Schwinn Serial #
 

Did some research on a old Schwinn Traveler I just picked up, checked online serial # charts and seem to think its a 1954, a guy online says its a 1963, here's the serial # M362407, thanks for the help

That does indeed look like the X#___ serial number template Schwinn used for many years, with X being a letter in the range A-H,J-M representing the month and # being the last digit of the year. My 1988 mountain bike's F8___ serial number fits this pattern. The types of components and their date codes, if any, would help determine which decade.

If yours is from the early 1960s, it would have been just before Schwinn went to an XY format, in which progressive letters of the alphabet (again skipping I and O) represented the year.

Also, have a look at the head badge, which generally has a 4-digit date code stamped into it, and report back.

Post up some pictures of your Schwinn and that will help ID it, too.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=434767This is an ad online for 1963s, my color isn't even listed

1964 model year 26" Ladies Traveler 3-speed, Model W61-4 in Coppertone (The serial number M3xxxxx indicates a December, 1963, manufacturing date, but the change to the new model year usually occurred in October. The '63 wasn't available in Coppertone).

http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1...ler_ladies.jpg

Here's an excerpt from Schwinn Bulletin 23. In the early sixties before 1965, as John E says, if there's just one letter followed by a number, the letter represents the month (in this case M=December) and the number is the year (in this case 1963). Frames made in December, 1963, were 1964 model year bikes.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ps11beb2f3.jpg

BTW, the 1954 Traveler was way before the "Schwinn" spaghetti type font. The decals were much different.

Here's the '54 Traveler catalog page.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ps1d78a2e6.jpg

Thanks for the info! (The traveler has bike license stickers on there from 1964 and 1965). I also have a Schwinn Hollywood, everyone's saying its a 1982 but in the charts it shows with "2 letters and 5 digits" mine has 2 letters and 6 digits, some help on that since I'm all new to this? Vin is ct500431
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=434849

Did you look for the four digit code on the head badge?

1452 on head badge

CT is March, 1982. That's the date the frame was manufactured.

1452 of the head badge says the bike was assembled on the 145th day of 1982, so it was two or three months between the time the frame was made and the bike was assembled. That's not unusual.

I don't know what chart you're looking at but two letters and six digits is common.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ps5d1d15df.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...psacee0002.jpg

The serial number format on Chicago built Schwinns changed from MYxxxxx (Month-Year + 5 digits) to MYxxxxxx (Month-Year + 6 digits) during 1970, simultaneous with the move of the serial number from the LH dropout to the head tube. In other words aside from a few anomalies or exceptions, dropout serials had 5-digits, head tube serials had 6.

Thanks for the clarification! So, a 1982 serial number would be two letters and six numerals.