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GS400 or 425 second off the line?

  • Thread starter Thread starter andy
  • Start date Start date
A

andy

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I picked up a ratty old '79 GS400L (or so I thought) but my research on here about VIN's suggests to me it's a GS425.

Can somebody help me out? the VIN stamped on the frame is GS400-700006. I checked out some of the links on here regarding VIN's and this page

http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Suzuki_GS425

suggests it's a 1979 GS425LN, in fact the second one off the assembly line! Can somebody confirm this or have I been sniffing the glue too much?
 
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If the numbers quoted on that site are correct then you can assume so (I haven't got the LN listed in my book of numbers as it's not a UK model so can't say for sure).

Having said that, it would be the 2nd frame that they made and therefor could have been the umpteenth finished bike at the end of the line.
 
wait a sec,
Those VIN's that made me think it was frame #2 are prefixed with GS425, my bike is prefixed GS400.
WTH is going on with this thing?

The motor is GS400-69493. Is that any help?
 
andy said:
wait a sec,
Those VIN's that made me think it was frame #2 are prefixed with GS425, my bike is prefixed GS400.
WTH is going on with this thing?

The motor is GS400-69493. Is that any help?
Click to expand...

That engine number is a long way down the GS400 series. I can't help you with the frame number (unless Zook made 40000 of the things:D)
 
The frame VINs and actual date of manufacture will likely not coincide. I've done a bit of research on this myself along with Brett Griffin as I have what appears to be a veryvery early production GS750B (DOM sept 76). While the frame numbers on both the GS750 and 400's are in fact sequential, I have found that it has little to do with the actual roll off date of the end product machine. The frame on my 76/77 suggests it was the 758th GS of any make off the line. However that is only the frame number. The DOM also suggests it was an early production model but I have another frame that has an earlier VIN while the DOM label states that it's a 79 750 with a DOM of December of 78. The frame number would suggest that it was aroun the 5000 ish frame off the line. So while the frame numbers are sequential as I said, it doesn't mean he entire bike was an early production model. The DOM is the only true tell of when it finally rolled off the assembly line. Based on some very limited info Brett and I surmised that there were thru the late 70s roughly 3000 GS models of any make rollng off the line a month. In 76/77 there were only two models, the 400 and 750. I would guess that my 750B was one of the first 1,000 GSes ever made for sure and possibly the 758th ever of any model but with limited info based on DOMs vs VINs vs engine serial numbers it's hard to tell. I would think a collector would likely take only the DOM into consideration when evaluating the actual position of any model in history.

Later models used a traditional format VIN and they were no longer sequential which makes it even harder to discern the actual age of the bike and more relying on the DOM sticker.
 
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