Monkey Z50A dating & frame number
Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:05 pm
Hi,
Can any of you guys help me with the dating of my Z50A? I'm kind of confused with various references found on-line.
I have a Monkey Z50A K2 that has been imported to Finland in the early 70s and sold here as new. I bough it used in 1976 and the seller (the first owner) told back then that he'd bought only a year earlier and that it had been manufactured in 1975.
Now that I'm (reluctantly) planning to sell the bike away, I started browsing various sites to get some confirmation on its model & year of manufacture.
Its frame number is "Z50A-412506". This is a bit peculiar, since none of the references I found in the Internet tell anything about a serial number starting with number four. Furthermore, the years of manufacture of the K2 are told to have been 1970-1971. It has been stated that already in 1971 the serial# reached '399999', and that was the end of it. Obviously it can't have been, considering the stamp on mine.
Then, on the other hand, certain references tell that it was only as late as in 1973 when the Japanese and European Monkeys changed from Z50A to Z50J.
Thus, it seems obvious that the year of manufacture in this one is NOT 1975 as it was told to be when I was buying this. But that aside, can any of you guys elaborate this issue any further.
[BTW, some website mentioned that a date stamp (mm/yy) can be found "inside the swingarm" of a Z50A. That, of course, would be really hard to find but have you ever heard of such date stamps on any other surface of this model?]
With regards,
Sakari
FINLAND
Can any of you guys help me with the dating of my Z50A? I'm kind of confused with various references found on-line.
I have a Monkey Z50A K2 that has been imported to Finland in the early 70s and sold here as new. I bough it used in 1976 and the seller (the first owner) told back then that he'd bought only a year earlier and that it had been manufactured in 1975.
Now that I'm (reluctantly) planning to sell the bike away, I started browsing various sites to get some confirmation on its model & year of manufacture.
Its frame number is "Z50A-412506". This is a bit peculiar, since none of the references I found in the Internet tell anything about a serial number starting with number four. Furthermore, the years of manufacture of the K2 are told to have been 1970-1971. It has been stated that already in 1971 the serial# reached '399999', and that was the end of it. Obviously it can't have been, considering the stamp on mine.
Then, on the other hand, certain references tell that it was only as late as in 1973 when the Japanese and European Monkeys changed from Z50A to Z50J.
Thus, it seems obvious that the year of manufacture in this one is NOT 1975 as it was told to be when I was buying this. But that aside, can any of you guys elaborate this issue any further.
[BTW, some website mentioned that a date stamp (mm/yy) can be found "inside the swingarm" of a Z50A. That, of course, would be really hard to find but have you ever heard of such date stamps on any other surface of this model?]
With regards,
Sakari
FINLAND