serial numbering system

[bellman]

Just a quick question here,
Did a search that yielded some excellent info about some other stuff but not what I was after.
First answer may clinch it for me here.
What is the pattern you are using for your serial numbering system?
Did you start at one and just roll on, or do you place a year and then the frame number for that year and then start over on each new 1/1?
Do you have different chronlogical sets for different types of bikes? (road, mtn, ccx,.... recumbent....kidding on the last)
I'm trying to avoid mucking this up and finding that it needs to be changed two years down the road.

Gracias para sus tiempo.

[WadePatton]

I think you'll get many variations, but i'm doing this: wpr, wpc, wpa sort of thing where the last letter is type or intended purpose. then adding four serial digits. 0001, 0002, etc. no plan to incorporate year or any other info as the s/n will lead to the file (paper and electronic with backup) which contains all of that.

four digits allows for 10,000 frames of any single type-so that artta coverit. hell, maybe _i_ should use three...

a "cool factor" that just popped into my pointy little head is that i could likely provide multiple bikes of the same s/n for a given customer if desired, and they were of differing types.

[e-RICHIE]

i started mine in 1975 with 15, 25, 35, and - of course, 1005 would have been the 100th frame i built that year.
subsequently, i never changed the 5 at the end, so for about 15 or so years, you'd disregarded the "5" and the
numbers preceding it meant the frame in order of the numbers built starting with "1".

by the 90s, i had done so many frames off the books, or for teams, or on trade, that i lost all manner of accounting
for many of them. on some i stamped the initials, on others the zip code, and still on others, a mix of letters from
the first and last name of the client. stepu could be steve pucci for example. though every frame is marked and
the details transcribed in my many ledger books, the sequence will only make sense to me, and only if the books are
within reach atmo.

by the internet era, and my fleeting involvement in the vintage world, i noticed a real clingy, star trek type attitude by
many when the issue of serial numbers was discussed. so much bullshit was being attached to such arcane details, and
the serial number was always the gateway to the information, genuine or otherwise. after several years of following folks
follow pop information and then drawing (atmo) conclusions based on bits of information as well as misinformation and then
assigning characteristics as well as value(s) to the frames in question, i decided to end all marking systems and traces to
what i was doing. i didn't want a trail left in my wake such that some idiots down the pike could examine an RS frame and
make inane comments about them on whatever replaces message boards in 40-50 years.

yeah - i do have too much free time atmo.

[steve garro]

sequence # by year digits. ****-10, for example. I warrenty for five yrs {after which any repairs are on their dime, brazing excluded - lifetime on brazing} so I want the year. - Garro.

[Dave Anderson]

I do the rider's first name, last initial and the month and year.....ie JOHN D 11 10

Dave

[EricKeller]

when I was at trek, they had a fairly elaborate system. I put my initials on a couple of bikes, so I was curious if any of those showed up in the records at Vintage Trek. Well, as it turns out that the system is considered to be really unreliable and has a lot of the collectors totally confused. Which in retrospect, doesn't really surprise me much, a builder would put the serial number on well before a frame was sold. Some of those frames sat for years, so a person might have bought a bike in 1979 that had been sitting for a couple of years.

[Tyler Evans]

We do it like so:

Example: 236TD1055

first 3 digits (236) would be the # of the frame we built that year

The letters indicate the model (TD=Titanium Deluxe)

The next number represents the year (10=2010) we'll run into a problem in 2095... but whatever...

The last 2 numbers represent the seat tube dimension (55cm)

That is how we started doing it but we can be a little lenient sometimes on special bikes. Like a a name such as LEADFOOT or BANDIT.

Tyler.

[EricKeller]

we'll run into a problem in 2095... but whatever...

considering history is coming to an end in 2012, it's not going to be a problem

[bellman]

Thanks dudes, thats a nice selection of processes to help with a decision.
One step closer. . . .

[Tyler Evans]

considering history is coming to an end in 2012, it's not going to be a problem

I know... right?

Plus, even if the world doesn't end in 2012 and we have to put serial numbers on bikes until 2095:
1. I won't, most likely, be alive.
2. It wouldn't be too hard to figure something out.

Tyler.

[Andrew R Stewart]

I plan on building only 999 frames...
In order but backwards, so #730 is actually the 37th built.

[WadePatton]

okay, after much research and introspection and two mellow beers, i've revamped my system.

only prime numbers, starts out slow, but ramps up quickly yo.

[vulture]

date and customer initials for example W.B. 24 NOV 2010. I wish I had just started with my first frame and numbered them 1,2,3, etc so I would know how many frames I built. I also wish I had taken notes along the way.

[bellman]

date and customer initials for example W.B. 24 NOV 2010. I wish I had just started with my first frame and numbered them 1,2,3, etc so I would know how many frames I built. I also wish I had taken notes along the way.

Noted :)

[e-RICHIE]

I wish I had just started with my first frame and numbered them 1,2,3, etc so I would know how many frames I built. I also wish I had taken notes along the way.

i did just that (see my post above) and ultimately lost all interest in convention and predictability atmo.

[steve garro]

i did just that (see my post above) and ultimately lost all interest in convention and predictability atmo.

but now your loss of all interest in convention is predictable - Garro.

[e-RICHIE]

but now your loss of all interest in convention is predictable - Garro.

arrange disorder atmo.

[Scheisserad61]

I use a pretty rational and easy to unnerstand system where each year is represented by a famous comedian's name, followed by the number for the frame that year. 2007 was Shemp. 2008 was Shecky . . .
2009 swung back to the Stooges - Larry
2010 was Moe
2011 is looking to be either Curly, or I might swing back into the Dean Martin entourage and use Dom (Deluise).
2012 will be Redd

I wish I had started sooner. I might swing into the Abbott and Costello entourage and do a small run of Mixtes with Hillary (Brooke) as a prefix to the sequence number.

Should be clear as mud for the collectors down the road.

[markbeaver]

I started building in 1989, but the first ten or so were practice frames so they didn't have numbers, then I began to use a numbering system that I still use. Example 1194MB077 - 1194 = November 1994, MB is my initials, as opposed to MT, Michael Thomson who built with me for a while - then 077 is the seventy-seventh frame I personally built.

The sequence continues to this day. Got them all recorded in the back of my ancient Paterek manual, along with brand of tubing used.

[Craig Ryan]

This is all very interesting. As I ponder it, I realize hammering those numbers in is about the most frustrating part of the whole process for me. Maybe that's why I was never good at golf!