Schwinn Serial Numbers and Date Codes. If you have a Schwinn from this era, please, PLEASE send us pictures of your bike and serial number (Cutter@Re-Cycle.com). We are in the process of collecting pre-1948 serial numbers in the hopes of rebuilding the date code system for this period. 1970 - 1979 Chicago built Schwinn serial numbers. Bicycles from Japan will have Serial Numbers located on the left, rear axle hanger, on the bottom bracket shell or on the lower section of the headlug. The number will have a production month letter in either the first or second position and a production year number in the other (first or second) position. Dating these bikes is usually the first step toward proper appraisal of a vintage Schwinn machine. Find the serial number. Upon production, all Schwinns had a serial number stamped in one of three places on the frame. The first possible location is on the underside of the bottom bracket.
All bikes1all have unique serial numbers.
Finding a bicycle serial number
Most bicycles have their serial number engraved beneath their bottom bracket, but sometimes serial numbers are found in other places. Here are some examples of where and what to look for:
Schwinn Code Numbers
The bottom bracket (where serial numbers are typically located) is circled.
A serial number on the underside of a bottom bracket.
Another serial number beneath the bottom bracket, aligned parallel to the frame.
Some Schwinn bicycles have the unique identifying number (their serial number) on the head tube. This is on the front of the bike.
A serial number located on a rear dropout. Some BMX bikes and a few Schwinn bicycles place the serial on the rear dropout. On older Schwinns there are numbers stamped on both the drive side and non-drive side rear dropouts; the one on the non-drive side dropout is the serial number.
Some bikes have multiple serial numbers.2When adding a bike to the Index, it's best to enter all the groups of numbers and letters separated by spaces.
Hopefully you can find the serial number on the bicycle you're looking at -email contact@bikeindex.orgif you're having trouble.
Searching serials on Bike Index
Finding bicycles by serial number on Bike Index is a critical part of our functionality. When searching for a serial number, use our serial search bar - it's the second bar on our search form.
We've done a few things to make it more likely that you'll find the bike you're looking for.
- Certain numbers and letters are difficult or impossible to distinguish between (e.g. 0 and O, S and 5). We treat all these numbers the same way - a search for
005LLLwill match a bike with the serialOOS111. - We split bike serials up by spaces and store each separately. If you see multiple numbers on a bicycle - such as in the photo of the Look bike above - try searching for just one of the numbers at a time. Searching for either
M4106I9CA1or200910427-2Awill find the bike. - We do close serial matching - bikes with serial numbers that are close to the serial you entered are shown below the matching results under the heading 'Serial Numbers Close to ...' - given a search of a serial number with a couple numbers/letters that are different or missing.
- We do not currently do partial serial searches. If you search for
1234, you will only find bikes with serial numbers of1234and serials close to that - not a bike with serial number of12345689.
Schwinn Airdyne Serial Number
- Okay, fine, somaybethere are a few bikes without serial numbers, but this is rare and typical only on hand made bikes or really old bicycles.↩
- In this picture200910427-2Ais a manufacturer number and not a serial number. However, to make bikes as easy as possible to find, we'd love it if you entered all numbers you encounter.↩