Hi,

This is not the Yamaha Venture forum, but I don't seem to see one, so hopefully this will work.

I have a 1983 Venture that I bought new in Wooster, Ohio. To me, this bike always represented what a 1983 Yamaha Venture was supposed to be. Recently, my son bought a 1983 Venture as well, and immediately, several things were noticed to be different. For months now, I have assumed that it was HIS bike that had been modified, since I had had my bike since new, and his came from someone else. Well, I happened to notice that our serial numbers may be telling a story, and that in fact, my bike may be the oddball. His serial number is the typical JYA26H004DA00xxx. Mine is different. It reads JYA47R001DA000xxx. So far, it appears that the numbers can be interpreted as:

J - Japan
Y - Yamaha
A - motorcycle

But when you get to the 26H and the 47R, they are supposed to be type/line and engine type. The 26H is listed in my Yamaha Factory Service Manual, but there is no reference to the 47R.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
Greg