Hello all,

I recently restored my 2007 Ninja 250 that has been sitting for a few years back to working condition. Before I stopped riding it, I did a frame swap because the old frame was about to crack from all the accidents it had lol. Now this bike is salvage so to bring it to restored salvage, they will inspect the VIN on the frame. To circumvent the new VIN, I put the sticker from the old frame over the VIN stamped on the new frame lmao. However, I was dumb and took the bike off non-op at some point to fix it and never did. Fees are currently $951. Not worth it honestly for this old of a bike. However, i am wondering if anyone knows if I can get around these fees by saying its a "new bike." Problem is that the engine # won't match and the frame I bought was also out of state. So not sure how this would even work lol. Granted I can tell them I swapped the frame so I'm not sure if it would be considered a different bike since the VIN isnt the same anymore. Thoughts?

Do you still have VIN sticker that matches what's stamped on headtube of frame?

The frame is essentially the bike because of the VIN. You can't have a frame stamped with a different VIN than what is titled/registered; they will look for the stamp if inspected and the sticker will not be enough. You can't just throw on the new frame and have it replace your current one because it is now a different bike. You would also need clear documentation of how you obtained the parts. I've done a salvage inspection before. They're looking for stolen parts. Trying to pass off your bike like you suggested might not look very good for you.

Using the new frame will instead require the title being transferred to you, as though you bought a new bike. I hope you have all the title and sale paperwork to go with it in order to do that. This would not require the salvage inspection and re-title as that is tied to your cracked frame but may not be as feasible if you purchased the frame as parts without the title.

The frame is essentially the bike because of the VIN. You can't have a frame stamped with a different VIN than what is titled/registered; they will look for the stamp if inspected and the sticker will not be enough. You can't just throw on the new frame and have it replace your current one because it is now a different bike. You would also need clear documentation of how you obtained the parts. I've done a salvage inspection before. They're looking for stolen parts. Trying to pass off your bike like you suggested might not look very good for you.

Using the new frame will instead require the title being transferred to you, as though you bought a new bike. I hope you have all the title and sale paperwork to go with it in order to do that. This would not require the salvage inspection and re-title as that is tied to your cracked frame but may not be as feasible if you purchased the frame as parts without the title.

I did receive the title with the frame. However that bike was also salvage so I think I would still have to do the inspection. Even my brother who got an out of state bike still had to have it inspected, but that may be because the federal sticker wasn't on it. That sticker is now off my bike so the VIN is visible. But this frame also did not have the federal sticker so regardless I will have to go through the process. So then I WOULD get around those fees since they belong to a "different" bike. Good. However my speedo is broken and will have to be replaced. Is buying one with low miles bad if the title says 10k miles? What if I just say I bought it like that? lol. I'll have time to get the speedo because DMV and CHP are closed until further notice so I can't even get the bike inspected if I wanted to.

Well salvage is fine, you can always get those inspected and titled.
Speedo can be rolled forward to match what's in DMV's records. Or there's checkbox on form to effect of "displayed mileage not accurate" or some such.
Even changing engine is fine because there's a form you fill out that will change engine# that's attached to VIN.
Also federal sticker is inside hip-fairing, so that's easy to get.



However, if the VIN sticker does not match what's stamped on headtube, you're going to have an extremely difficult time getting through inspection. Even if you do manage to fool your way through inspection and get it titled, you'll always be at risk for getting bike impounded. Any time you get pulled over, there's chance they'll compare VIN sticker with stamp on headtube. And then it'll get impounded no questions asked. Then burden of proof will be on you to bring documentation to impound-yard to explain why there's two different VINs on one frame...

No kidding, this happened to me 30-years ago when I got 2nd VF500 as parts bike and mixed and matched parts. Ended up getting VIN stickers mixed up on frame (removed to paint frame). Cop who pulled me over for loud-exhaust was required to impound bike. On ticket, it said something like "only release to licensed driver with current registration". Since there were two different VINs on bike, I had to have current-registration on both to get out of impound. Only way I could get it out was to go to DMV and pay 5-years back-fees on scrapped bike so that I could prove I own both bikes and their registrations were both paid up.

Well salvage is fine, you can always get those inspected and titled.
Speedo can be rolled forward to match what's in DMV's records. Or there's checkbox on form to effect of "displayed mileage not accurate" or some such.
Even changing engine is fine because there's a form you fill out that will change engine# that's attached to VIN.
Also federal sticker is inside hip-fairing, so that's easy to get.



However, if the VIN sticker does not match what's stamped on headtube, you're going to have an extremely difficult time getting through inspection. Even if you do manage to fool your way through inspection and get it titled, you'll always be at risk for getting bike impounded. Any time you get pulled over, there's chance they'll compare VIN sticker with stamp on headtube. And then it'll get impounded no questions asked. Then burden of proof will be on you to bring documentation to impound-yard to explain why there's two different VINs on one frame...

No kidding, this happened to me 30-years ago when I got 2nd VF500 as parts bike and mixed and matched parts. Ended up getting VIN stickers mixed up on frame (removed to paint frame). Cop who pulled me over for loud-exhaust was required to impound bike. On ticket, it said something like "only release to licensed driver with current registration". Since there were two different VINs on bike, I had to have current-registration on both to get out of impound. Only way I could get it out was to go to DMV and pay 5-years back-fees on scrapped bike so that I could prove I own both bikes and their registrations were both paid up.

They'll change the engine # without verifying if it came off another bike? Oh inside of the fairing? I do have it then nvm. I thought it was that sticker on the frame. I put my old bike sticker over the VIN of the new one. But after this post and doing research I took it off. So the salvage out of state title VIN matches the frame. The old bike and old frame/VIN is gone. That's also the bike I want to avoid fees on. So unless they trace the engine # back to it then im in the clear. I actually just read that since they sent it to me with just the frame they put on the title that the odometer reading is not accurate so I guess that settles that too. And since the old bike is california the emissions are there so I don't need the 7500 rule or any of that nonsense. It's looking good I think. I just wonder if I can get away with riding around with the title incase I get pulled over since there's no plates lol. With the virus and all DMV and CHP are closed and wont be doing any inspections. I'm not trying to catch the Rona on the bus either lol.

They'll change the engine # without verifying if it came off another bike? Oh inside of the fairing? I do have it then nvm. I thought it was that sticker on the frame. I put my old bike sticker over the VIN of the new one. But after this post and doing research I took it off. So the salvage out of state title VIN matches the frame. The old bike and old frame/VIN is gone. That's also the bike I want to avoid fees on. So unless they trace the engine # back to it then im in the clear. I actually just read that since they sent it to me with just the frame they put on the title that the odometer reading is not accurate so I guess that settles that too. And since the old bike is california the emissions are there so I don't need the 7500 rule or any of that nonsense. It's looking good I think. I just wonder if I can get away with riding around with the title incase I get pulled over since there's no plates lol. With the virus and all DMV and CHP are closed and wont be doing any inspections. I'm not trying to catch the Rona on the bus either lol.

They'll want to check the engine number etched on the engine. For you, it'll be easy to prove where the engine came from since it's yours to begin with. You'll may want to bring ownership paperwork from the old bike as documentation as well as filling out the statement of facts. In this case, they only care about the ownership of it (again to make sure it's not stolen), not that it's registered or anything.

No plates is a quick way to get pulled over so I really wouldn't suggest doing that. Also, while I get not wanting to catch anything from public transit, now would be the worst time to end up in the hospital if you get in an motorcycle accident cuz that's an even better chance of catching something there and you'd be an additional drain on resources. Just something to consider.