Harley-Davidson VIN decoder

Enter the VIN and the decoder tests the check digit, then asks NHTSA's vPIC database what Harley-Davidson reported: model year, model, body class, engine displacement, cylinders, fuel and the plant. Recall campaigns NHTSA lists for that model and year appear below it, because motorcycles are in NHTSA's recall data like cars. Whether one particular bike still needs the repair is a question for NHTSA's VIN recall search or a Harley dealer.

The decoder covers 1981 and later, the years with 17-character VINs. A Panhead or early Shovelhead carries an older, shorter number that vPIC won't decode; for those, start with the classic car VIN lookup page.

Harley's VIN deciphering sheet for model year 2026 (issued July 8, 2026) defines every position:

Two characters answer it. A VIN that starts 1HD and has B in position 11 came from York, Pennsylvania. One that starts MLY with S in position 11 came from Tasit, Pluakdaeng, Rayong, Thailand, which vPIC files under HDMC (Thailand) Limited. In the 2026 sheet most touring and cruiser models are listed both ways; the Police Road Glide, Deadwood and Super Glide appear only with 1HD, and the Pan America, Sportster S and Nightster only with MLY.

The sheet also names a third code, LBB, and a third plant, 2 for Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Co. in Wenling City, China, with J in position 8 for "QJ vehicles for the US". vPIC lists LBB as Qianjiang's own code, shared by several makes including Harley-Davidson, Benelli and QJMotor. None of the 2026 models in Harley's table use it.

Older bikes can show other letters. vPIC also maps T to Tomahawk, Wisconsin and Y to York on 1HD VINs, and lists 5HD and 932 (Harley-Davidson do Brasil) as Harley codes. Year letters repeat every 30 years, so M can mean 1991 or 2021, and the position 7 tiebreaker in 49 CFR 565.15 covers cars and light trucks, not motorcycles. If a decoded year is 30 years off, the title settles it.

Harley's 2026 sheet illustrates the layout with 1HD4CR213MB111000: 1HD, then 4 in the motorcycle type slot (middleweight), CR in the model slot, 2 in the engine slot, 1 for a 49-state bike, 3 as the check digit, M in the year slot, B for York and 111000 as the serial. It's a diagram, not a real motorcycle, and its check digit doesn't work out.

Apply the federal formula: convert each letter to its number, multiply each position by its weight and add them up. The total for this VIN is 231, and 231 divided by 11 leaves 0, so position 9 should be 0, not 3. The decoder runs the same test before any lookup, which catches most one-character typos before they can return the wrong bike.

Harley-Davidson listed this 2020 Street Glide Special's VIN as the first in one of the VIN ranges in its recall report to NHTSA (recall 22V-781, for a brake light that can come on by itself). NHTSA's vPIC database returns this for 1HD1KRP18LB600080:

Harley's sheet reserves 2 in position 4 and B in position 8 for electric vehicles, though no electric model appears in its 2026 table. vPIC links two makes to the 1HD code, Harley-Davidson and LiveWire, so some 1HD VINs decode with LiveWire as the make.

vPIC lists 36 Harley-Davidson models for 2026, from the Street Glide, Road Glide, Road King Special, Ultra Limited and Tri Glide Ultra to the Fat Boy, Fat Bob, Breakout, Heritage Classic, Street Bob, Low Rider S and ST, Pan America, Sportster S, Nightster, Hydra-Glide Revival, the police models and the X350RA. Its all-years list runs to 369 names, including the Dyna, V-Rod, Sportster 883 and 1200, XR1000 and FXR families.

On the steering head, the part of the frame the front fork turns in. Federal rules put the certification label, which carries the VIN, on a permanent part as close as practicable to where the steering post meets the handlebars (49 CFR 567.4), and the VIN is also on the title and registration.

For other brands, see the motorcycle VIN decoder. Listing the bike for sale? CarShots turns phone photos into clean backdrop shots, about 20 seconds per photo.