Here is an email I got from an actual employee of GT:

• Vintage Columbia Bicycle Serial Number Location
• Trek Bike Serial Number Location
• Check Bike Serial Numbers
• Raleigh Bike Serial Number Location

If the bike frame was manufactured at the Santa Ana CA facility, the first three or four digits of the serial number should be letters abbreviating the model or size of the frame such as 'XL', 'XXL', CR24, or something like that.

The serial number on these models are located under the bottom bracket where the two pedal cranks meet. Turn your bike upside down or look underneath and record the number. The Voltbike Yukon 750 (2018 edition),Voltbike Urban The serial number on this model is located on the front headset just above the front fork. SUNBEAM FRAME NUMBER DATING. 1909 = 96,739 (declared) 1910 = 101,700 (calculated) 1911 = 106,700 (calculated) 1912 = 111,642 (declared) PREMIER FRAME NUMBER DATING. BEESTON HUMBER FRAME NUMBER DATING. ELSWICK HOPPER FRAME NUMBER DATING. The following dated bicycle frame numbers from the Singer Car Club (not guaranteed): 1903 – 142069. The wheels are size 26 special about 1/8' too small for the regular 26 tires. All in all the bike is now worth about $250 this takes in account parts and labour An unrestored one in great condition, like mine was in, would be around $60-$80. Columbia Serial Numbers: 1936: A5429 - A266083: 1937: B5000 - B195407: 1938: C5000 - C130896: 1939: D5000 - D156044: 1940: E5000 - E168879: 1941: F5000.

The next part of the serial number is eight numeric digits. The first four numbers should be a two digit month followed by a two digit year.

The last four digits are the serialization digits 0000 to 9999 depending on what number the frame was of the years production.

If the frame was made overseas in Taiwan, it gets more complicated. If the number starts with a K, the frame was made by Kinesis.

That's the only one I remember off the top of my head.

There were at least four companies in Taiwan that made the GT lines :

Robinson, Dyno, Powerlite and Auburn included)

The first digit would be a letter designating the factory that made the frame. There might also be a second letter digit specifying the factory that assembled the bike, if applicable. The model and year of production was also coded by a letter, so you won't be able to spot a two digit month and two digit year.
Before I left, I was writing a specification to standardize all of the serial numbers because GT was starting to send most of its US production to other US fabrication shops.
The information might also come in handy for deciphering other makes because the factories in Taiwan make bikes for a lot of different companies.
I am tinkering around with the idea of starting to make my own frames, kind of on a 'one-off' basis. I am also teaching welding at a local community college.
By the way, did I tell you that the guy ran GT's in house fabrication for the last ten years (he recently retired) was none other than Gilbert Axt. Who? Do you remember Race, Inc.? That was Gilbert.
He also did the original PK Ripper for SE Racing. History, man.
It might be a really cool thing if I can track down Gilbert now and interview him for you.
THAT is the kind of stuff that belongs in the BMX Museum!

Later. I'll write you when I get a chance. Dan Garcia

and here is the updates, thanks to love thegoose! (Michael S)
well we get a good bit of gt serials that could be identified by the owner, if they only had the tips that some of us have learned, so i will post what i know, and anyone with more knowledge can add to it..so here we go.
here is an example to go by. on the dropout you have 'M1' followed by '08922198'..this one is simple.
M1 stands for 'mach one' that is your model gt.
it can also be a 'I' for interceptor and so on.
next on the serial is '0892' this is easy to decode too,
08 means 8th month, which would be august.
then you have '92' next in the lineup, this would be 1992
the last 4 digits, are your build number, this one would be the 2,198th one built.
Here is another example. if your serial is KGCG2297 this one gets a little complicated. but still easy once you learn the code to it.
the first letter is who made the frame itself, in this case it would be 'Kenisis', an overseas company.this could be replaced by another letter but at least we know what that one is there for.
next is the letter 'G'..this isnt always there, but if so, this is where it was assembled, (ever notice the built in usa sticker on your gt or dyno?) this is what that letter is there for. it wasnt made here, but was built here.
next is the letter 'C'..C is the 3rd letter in the alphabet, and march is the 3rd month, so march is the build month.
next is the letter 'G' this is the year. G is the 7th letter in the alphabet,
so this would be a 1987.
here is one more..your serial resembles this:f6030578.
to start, if you have a 'baseball' looking stamp behind your serial, this frame was made overseas...no its not a pacific, so dont cry, or get mad...and lets continue.
on this serial, the first number is the last digit of the year, so 6 stands for 1986
next is '03'....this is the third month..which is march.
so you have a gt built in march of 1986.
but still use the museum as a guide to id the frame, cause sometimes you can find the year, but getting a posotive id on the model isnt possible without knowing which style frame you have.
this doesnt apply to new gt's, but hopefully some people with info on those will chime in. this isnt always going to match your serial, you may have a 'fake'..its not likely but it happens. also on earlier models this can differ. this is for the 2 most popular style serial's i see on here. also, common sense tells you that if you have a suspected 'gt' frame, look it up and compare it in the musuem, knowing which style frame you have will help with the process of id'ing your bike with the serial, especially if the serial has some damage that prevents you from getting the full number.
hopefully this bit of info can be used for everyone, and this will save you from those late nights sitting around waiting for a response to your post looking for an answer to the idendity to your gt...although i do feel smart and proud when i can answer these posts. well, thats it for me, if anyone else has info on serials or if you see a mistake in this guide, tell me so i can edit it. happy holidays people.

Nishiki is a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by West Coast Cycle in the United States, initially manufactured by Kawamura Cycle Co. in Kobe, Japan, and subsequently by Giant of Taiwan. The bicycles were first marketed under the American Eagle brand beginning in 1965^[1] and later under the Nishiki brand until 2001.

Throughout the U.S. bike boom of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Nishiki and West Coast Cycle competed with domestic companies including Schwinn, Huffy, and Murray; European companies including Raleigh, Peugeot and Motobecane—as well as other nascent Japanese brands including Miyata, Fuji, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Univega, Lotus and Centurion—itself a line of Japanese-manufactured bicycles that were specified, distributed and marketed by Western States Imports (WSI), a U.S. company similar to West Coast Cycle. Japanese-manufactured bikes succeeded in the U.S. market until currency fluctuations in the late 1980s made them less competitive, leading companies to source bicycles from Taiwan.

As of 2013, Nishiki Europe markets bicycle models in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. In 2010, Dick's Sporting Goods acquired the licensing rights to the Nishiki brand for the U.S. market and began marketing Nishiki-branded bicycles and accessories.^{[citation needed]}

History[edit]

West Coast Cycle and the Cohens[edit]

Vintage Columbia Bicycle Serial Number Location

West Coast Cycle was founded by Leo Cohen Sr. and RosaBelle Cohen^[2][3] who had previously been partners in Wheel Goods Corporation in Minneapolis, later moving to Los Angeles in 1946 to purchase an existing retail bicycle store, Atlas Cycle, renaming it Playrite Bicycle Supply Co.. The Cohens subsequently founded a bicycle, parts and accessory distribution company in the late 1950s, naming it West Coast Cycle Supply Company. They operated the company — widely known as West Coast Cycle (or WCC) — with their daughter Louise and sons Leo Jr. and Howie (Howard Sherwin Cohen). Howie Cohen subsequently took over the business, followed by his brother.^[1]

When Cohen Sr. died in 1963, Howie Cohen traveled to Japan to find new sources for bicycles,^[1] and especially, a Japanese bicycle factory capable of producing high quality bikes that would be welcomed by U.S. independent bike dealers and the bicycling community; bicycles that would be able to compete with American and European-built bicycles.

After visiting over 60 bicycles factories over a period of six weeks, Cohen turned to Kawamura Cycles. Kawamura had produced quality bicycles for the Japan domestic market, but at the directive of their overseas buyers, had produced lower-quality, lower-priced bicycles for the U.S. market, for example, under the brand name 'Royce Union.'

Cohen also created working relationships with Japanese bicycle parts manufacturers including Asahi, Araya, Dia-Compe, Kashima, Kusuki, Kyokuto (KKT), Mikashima (MKS), Mitsuboshi, Taihei, Sanshin, Shimano, Sugino, Takagi, Suntour and others.^[1] Cohen travelled to Japan 8-10 times per year while developing his brands (American Eagle, Nishiki, Azuki and CyclePro).

Cohen placed his initial order for 570 bikes with Kawamura, selling them under the American Eagle brand.^[1] WCC sold tens of thousands of American Eagle bikes^[1] before changing the name — when a customer suggested it was disingenuous to put such an American-sounding name on a Japanese product.^[1]

WCC wanted a new, Japanese name that was easy to pronounce, with an inoffensive translation — and a name not easily mispronounced for comic or derisive effect. Cohen held a contest with Kawamura factory workers for Japanese names, choosing Nishiki for WCC's primary, nationwide line of bikes (after Saga Nishiki and the gold Nishiki thread often woven into wedding kimonos) — and Azuki for the secondary bicycle line (after the sweetened, red Azuki bean), using the chrysanthemum as the Azuki logo.

A second line allowed WCC to market essentially identical bikes through more than a single dealership in a sales territory. Louisville Cycle & Supply (Louisville, KY) were sub-distributors for both brands in the Southeast, and Pettee Cycle (Denver, CO) were sub-distributors of both brands in Colorado and surrounding states. Kawamura trademarked both names for the Japanese Domestic Market and Europe, WCC trademarked the brands for the USA. Early promotional material for American Eagle and Nishiki lines often carried the tagline 'KB Bicycles' or simply 'KB' — signifying 'Kawamura-Built.' WCC continued also to market the bicycle brands of Mundo, Caloi, Windsor, Zeus, and Mondia.

Howie Cohen served as President of WCC from 1965 until his retirement in 1976,^[1] with WCC subsequently operated by his brother, Leo Jr. and outside investors. Through the 1980s WCC continued to sell Nishiki bikes produced by Kawamura. International currency fluctuations in the late 1980s made Japanese-manufactured bicycles far more expensive and less competitive in the United States, leading WCC to move Nishiki production to Giant of Taiwan. Leo Cohen and his associates later sold West Coast Cycle to Medalist — with Derby International eventually acquiring the rights from West Coast Cycle to market bikes under the Nishiki brand in the United States.

After manufacture of Nishiki bikes shifted to Giant, Kawamura continued manufacturing bicycles for the Japanese and European markets (including private label bikes for Takara, Schwinn, and others), to be subsequently acquired by the sporting goods company Mizuno.

Howie Cohen later founded the company Everything Bicycles, working with Kuwahara to build and import BMX bikes carrying the Kuwahara brand name, developing the first major BMX distributorship^[4] — and ultimately supplying Kuwahara bicycles for the 1982 movie E.T. and securing the right to market the 'ET Bicycle.'^[1] To make the Kuwahara brand name a household word, Cohen ran a promotion giving free stickers to children who called a toll-free phone number and could correctly pronounce the brand name.^[1] In 1989, Cohen sold the Kuwahara name back to the Japanese parent company.^[2] In 1992, Cohen returned to the bicycle industry to assist the Gary Fisher bike brand^[4] — 18 months later brokering the acquisition of Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes by Trek Bicycle Corporation.^[4]

Cohen later worked as a consultant in the bicycle industry for several companies, including Rotor Componentes of Spain, ^[4] and subsequently retired from Lomita, California^[5] to Colorado where he and his wife, Kay (Kay Piercy Guithues Cohen)^[5] catalogued his collection of bicycling memorabilia and maintained his website, HowieBikeMan.com.

When Howie Cohen died on July 11, 2013, Bicycle Retailer said he was 'a hugely influential figure in developing the U.S. BMX market and arguably the first person to bring high-quality Asian-made bikes to America.'^[4] retired from Lomita, California^[6]

Derby[edit]

From 1989 through 2001, Derby International marketed bikes in the United States under the Nishiki as well as Univega and Raleigh brand names. Some of the all terrain bikes and mountain bike models were designed in partnership with famed mountain bike designer and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member R. Cunningham and have his name on the frames. These Nishiki models, though manufactured outside Japan (e.g., in Taiwan, by Giant Bicycles and possibly in Italy by Colnago, Olmo or Viner) often carried the name Nashiki and some of the same model names as had been used on the Kuwahara-built bicycles.^[7] The brand name Nishiki was retired by Derby in 2001 in North America.^[8] As of 2010, Nishiki-branded bicycles, manufactured by Accell Group were available for sale again in the U.S. at Dick's Sporting Goods. Dick's had obtained licensing rights to the Nishiki Bike brand in the U.S.

Currently (2013), Nishiki Europe, an unrelated group of European distributors markets bicycle models in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Nishiki bikes had previously been also marketed in Norway, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Estonia.

Models[edit]

Trek Bike Serial Number Location

• Apache
• Aero, Aero II
• Alamosa
• Alouette
• Alien
• Anasazi
• Ariel
• Arrow Speed
• Arroyo
• Barbarian
• Backroads
• Blazer
• Bombardier
• Bravo
• Bushwhaker
• Carrera
• Cascade
• Century
• Cervino (possibly uncataloged)
• Citi Sport
• Colorado
• Comp, Comp II and Comp III
• Competition
• Continental
• Custom Sport
• Cresta
• Crossroads
• Expedition (made in Taiwan)
• Gran Sport
• Gran Tour 15 (probable precursor to Ultra Tour 18)
• International (earlier named Kokusai)
• Katmandu
• Kodiak
• Kokushi (later renamed International)
• Landau
• Linear
• Maricopa
• Manitoba
• Marina
• Maxima (possibly uncataloged, frame only)
• Medalist
• Meridian
• Modulus
• Mountain
• NFS Alpha
• NFS Beta
• NFS Altron
• Odyssey
• Olympiad (American Eagle)
• Olympic, Olympic Royal
• Prestige
• Professional
• Pueblo
• Race Master
• Rally
• Regal
• Riviera
• Road Compe
• Road Master
• Rockhound
• Royale
• Safari
• Saga (Cunningham Design drop bar ATB)
• Sebring
• Seral (uncatalogued, spec'd like Continental)
• Semi-Pro (American Eagle)
• Sport, Custom Sport
• sTORM
• Stony Point (mountain bike)
• Super-five
• Superbe
• Team Issue
• Timbuk
• Tri-A
• Triathlon
• Trim Master
• Ultimate
• Ultima (possibly uncatalogued)
• Ultra Tour (uncatalogued, possibly specified by one store in Southern California, USA)
• Ultra Tour 18 (probable successor to Gran Tour 15)
• Westwood

Serial Numbers[edit]

Serial Numbers for Nishiki bikes were decoded by Tom Marshall, using a trial and error database methodology.

Kawamura manufactured frames (1972–1987): These frames used a serial number XYZZZZZ format where:

• X is the market (A = Australia, C = Canada (pre 1987), E = Europe, K = USA (pre 1985) + non-ferrous frames 1986-1988), W = USA (1985-1987)).
• Y is the last digit of the manufacturing calendar year (A =1, B = 2, C = 3… J = 0. Exception is letter S, used on all frames prior to 1975).
• ZZZZZ is a five or six digit number, possibly representing a sequential frame manufacturing number for the year (or era in the case of pre 1975 frames).

Example 1: KA24587 is the 24,587th frame produced in 1981 for the US market

Example 2: CG23117 is the 23,117th frame produced in 1977 for the Canadian market

Example 3: WE54612 is the 54,612th frame produced in 1985 for the US market

Giant manufactured frames (1980-1986*): With a date code generally stamped on the dropout on the drive side of the bike, these frames used a two part serial number in a G MM YY format, where:

Check Bike Serial Numbers

• G = Giant.
• MM = month (01 = Jan, 02 = Feb, etc.).
• YY = year (80 = 1980, 81 = 1981, etc.).

Example: G0384 is a Giant-manufactured frame from March 1984

See also[edit]

• Giant Manufacturing - Giant was the original equipment manufacturer for Nishiki of Japan for several years.^{[citation needed]}

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefghij'A lifetime in the Bicycle Industry, Howie Cohen'. Bicycle Industry and Retailer News, Steve Frothingham, August 1, 1999.
2. ^ ^ab'Bicycles in his blood'. Kickstand Magazine, James Burrus, August 15, 2009. Archived from the original on April 30, 2010.
3. ^'Southern California Retrospective'. Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Jason Norman, 5/29/2009.
4. ^ ^abcde'Early BMX Pioneers'. American Bicycle Association BMX. Archived from the original on 2008-08-16.
5. ^ ^ab'Bicycles Appear Everywhere in Collectors Home'. The NewsPress, December 8, 1989.
6. ^'Beloved industry figure Howie Cohen, 74, dies'. Bicycle Retailer, July 12, 2013.
7. ^A Nishiki History
8. ^Japanese Bicycles in the U.S. Market

External links[edit]

• Official Website for the European company (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden)

Raleigh Bike Serial Number Location