Katana Owners Club U.K.

Hi all, I am trying to register my 1100 Kat and I was told by the German original owner that it was a December 1981 bike, the DVLA have all the documentation and claim that it is a 1984 bike, can anyone help? the frame number is GS110XD527470. Suzuki want £95.00 to contact the factory.

What was the last plate no. in Germany? When was it taken off the road there? Maybe I can find out something...

That number would suggest it was '82-'83. However with the wonders of registration dates being what they are it might have been first registered in '84 and I tihnk that's what the DVLA work with where imports are concerned.
You can get a dating certificate from the VJMC for £25 (I think) if you're a member, not sure about non-members.
Obviously I stand to be corrected on any of that info

Couple of things here, firstly how important is it you get a 1981 plate? in a world of personal plates , no one uses the plate to verfy the year anyway.
You are going to get an age related plate , which will start from January , but back in the day the year started in August. Which is why we have bikes in the club on W plates.!( which means registered before it was available!!!)

There is no real way of telling from the frame number.
German registering isn't like ours there is no central DVLA , each region has it's own so it may be that the bike is '81 but got moved to another area so got re reg'd . Not likely may be but possible, I know it happens in Italy. ( Pedda will know more)

It may be that it was old stock, I had a UK 650 GX (X reg model year) that was on a B plate (GZ MODEL YEAR)
it was old stock sold off in 85.

To be honest I think you are going to hold up your registering and will spend more money than needed just to get an X at the end.
So reg it and spend a little on a personal plate with an X at the end!!!!!!!!

fossie wrote:There is no real way of telling from the frame number.
German registering isn't like ours there is no central DVLA , each region has it's own so it may be that the bike is '81 but got moved to another area so got re reg'd . Not likely may be but possible, I know it happens in Italy. ( Pedda will know more)

We also have a central authority for vehicle related things like this, which is the KBA in Flensburg.
They'll store all the dates referring to your bike unless it has not been taken off the roads in Germany for more than 7 years. After that, they'll delete all the files.

That's why I was asking for what I was asking for in my post above. You'll find the last plate named in the German log book, together with the name of the last owner. There's also a date stamped in it which tells you the date of first registration.
If you still have the log book, look at line no. 32 on page two (Tag der ersten Zulassung). That is what you're looking for. So once again, that's first registration, not the day of import, which is not held constant at all.
If you really want to know the year of manufacture, like you say in the title, you will have to ask Suzuki.


The regional thing Fossie is talking about is just about having the bike taxed in the region you live in.

Sent you a pm, germankat