When they were introduced, how quickly they become universally used is impossible to tell. What we can do is look for some developments that were widely taken on board to give us the best chance of nailing a time frame. Shifters are a good place to start. The old friction shifters were replaced by Indexed Shifting in by Shimano. Not every bike was automatically updated, but anyone who has used a friction shifter will appreciate not may bike brands would continue to specify them if there was another option.
When some parts take a lot of research to identify, others are more simple. Looking at mountain bikes, for example, suspension forks started to be widely used from onwards.
While there are still rigid forks available, it would be a good clue of when your bike was manufactured. By looking carefully at the individual parts, you can use them to help identify particular dates that put you in the right direction. However, a brief chat could help you narrow the time frame down. Did they have it at college, when their child was born, did they take it on a cross country road trip or when someone graduated high school?
In addition to their professional knowledge, people working in bike shops often have an interest in bikes that goes beyond a day job. Calling in and asking for advice from someone in the industry could get you the benefit of some professional knowledge and quick positive result. People working in the industry are usually linked to a network of equally enthusiastic people.
Actually seeing the bike in person can help people too, as elements can be missed on photographs. The place where you can find even more expert knowledge than your local bike shop is online. Make sure you type out all of the information you have to put in your post.
When did you buy the bike, what results in you have checked the serial number and any identifiable parts. A selection of images is helpful too. You should include close up images of any useful parts. For example, has a badge been removed from the front? If so, perhaps there is an indentation in the old paintwork or the shape of the old badge?
Perhaps the old fitting is an unusual and traceable one. They are no longer the bike manufacturer that produce both entry-level bikes and top of the line bikes of great quality. Today their brand is synonymous with cheap entry-level bikes of decent quality. The obvious starting point to find the date a bike was made is the serial number. Serial numbers are stamped onto the bike during the manufacturing process. They are a useful tool in helping recover bikes after theft and also to establish the model.
The good news is most bikes have them. Generally, the year was stamped as the first part of the serial number. The second two digits — the number 88 refers to the year — and the month of build is referenced as 08 for August. The following is a brief synopsis of the prewar numbering system drawn from multiple sources but based largely on work done by Tim Brandt.
For the sake of simplicity in some cases I have generalized the cutoffs. For this reason you may find a bike that bleeds into another year. This information should be used to get you in the ballpark from there you need to really evaluate the bike to date it accurately and in some cases this may not be exactly possible especially if you only have a partial bike or frame.
The early numbers were hand stamped and consisted of numbers only. Beginning in a letter preceded the serial number followed by either four or five digits. The post war bikes will have the built in kickstand mount and have the ridge indicative of the electro-forged frame Fig. Hopefully this helps making the identification of your Schwinn easier.
Enjoy the ride! Fig 1. Schwinn serial number location prior to Fig 2. Schwinn serial number location Fig 3. Fig 4. Schwinn Julian date code. Fig 5. Example of crank date
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