Hey all,

I picked up this AMF RoadMaster Pacemaker to turn into an around town beater. I'm curious about what year it was produced. It was made in Illinois, which my research of AMF indicates it is probably from the early 1970s. Can anyone help me identify the exact year. I'm pretty new to this, so let me know if more info is needed.

I would be pretty surprised if anyone on these forums will be able to get you the exact ​year of your bike. Looks like it will make a cool around town bike though. I'd just get everything adjusted and ride it.

There may possibly be date codes on the derailleurs and/or shifters. So: what are the derailleurs? Do you see a pair of letters, very small, stamped in some unobtrusive location?

The front derailleur appears to be a Shimano Thunder Bird GTO or GPO, The GPO was 1974-1976 inclusive. The GTO was 1973 and earlier but I'm not sure exactly when it was introduced. If so, there may not be any date codes. The rear derailleur looks like one of the Eagle/Lark variants with the integral guard but I can't positively identify it based on the photo.

I have a 1972 Buyer's Guide with 35 AMF Roadmaster bicycles. I'm not sure if it is complete but the Pacemaker is not listed. There have been some attempts to decrypt the serial number format. While the results aren't definitive, the serial number should get us to within a few years. Given the apparent era, it should be on the left, rear dropout.

I would say the bike is from 72-74 or so based on the Thunderbird stuff and the chromed holed dork disk and chain guard. The Thunderbird stuff places it after 72 or so and by 75-79 the Evil Knievel era for AMF they had dropped the chrome stuff for plastic or painted on most of there models.