Originally Posted by
T-Mar
An interesting and meritorious analysis. However, it's impossible to say if codes 13-15 are true codes or just cases of erroneous reporting or factory errors. Certainly, it is a possibility that I wouldn't rule out.
I am not sure what point you are trying to make here.
If you are talking about the 3 excluded serial numbers, none of the three had a picture of the serial number. All were entered by hand. One of the serial numbers was only six characters long, when it should be seven characters, so it was incorrectly entered on at least one count.
Three serial numbers entered incorrectly out of 275 is little more than a 1% error rate. Having worked in the IT industry for many years I can tell you that 1% error rate on data entered at a key board by non-professional typists is low.
In reading this forum I regualarly notice that members enter serial numbers incorrectly. When I see this, I sometimes politely ask the member to check the serial number again. In almost all cases when the member reports back they indicate that they misread the serial number on the bicycle or they mistyped the serial number.
Originally Posted by
T-Mar
In the case of Miki, I have seen codes beyond those mentioned but again, there is not the distribution you would expect.
On the Miki serial numbers I would be interested to see several examples with letters for the time of year outside the range listed, with pictures of the serial number and the brand name and model. Somehow I seem to have missed these in this forum, which is quite possible because I do not read every thread or post.
Originally Posted by
T-Mar
The fortnight system is not unknown to Japanese manufacturers. Miyata immediately comes to mind, having introduced what appears to be a fortnight system at the beginning of the 1985 model year. A number of different of different manufacturers have changed formats, which often makes analysis difficult.
What happened at Miyata has nothing to do with Centurion serial numbers.
Yes, many manufacturers have changed their serial number format from time to time. What does that have to do with the limited area of Centurion serial numbers that I described?