What good is a frame without a title??

[shogun1011]

Hey all,
I'm looking into building a bike as a side project, and have seen a lot of street frames on ebay for sale without a title. I was under the impression that you can't get a bike registered if it does not have a title. Is this true?

What good is a title-less frame?? It's one thing if the frame was for a dirt bike...or something else off-road...but what about street??

Any help is much appreciated.

~Shogun1011

[KSlawman]

As far as I know, you can build a bike from various others to make a motorcycle. You would have to have it inspected by either Sate Police, or DMV. The vehicle would then be assigned a new VIN which would be put onto the one you made.
Keep in mind, it is a felony in this state to remove deface or alter a VIN from a vehicle. Check with your laws to find out if this is possible in your state. I would not buy a frame with a VIN altered or removed. In Kansas it is a "Shall Arrest" statute. That means go directly to jail, do not collect $200.
People build trikes and such from scratch with no VIN, and get a title made. So it must be do-able. Just get everything ironed out before you do it.

[brooder]

IF the frame already has a VIN, then any cycle you mak will use that VIN, not get a new one. There are several ways to get a title. Call your DMV to find out what the procedure is for your state.

[ZukiFred]

Alot of people will rebuild a bike for track use, No title needed there.

[KSlawman]

Might be true. I know that in Illinois at a dealership I worked at, there was a Honda cage that came in. There were issues with the VIN, as the dash was replaced at some point. The VIN plate is attached to that, and the other dash came from a wreck or what not.
The Highway Patrol came, made us remove the windshield, then he removed the VIN. He then issued a new VIN for the car. If I remember correctly, it was a stamped steel plate, and it was riveted in place of the old one.
Your right about being able to get the title. Good call. You can have a title search done. They or you, (not sure) send a certified letter to the previous registered owner(s). If they respond and advise they have no interest in the VIN, then you are good. Heres where it could get tricky. You just dumped alot of cash and parts to make it into a motorcycle again, and the previous owner decides he wants to claim it again. They might be able to get the bike as it sits. That would suck, and would probably not happen. To be sure, I would do nothing with the frame until it could get a title. Better safe than sorry.
If you have a local LEO friend, have him run the VIN to make sure it is not NCIC prior to purchasing it.

[The CyberPoet]

If you have a local LEO friend, have him run the VIN to make sure it is not NCIC prior to purchasing it.

+1

If you don't have a law enforcement office as a friend, call the local desk sergeant (don't use 911!) and explain the deal in a couple sentences and ask them to run the VIN for you -- I've never found one who wouldn't (usually they'll dispatch a cruiser to me to run it while I stand there; I think the local desk sergeant doesn't have access to the NCIC database from his desk).

Frames sans VIN plates are usually either from bikes that have been totalled (and thus not reregisterable under that VIN) or from stolen bikes. For someone who has a bike they damaged the frame on (esp. in Florida, where many go without insurance because it's legal), transferring the old frame's VIN to the new frame is a simple way to repair the damages -- although technically, it's not legal.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[BarMatt80]

i'd steer clear of it, expecially if someone won't tell you exactly why they don't have a title, and supply you with picture of the frame where the vin is. i know some guys back home that just got busted, got a 2003 gs500 and never made payments, and he sold it to a buddy for 300 bucks and parted it out and sold the frame with the vin ground off.

and then i knew of some people that stole and/or did what i stated above and bought a new frame and transfered parts from stolen bike to good frame.

[StevieB]

I have an, ahem, "friend," who shall remain nameless, and I don't know him anymore, don't have any idea how to contact him, heck, I don't even remember his name, who once bought a 1970 Mustang that had a lien on the title 'cause the owner defaulted on the loan and somehow avoided the car being repossesed. My friend paid $65 for the car. He had another 1970 Mustang, rust bucked that his little brother took the motor and trans out of, windshield was already broken, so my friend bashed a hole above the vin plate, drilled out the rivets and took the vin plate off. Rivited new rivits in holes, ground the back of them flush and then GLUED it over the vin plate at the base of the windshield on the other car. He, and the guy who eventually bought the car, never had any problems. Eventually, I suppose the car may have fell into the hands of a picky collector, who would have realized that the vin said the car was a fastback, when a quick look at the roof would clearly revel that it was a notch-back car. Would have been interesting to have been a fly on the wall on THAT day.

Don't ask me how I know all those details.

[bigbike-r]

i seen a gixer frame going on ebay but it stated that it had no vin and couldnt be put on the road as you cant put a vin on them. only reason i didnt buy it??????