I have a Giant OCR-C road bike which I purchased from the bike shop owner in 2007. I think it is a 2006 model. The serial number is GA6B054 but I can not find any place to look up these bikes on line by serial number. I am selling the bike and someone asked me which make it is. I don't know what to tell them. The bike shop has gone under so they are not a resource now. I am trying to be very up front and give a fair price. The bike is in very good condition and is well maintained. I am only selling it because the small frame is not suited for me at 5'6'. I bought new Giant Avail from Roswell Bike's in Georgia. They appraised my old bike for about 900.00. I am asking 850.00. Can anyone help me figure out which model of OCR I have?
- Where Are The Serial Numbers On A Gitane Bike Price
- Where Are The Serial Numbers On A Gitane Bike Price
- Where Are The Serial Numbers On A Gitane Bikes
We are happy to answer technical questions by email but please:
Do not write or phone us to ask the age or value of your bike.
All of the information we have on that is on this Web page or on SheldonBrown.com/raleigh.html
Also see information at Kurt Kaminer's Headbadge site.
Denmark's Bicycle VIN/dating system
Note that the serial number information below is fragmentary and incomplete, and many bikes have proven to be much newer than the serial numbers would suggest. It appears that Raleigh recycled many of the older serial numbers in later years, so there are lots of bikes from the 60s and 70s that have serial numbers that would suggest much greater age.
Note that the serial number information below is fragmentary and incomplete, and many bikes have proven to be much newer than the serial numbers would suggest. It appears that Raleigh recycled many of the older serial numbers in later years, so there are lots of bikes from the 60s and 70s that have serial numbers that would suggest much greater age.
Sturmey-Archer Hubs | 1988 - 1925 | 1925 - WWII | WWII - 1955 | 1955 - 1966 | 1967 - 1973 | 1972 - 1980's | 1980's - Present |
Sturmey-Archer Hubs
Almost all English 3-speeds have Sturmey-Archer rear hubs. Sturmey-Archer was a division of Raleigh, made many different models since 1902, and were still in business until October, 2000. The company was sold to a group of money manipulators who shut it down in hope of making a quick profit by selling off the assets. The Taiwanese company Sunrace bought the equipment, stock and rights to the name and is back in business. Most older Sturmey-Archer hubs have two or three-letter model codes, which are usually stamped onto the hub shell. Conveniently, they also usually have the month and the last two digits of the year of manufacture stamped onto the shell. This is the easiest way to date a 3-speed bicycle, if it has its original rear wheel.
1888-1925
Prior to 1925, genuine Raleighs (not necessarily brand names made by Raleigh) had a straightforward numerical frame number. Early years have been estimated by the Company. (Info from the Nottinghamshire Archives)
Note that the serial number information below is fragmentary and incomplete, and many bikes have proven to be much newer than the serial numbers would suggest. It appears that Raleigh recycled many of the older serial numbers in later years, so there are lots of bikes from the 60s and 70s that have serial numbers that would suggest much greater age.
1888: 1500 1889: 3200 1890: 5200 1891: 7600 1892: 10500 1893: 13900 1894: 19100 1895: 25300 1896: 32100 1897: 39913 | 1898: 45981 1899: 54032 1900: 65152 1900: 69868 1901: 77342 1902: 89622 1903: 102954 1904: 112673 1905: 129228 1906: 154917 | 1907: 183073 1908: 215650 1909: 249081 1910: 285669 1911: 328748 1912: 375693 1913: 427829 1914: 482851 1915: 517198 1916: 545198 | 1917: 569737 1918: 592473 1919: 621678 1920: 654502 1921: 688291 1922: 738447 1923: 809184 1924: 899465 1925: 998077 |
1925-Second World War
Between 1925 and the cessation of cycle production during the Second World War, letters prefixed or suffixed the running frame number although no indication is given of the starting point of the numbers. They seem to reflect only the number of machines produced whilst each letter was in use. All dating would therefore be approximate. (Info from the Nottinghamshire Archives)
1925: A1 1925: B34181 1926/27: B56536 1929: E15693 1930: G94785 1933: L84682 | 1934: T93945 1934: U14540 1935: W71147 1936: W93161 1937: Y184552 |
Post Second World War - 1955
After the war, Raleigh began adding letters after the running number series which restarted when a new letter was used. (Info from the Nottinghamshire Archives)
1947: 437689 P 1948: 556894 P 1949: 695051 P 1951: 151179 T 1952: 236530 T | 1953: 367369 T 1954: 566722 T 1955: 747951 T 1956: 852312 T 1957: 872584 T |
1955 - 1966
A new numbering system was introduced in 1955, though this ran concurrently with the old one for two years. The new system involved a second running letter, added to the first, which began at the start of the alphabet.
1956: 23839 A 1957: 27227 AB 1958: 17910 AD 1960: 27273 AE | 1961: 13126 AF 1965/6: 40814 FD 1966: 64521 FE |
Note: Some of the mid-60's straight gauge 531 frames had serial numbers starting with a single letter which was towards the end of the alphabet.
1967 - 1973
Yet another number system was introduced in 1966. This new system applied to the high-end (i.e. Reynolds 531) frames, and involved the placing of a character at the beginning of the serial number. The character began at the start of the alphabet, and indicated year of manufacture. Detail about the numerals that follow the alphabet are sketchy, and are presumably sequential serial numbers of some kind.
1966: A, followed by four numerals 1967: B, followed by four numerals 1968: C, followed by four numerals 1969: D, followed by four numerals | 1970: E, followed by four numerals 1971: F, followed by four numerals 1972: G, followed by four numerals 1973: H, followed by four numerals |
Note: While this numbering scheme is generally true, there may have been some crossover use of letters at the beginning/end of each year (e.g. a 'G' serial number may have been built into a bike in 1973, but the frame may have been built in 1972).
1974 - 1980's
In 1974, an entirely different numbering system was introduced for the higher end (531 and subsequently 753) Raleighs. Serial numbers should begin with a 'W', which stands for Worksop, the facility that produced these frames. This is followed by another alphabet. This alphabet indicates the fortnight in which the frame was built (i.e. A = 1st fortnight, B = 2nd, etc.). The third character is always a numeral. It indicates the year of manufacture, the decade being assumed (i.e. '4' could be '74 or '84; it is up to the interpreter to know enough to tell if the frame is from the 70's or 80's). What then follows is a series of numbers. At this point, these appear to be some sort of sequence, but this has not been substantiated.
American made Raleighs manufactured in Kent, Washington, By Derby Cycle
Sample number: R 003310123A
- R (all)
- Digits 1 & 5 are year. Sample is from 2001
- Digits 2,3,4 are day (001-365). Sample is from February 2
- Digits 6-9 are sequential. Sample is the 123rd bike built that shift.
- A = morning shift B= evening shift. Sample is morning shift.
Letter code may or may not be present, depending on production schedule.
- The 531DB Gran Sports built in the early 70's did not have letters in the serial number.
- Frames built at the Ilkeston facility have serial numbers that begin with 'SB'.
- The 1973 track frames begin with an 'A'.
- There are several documented cases of '73 and '74 Professionals, Internationals, Competitions and RRAs with 'A' serial numbers. Let the color scheme, decals and components be your guide.
We are happy to answer technical questions by email but please:
This question already has an answer here:
- How can I tell what year my bike was made? 8 answers
Was wondering if anyone can verify year of the Gitane frame
ThanksDamian
DamianDamian
marked as duplicate by Criggie♦, David Richerby, mattnz, RoboKaren, Benedikt BauerJan 4 '18 at 12:59
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
1 Answer
I'm going to point out the features that make it a 70s bike.
- Cottered cranks. They went away in the late 70s.
- 3-leg spider in the middle of the cranks - that's old looking, but the thin cranks imply a racer. Do get it off the ground, you're damaging the big chainring like that.
And these are the aberrations:
- The cable stops on the top tube - most bikes used a full brake cable housing with clips, not an exposed inner cable.
- No lugs - at least none visible in the photo. This looks like a smoothly welded steel frame.
- Down tube derailleur seems to have a thing under it - is not overly clear in the photo.
The saddle is too new, and there appear to be no wheels, but its very close to being complete and rideable. You need a new chain and new brake pads too.
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Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged framesidentify-this-bike or ask your own question.
This is a canonical question that will hopefully encompass all of the questions we get asking us to determine what year a bicycle was manufactured (how old is my bike, how old is my frame, etc.). Each 'answer' should address a different way to determine the manufacturing year of a bicycle. To some extent, these will also help you narrow down the model as well as it will tell you what distinguishing features to look at.
The span of answers would include things such as:
- Skiptooth cranks
- Cartridge bottom brackets (BB30/90 etc)
- Elliptical chainring
- Quick releases versus contemporary through-axles
- How the steerer attaches to the fork (quill vs. threadless)
- Braking system (especially with mountain bikes: v-brake, direct pull, etc.)
- Shifting ramps and pins on cassettes/sprockets and chainrings (versus flat sprockets)
- Frame material (e.g., shift from tubular steel to use of CF and hydroformed aluminium)
- Frame tubing type (e.g. Reynolds 531 tubing introduced around 1934, still used today; Reynolds 501 tubing introduced around 1983). So a frame with an original 501 decal can't be from the 70', 531 decal doesn't help as much because of the range of years produced. Also, see Decals.
*Decals: style/design, amount, placement, color, etc. can help not only determine models, but also year of manufacture. Many changed decal design for the same model bike often yearly, with special/limited editions even more specific. This applies only if decals are original or have been replaced with the identical design. Tubing decals (Reynolds, Columbus, etc.) also changed designs for same tubing made in different years, although the changes aren't made as often, and manufacturers didn't always put tubing Brand decals on every model. Earlier bikes tended to have less fancy, less colorful, less quantity of decals.
- Headbadges: most early bikes had actual 'badges', often quite detailed and fancy, made of metal, then plastic, and finally just using decals on the headtube. Most bikes lost their metal badges in the 60's and early 70's, although some brands still have actual badges to this day, but in general a real badge indicates an earlier model bike.
- Dropout style (including the later inclusion of lawyers lips)
- Presence or absence of CPSC reflectors (USA only)
- Manufacturing method (shift from lugs to TIG welding, for example)
- Number of gears (shift from 2x5 ten-speed to 3x8, 2x9, 1x11, etc.)
- Inspection of lug design: pantographs, cut-out, stampings, custom brazing/filing, chrome, fork crow n sweep, etc.
- Frame/Fork Braze-ons. Race bikes tended have less braze-ons the earlier the year of manufacture. Most 60's racers and earlier had few or none with cable guides/stops, shifters, bidons, etc. being clamp-on. By the 80's if it was clamp-on, it was a sign of very cheap models and most frames had braze-ons for all cables, with multiple bottle and accessory bosses depending on style and use.
and so forth. Please edit this question if you have an answer that isn't in the index above.
A couple of caveats:
- A previous owner could have replaced or upgraded components on a bicycle, so this guide only applies to original equipment
- There is a delay between the introduction of a technology (such as indexed shifting) and when manufacturers start selling products that use it. Low-end manufacturers may continue using technology that is severely outdated (such as one-piece cranks, freewheels, or quill stems) because it is cheaper to do so.
- A number of bikes are built in a Retro style, but with modern components. Dutch bikes, trendy coffee cruisers, and beach cruisers may be modern but appear to be 1950s styling. These tend to have modern rims and brakes as a giveaway.
Note that bicycles.stackexchange does not do valuations of bicycles. How much your bicycle is worth depends on the location of the buyer and seller, how much the buyer wants the bike, etc. etc. etc.
Community♦
RoboKarenRoboKaren23.7k88 gold badges6565 silver badges143143 bronze badges
8 Answers
Serial Numbers
Bicycles (except children's bicycles) are almost always required to have a frame or serial number. Some manufacturers use a date-code as part of the serial number.
For example, a Brompton uses YYMMXXX as their serial code, so a Brompton with a serial number of 1306123456 was manufactured in 2013.06 or June 2013
Surly is another manufacturer who uses date codes, this time in their stamped frame numbers.
Manufacturers who don't use date codes
However, many bicycle manufacturers don't use date codes and so you can't easily decode their serial numbers. Some of these manufacturers will provide their own serial number lookups on their websites. Some of the other ones have been reverse-engineered by their rider communities. The best way to find out is to google 'manufacturername bicycle serial number date of manufacturer.'
See also the Mongoose answer is below
.
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Where Are The Serial Numbers On A Gitane Bike Price
Literature (old catalogues, fan websites, etc.)
I managed to date my old Raleigh by finding scans of old catalogues online. That model was only sold in one particular year, but more often you'd get it to within a few years this way. There are many old cycling documents at Veteran-Cycle Club Online Library, including plenty that can be accessed for free. Searching for a brand and plausible year with 'catalogue' can often turn up sites dedicated to scans of that brand's literature; you may need to check more than one such site for good coverage.
Where Are The Serial Numbers On A Gitane Bike Price
This will only really work for a major brand that has a bit of a following, as it relies on someone uploading the catalogues. You also need a rough idea (e.g. from the components) to know which catalogues to look in.
Bikepedia is also useful, but mainly for confirming when you think you know a year, and only goes back to 1993.
This would also include fan websites, such as for:
- Mongoose - uses design features and serial numbers to date
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Indexed and Electronic Shifting
Shimano introduced Shimano Indexed Shifting (SIS) in 1984. If a bicycle has indexed shifters, then it is model year 1985 or later -- assuming that the shifters and derailleurs haven't been replaced.
Sep 13, 2016 To fast travel in vanilla you must be near a signpost. This mod allows you to fast travel to a signpost no matter where you are. It works if you are in the middle of the wilderness and don't feel like traveling to a signpost a billion lightyears away. Thanks Gopher for including my mod in his video (Fast Travel from Anywhere begins at 7:13).
The first Shimano Di2 electronic shifters were introduced on a production bicycle by Giant in 2009.
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Ask the Seller/Owner
A simple thing if you're receiving a bike is to ask the person selling it. Take their info with a grain of salt though - some sellers may lie to increase the perceived value of a bike.
However if someone gives you a bike, they might say 'I remember my dad riding this to work in the 80s while I was at school'
Extremely loud and incredibly close soundtrack. So this information may be authoritative, or it may be an indicator to be combined with other factors.
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Style of Shifter (friction shifter, brifter, grip shifter)
Downtube or handlebar mounted friction shifters were common on bicycles until the early 1980s when indexed shifting was introduced by Shimano in 1984 (see Indexed Shifting).
Mountain bike trigger shifters were introduced by .. in ..
The first Grip Shifters were introduced by SRAM in 1989 for mountain bikes.
Brifters (combination brakes and shifters on road bikes) were introduced in 1990 with the Shimano Total Integration (STI) system.
Freewheel or Cassette (Freehub)
If your bicycle uses a cassette freehub for the rear sprockets, then it was likely made in the late 1980s or later. Shimano came out with the first commercial freehub in 1978 in the Dura-Ace series, but it took about a decade for it to make significant inroads.
Like many other technologies, cheaper bicycles (and notably, many e-bikes) have continued to use freewheels even today so only the presence of a freehub/cassette can be used as a positive indication of date:
- Freehub-cassette present as original equipment: the bike was likely made in the late 1980s or later
- Freewheel present as original equipment: you can't determine anything about its age just from this
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Cottered Cranks
The use of cottered cranks was popular on bikes until the mid to late 1970s until they were replaced by square taper and splined bottom bracket designs.
Raleigh, for example, introduced square tapers on some models in 1973 and phased cotters out on all their models around 1978. Like many things, the shift to square tapered and splined brackets took some time so there were still some mainstream bike companies still using them in the early 1980s. However, a cottered crank is generally a good sign your bike is pre-1980.
In some factories in China and India that are still working off old blueprints, cottered spindles may still be in use in the manufacture of new bikes.
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Mongoose specific
if you have mongoose this may be if some help.
Older Mongoose bikes made through the 1980’s had pretty easy serial numbers. Generally the year and month of build was stamped as the first part of the serial number. For example my 1986 Mongoose Expert has a serial number M6EG0652. The first number (6) relates to the year – 1986. The next letter relates to the month (E) is May based on the convention January (A), February (B), March (C), April (D), May (E), June (F), July (G), August (H), September (I), October (J), November (K), December (L). It is assumed that the G0652 is the production number. There were a few variations on this type of serial number, but usually they were pretty easy to work out.
There are much more difficulties when looking at Mongoose serial numbers through the 1990’s and 2000’s. I spent quite a bit of time looking into these numbers on a few of my bikes as well as checking against other Mongoose BMX owners to see if my serial number crack was right. It seems to hold up and here it is.
Mongoose serial numbers are usually found stamped on the bottom of the bottom bracket. This is not always the case and there will be some bikes that do not fit into this formula.
Mid-school Mongoose BMX bikes built through most of the 90’s have a serial number that begins with 4 letters. The 3rd letter corresponds to the year of manufacture.
The 4th letter indicates the Month
A few serial number examples are:
Where Are The Serial Numbers On A Gitane Bikes
HFGB00000 – 4 letters, GB are the dates. G is the year (1997), B is the month (Feb)
HFBH00000 – 4 letters, BH are the dates. B is the year (1992), H is the month (Aug)
New-school Mongoose BMX bikes built through most of the 2000’s have a serial number that begins with 5 letters. The 4th letter corresponds to the year of manufacture and follows on from the mid-school serial numbers.
A few serial number examples are:
HAMME00000 – 5 letters, ME are the dates. M is the year (2003), E is the month (May)
SAJPJ00706 – 5 letters, PJ are the dates. P is the year (2006), J is the month (Oct)
Please note: The Mongoose serial number will give you the build date of your BMX. Frames were normally manufactured the year before being sold in bike shops. So a build date on a frame of 2003 usually means the bike was sold in stores in 2004. This is the case with the 2003 Mongoose Brawler 24 below. The Serial has a build date of 2003, the 2004/004 on the stickers indicate this was a 2004 model.
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