a family friend do a check for me on the vins. All clear. So basically the bike had a frame swap at some point and was painted to look like the 04-06 frame.

Personally I would really question the frame swap. The only reason why you would need to do a frame swap is because the bike is stolen or its been laid down with frame damage but that that point its a total loss and you just buy a new bike.