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According to Stephan Andranian at GitaneUSA.com, although we cannot date the frame by the serial number on the bottom bracket holder(92441) it is not older than 1962 as Gitane switched to. Gitane is a French manufacturer of bicycles based in Machecoul, France; the name 'Gitane' means gypsy woman. These websites help bike owners find their stolen bikes using the bike’s serial number. It’s quite easy to use a serial number lookup website. All you need to do is to enter your bike’s serial number using numbers and letters only without spaces or special characters into a search box provided on the site’s homepage. Serial numbers and photographs always followed for comparison. Then came The Bianchi X4 Code an attempt at providing instructions for identifying this rare and highly prized Italian steel. Over time it became obvious that all of these ideas had to be methodically organised, so I set about creating an X4 register.
Giant Bikes Serial Number
Every bike comes with a unique bike serial number. This is also known as the frame number and it helps to identify it from the rest.
The serial number works the same way a car registration number does. But in this case the number isn’t as obvious as a car’s number.
In this article, we show you how to identify a bike by serial number, why the bike serial number is important, where it’s usually located, and other online bike serial number lookup methods that you can use to locate your bike if it’s stolen.
Why Look for This Number?
It’s extremely important to look up and locate your bicycle serial number. This is because you never know what might happen when you leave your bike outside your workplace without a bicycle U lock or cable lock at the local store when shopping for that matter.
You could lose the bike or it might get stolen. So, the only way to prove that it’s indeed your bike after it has been found is by providing evidence in the form of its serial number.
If your bicycle is stolen, you could use its serial number to track it down. You may have a tracking device installed on your bicycle but you stand a better chance of locating it when you provide the bike’s serial number to tracking organizations and the local police.
If you consider the huge number of bikes out there that have the same look and design as your own, you’ll see why it’s important to have a unique identifying number for your bicycle.
With the serial number, you can easily track down your bicycle from found and stolen items and locate whether it was found in your local town or outside your state. Keep in mind that most thieves don’t steal bikes to keep or own them. They use the bicycle as a getaway or temporary usage and then discard it to avoid arrest.
There’s also a category of bike thieves who steal bikes to disassemble and sell the parts. With the serial number, you can at least track down part of the bicycle and bring the thieves to justice.
If you own a bike, you should definitely locate its serial and even take pictures with it clearly visible as additional proof that you own the bike.
Number Location
Now that you know why it’s important to know your bike’s serial number, the next thing you need to do is to locate and note down the number.
So where is the serial number located?
Well, different brands and models of bikes such as Schwinn and Trek have the number located on different sections of their bicycle models.
However, in almost every type of bike, the serial number will likely be found under the bike’s bottom bracket. To locate the number, just turn the bicycle around and check for a series of numbers and letters on the spot where the pedal cranks join.
If the serial number isn’t there, don’t worry as there are other places where the number could be stamped.
Here are a few examples of more places to look for the serial number:
- On the underside of the bottom bracket.
- Under the bottom bracket parallel to the frame.
- Some brands such as Schwinn have the number engraved on the head tube at the front of the bike.
- Other brands such as BMX have the number on the rear dropout of some of their bike models.
- There are other bicycles that have multiple serial numbers. If you’re adding the number to an online bicycle serial number decoder, you should enter all the groups of numbers into the index separated by spaces.
It’s quite easy to locate the number but remember to record the number and keep a few more copies in different places such as your phone, notebook, and laptop. You can even email the number to your email account or back it up in your iCloud account.
Like previously mentioned, remember to take a photo of yourself and the bike with the number clearly visible. Such records will ensure that you have the number handy when reporting your mommy bike as a lost item to the police.
Online Bicycle Serial Number Check
Bad things happen when least expected. You may just step out of your workplace or office building only to discover that your bike has been stolen. The place where you parked the bike is empty and your precious bike is nowhere to be seen.
In such unfortunate events, the most important thing is to report the theft of your bike to the police and pray that they find it as soon as possible. After some time, you can also contact organizations that help to track down lost bikes using bicycle serial numbers.
There are several websites with a huge bicycle number database such as Bike Index and Bike Register. These websites help bike owners find their stolen bikes using the bike’s serial number.
It’s quite easy to use a serial number lookup website. All you need to do is to enter your bike’s serial number using numbers and letters only without spaces or special characters into a search box provided on the site’s homepage.
If your bike’s number is on any lost and found bikes database, you’ll be told where it was found and how you can go and collect it.
In case you have recently bought a used bicycle, it’s important to locate its serial number and do a bicycle serial number lookup to ensure that the bicycle wasn’t stolen before it was sold to you. If you find the number filed or scratched out, be careful because this could be a sign of a stolen bike.
It’s only a thief or criminal who would go to the trouble of filing or scratching out a bicycle serial number to hide its identity. To ensure that you don’t buy a stolen bike, check the bicycle status by looking it up in the bicycle serial number database.
Conclusion
You may be riding a stolen bicycle without your knowledge.
The best way to ensure that your bicycle isn’t registered as a stolen item is by doing a bike serial number check.
You also stand a better chance of recovering your lost bicycle using its serial number. The serial number is an important tool in tracking down your lost bicycle.
All bikes1all have unique serial numbers.
Serial Numbers Microsoft
Finding a bicycle serial number
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.
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
Serial Numbers Nero
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.
Gitane Super Corsa
- 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
.
- 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.↩