All bikes1all have unique serial numbers.
Finding a bicycle serial number
Murray continued to produce bicycles after the war for Sears and others with such notable muscle bikes as the Eliminator and Wildcat. In the late 1980s Murray was sold to a British investment company and by 1999 bicycle production ceased. Badges: Murray, Mercury, Elgin, Western Flyer, PENCO, J.C. The 502 means Sears. Check out late 1950s to 1960s catalogs for the 5 digit model number that's between MOD and the lower larger serial number. The man above who ID'd your bike as a JC HIGGINS sold by Sears was telling you correct. Murray was ONE of the manufacturers of Sears JC Higgins badged bikes. The blue example with basket is right on. The 502 means Sears. Check out late 1950s to 1960s catalogs for the 5 digit model number that's between MOD and the lower larger serial number. The man above who ID'd your bike as a JC HIGGINS sold by Sears was telling you correct. Murray was ONE of the manufacturers of Sears JC Higgins badged bikes. The blue example with basket is right on. 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. Western Flyer changed the colors of each model from year to year along with using serial numbers to identify the year and model of each bicycle. When the Western Flyer bicycles were being produced from the 1930s to 1950s, they sold for about $75.
Most bicycles have their serial number engraved beneath their bottom bracket, but sometimes serial numbers are found in other places. Here are some examples of where and what to look for:
The bottom bracket (where serial numbers are typically located) is circled.
A serial number on the underside of a bottom bracket.
Another serial number beneath the bottom bracket, aligned parallel to the frame.
Rad Power bikes have their serial number on the head tube. This is on the front of the bike.
Wine for mac 10.6.8. Some Schwinn bicycles also have the unique identifying number (their serial number) on the head tube.
A serial number located on a rear dropout. Some BMX bikes and a few Schwinn bicycles place the serial on the rear dropout. On older Schwinns there are numbers stamped on both the drive side and non-drive side rear dropouts; the one on the non-drive side dropout is the serial number.
Some bikes have multiple serial numbers.2When adding a bike to the Index, it's best to enter all the groups of numbers and letters separated by spaces.
Hopefully you can find the serial number on the bicycle you're looking at - email contact@bikeindex.org if you're having trouble.
Searching serials on Bike Index
Finding bicycles by serial number on Bike Index is a critical part of our functionality. When searching for a serial number, use our serial search bar - it's the second bar on our search form.
We've done a few things to make it more likely that you'll find the bike you're looking for.
- Certain numbers and letters are difficult or impossible to distinguish between (e.g. 0 and O, S and 5). We treat all these numbers the same way - a search for
005LLL
will match a bike with the serialOOS111
. - We split bike serials up by spaces and store each separately. If you see multiple numbers on a bicycle - such as in the photo of the Look bike above - try searching for just one of the numbers at a time. Searching for either
M4106I9CA1
or200910427-2A
will find the bike. - We do close serial matching - bikes with serial numbers that are close to the serial you entered are shown below the matching results under the heading 'Serial Numbers Close to..' - given a search of a serial number with a couple numbers/letters that are different or missing.
- We do not currently do partial serial searches. If you search for
1234
, you will only find bikes with serial numbers of1234
and serials close to that - not a bike with serial number of12345689
.
All bikes1all have unique serial numbers.
Finding a bicycle serial number
Murray continued to produce bicycles after the war for Sears and others with such notable muscle bikes as the Eliminator and Wildcat. In the late 1980s Murray was sold to a British investment company and by 1999 bicycle production ceased. Badges: Murray, Mercury, Elgin, Western Flyer, PENCO, J.C. The 502 means Sears. Check out late 1950s to 1960s catalogs for the 5 digit model number that's between MOD and the lower larger serial number. The man above who ID'd your bike as a JC HIGGINS sold by Sears was telling you correct. Murray was ONE of the manufacturers of Sears JC Higgins badged bikes. The blue example with basket is right on. The 502 means Sears. Check out late 1950s to 1960s catalogs for the 5 digit model number that's between MOD and the lower larger serial number. The man above who ID'd your bike as a JC HIGGINS sold by Sears was telling you correct. Murray was ONE of the manufacturers of Sears JC Higgins badged bikes. The blue example with basket is right on. 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. Western Flyer changed the colors of each model from year to year along with using serial numbers to identify the year and model of each bicycle. When the Western Flyer bicycles were being produced from the 1930s to 1950s, they sold for about $75.
Most bicycles have their serial number engraved beneath their bottom bracket, but sometimes serial numbers are found in other places. Here are some examples of where and what to look for:
The bottom bracket (where serial numbers are typically located) is circled.
A serial number on the underside of a bottom bracket.
Another serial number beneath the bottom bracket, aligned parallel to the frame.
Rad Power bikes have their serial number on the head tube. This is on the front of the bike.
Wine for mac 10.6.8. Some Schwinn bicycles also have the unique identifying number (their serial number) on the head tube.
A serial number located on a rear dropout. Some BMX bikes and a few Schwinn bicycles place the serial on the rear dropout. On older Schwinns there are numbers stamped on both the drive side and non-drive side rear dropouts; the one on the non-drive side dropout is the serial number.
Some bikes have multiple serial numbers.2When adding a bike to the Index, it's best to enter all the groups of numbers and letters separated by spaces.
Hopefully you can find the serial number on the bicycle you're looking at - email contact@bikeindex.org if you're having trouble.
Searching serials on Bike Index
Finding bicycles by serial number on Bike Index is a critical part of our functionality. When searching for a serial number, use our serial search bar - it's the second bar on our search form.
We've done a few things to make it more likely that you'll find the bike you're looking for.
- Certain numbers and letters are difficult or impossible to distinguish between (e.g. 0 and O, S and 5). We treat all these numbers the same way - a search for
005LLL
will match a bike with the serialOOS111
. - We split bike serials up by spaces and store each separately. If you see multiple numbers on a bicycle - such as in the photo of the Look bike above - try searching for just one of the numbers at a time. Searching for either
M4106I9CA1
or200910427-2A
will find the bike. - We do close serial matching - bikes with serial numbers that are close to the serial you entered are shown below the matching results under the heading 'Serial Numbers Close to..' - given a search of a serial number with a couple numbers/letters that are different or missing.
- We do not currently do partial serial searches. If you search for
1234
, you will only find bikes with serial numbers of1234
and serials close to that - not a bike with serial number of12345689
.
Vintage Bicycle Serial Number Lookup
- Okay, fine, so maybe there are a few bikes without serial numbers, but this is rare and typical only on hand made bikes or really old bicycles.↩
- In this picture 200910427-2A is a manufacturer number and not a serial number. However, to make bikes as easy as possible to find, feel free to enter all numbers you encounter.↩