Some people have questions about what years are represented by the letters in Sekine Canada serial numbers.
Here is a brief timeline of Sekine Canada. This timeline is based on contemporaneous newspaper articles from the Winnipeg Free Press.
See this excellent website for details:
Rivers & Area Heritage
1972 Bicycles from Sekine Industries of Japan are imported into Canada by H.C. Paul Company.
1973 April. Joint venture Sekine Canada Ltd. is formed by three partner companies:
Sekine Industries, Nagase and Co. (and import-export company), and H.C. Paul Co.
Sekine Canada operates along side the Oo-Za-We-Kwun Centre at the former Canadian Forces Base Rivers.
1976 June. The frame manufacturing facility is added to the Sekine Canada operation.
1979 Sekine Industries withdraws its personnel from Sekine Canada. Many return to Japan.
1980 February. Sekine Canada financial restructuring. Sekine Industries reduced to 25% ownership.
1980 June 30. Oo-Za-We-Kwun Training Centre closes.
1981 August 31. Sekine Canada goes into recievership. The factory does not open the next day.
1982 January. Receivership auction of Sekine Canada assets.
The serial number of Sekinie Canada. The letter F is the last letter used for the year. 1981 was the last year of production.
One can deduce that F = 1981. Counting backwards, A=1976.
The first year of Sekine Canada production was 1973, X=1973.
There is a big change in the format of the serial numbers after the 1980 financial restructuring.
There was also a change in the Sekine Canada model line after the restructuring.