From what I have picked up around here, the VIN of the bike is not the best indicator, but rather the serial number of the battery itself. And I'm not sure the guys that know the most have posted anything about the particular number range that has the highest risk.
At this point in the game you really need to have MT up and running to check out a bike before you buy it.
The cost of the laptop and cables are far less than the going rate of a $750 battery module. And R pack modules seem to be short on supply until we nail down the wire bonding challenge. Good news is that one of our members has made a large investment in a CNC wire bonding machine with the goal of fixing our Alta packs, as well as loftier goals!
Hopefully we can fix all or most of the code 36 modules soon.