Buying a Honda Phantom

[simonm]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a Honda Phantom and have a couple of questions:

A. Is there a quick and easy way to check the year of the bike from the engine and VIN numbers? e.g. Something like the 3rd and 4th digits of the engine number are the year made. A lot of the 2nd hand bike sellers here seem to take older 2nd hand bikes and combine together frames, engines, other parts from old worn out/broken bikes to make something that runs.

B. Are there any common problems with the Phantom that I should look for when buying?

Thanks.

 

[simonm]

So far all I've managed to find is that from approx. 2006/07 the design changed slightly and the ignition/key moved from the side of the bike to the handlebars. I can now tell whether a bike is per or post 2006.

Does anyone have a more accurate way of ageing a Phantom? The Thai bikes have frame numbers TA200-1234567 which don't follow the same rules as the standard international VINs.

 

[siam garden]

Hi. I own a Phantom (2004). Never had problems. This edition, has the name Phantom on the tank, in relief, made of steel. Newer editions, has the name written on the tank, but with a sticker. Recently, I had good reports for the Lifan Custom V 250, that can be an alternative.

 

[simonm]

Thanks for the info. I bought one a couple of days ago and am very happy with it. I'm not sure exactly which year. I live in Cambodia and the Phantoms imported here tend to be older ones that are no longer wanted in Thailand. I think it's approx. 2003-04 so similar to yours. Unfortunately the registration documents in Cambodia only state the year it was imported and registered in Cambodia not the year it was made. (That's why I was hoping it might be possible to check a bike's age from the frame/engine number. It seems it isn't.)

 

[KZ25]

The TA200 was built from 2001-2010 with just a few minor changes, AFAIK. The later model had a longer exhaust and a more beefy-looking fork.
Before 2001 it had a 150cc 2stroke engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Phantom (pictured is the older version with the shorter muffler and skinny-looking forks.)

I had a 2 year old model with less than 10K km on the clock when I bought it.
Rode it home from Phuket 550km north, throttle open all the way, and managed to blow the head gasket.
Never thought that a modern Honda would blow a gasket but it did! Cost me 750 baht to fix it.

Why do you want to know what year it is?

 

[simonm]

Thanks for the info. The reason for wanting to know a Phantom's age was so that, when looking to buy, I would have an idea of how old a bike was so I could decide how much I'd be willing to pay. I'd obviously expect to pay less for a 2001-2002 than a recent model.

The bikes I looked at in Cambodia when I was buying mine had all been brought in from Thailand. I think most were older models that were no longer wanted in Thailand and had been sold cheaply into Cambodia and then fixed up. I saw a lot of old bikes that had been refurbished to look better on the surface than they actually were.

A lot of places were selling old refurbished bikes and claiming they were newer. There didn't seem to be an accurate way to pin down a bike's actual year. It would have been handy if there was a way of dating the engine from the engine number.

My dirtbike is a Suzuki and the frame number and engine numbers both correspond to the year of manufacture. It makes it much easier to know what you're actually getting.