The same coding applies to the first part of the serial numbers as we discussed above, however, if a capital T is in front of or above the CXX it indicates that it is a 100% Chromoly frame. The Team Mongoose and Supergoose frames are a little different. NB: Super X has an “X” instead of a “C” in the serial number. The rest of the serial numbers are sequential and are the number of frames produced in that series. The next number is the last number of the year the frame was produced. The next letter in the sequence is the month code. For example:Īgain, the C stands for Cromoly to make note of which frames were updated with Cromoly. This guideline also applies to Team Mongoose, Supergoose, Jag, Blue Max, Roger DeCoster, Super-X, and Moto-Trac frames.Įach frame had a combination of three key numbers or letters. Let’s look at some serial number examples below to get a better understand how the process worked. So serial numbers that ran from May 1976 through to March 1981 will have three digits in sequence overtop the serial number of that frame. in the early years moved into the unit next door to RECO and eventually bought them out.
RECO was a frame welding company that BMX Products, Inc.
for the first 3 years of production, after that the frames were made “in house” by BMX Products, Inc. RECO (Racer Engineering Company) manufactured frames for BMX Products, Inc. The frame components were manufactured in different stages and or departments and some of the parts were exhausted quicker than others, it this process that lead to some of the frames “crossing over” to different years, especially during the end of the year. The serial numbers were hand stamped on the bottom bracket tubes then packed in (empty beer) boxes waiting to be welded to frame tubes. Of course these are general guidelines in identifying Mongoose frames and there are the anomalies to this process of serial number identification. It was around feb/march 77 that the extra single gusset was dropped from the frame. From here frames were stamped with the letter C for Cromo, a letter for the month, and a number for the year of production. In May 1976 the serial number process changed again with the addition of a month code.
The letter C was used for chrome molly." so the serial numbers would look like C17834.Īnother feature of an early frame built in 1975 - 1977 was the extra single gusset above the bottom bracket. Both frames looked the same but we need some way of determined the difference due to the frames being nickel plated or powder coated paint ,it was impossible to tell the difference in the material for warranty reasons. In early 1976, the letter C was added to denote Cromo " During the early production of the Mongoose frames they were made using 1010 steel tubing,when we found problems with the heat from welding and breakage at the weld points they were changed to Chrome Molly tubing. This feature carried over for the first few years till the ashtabula forks were replaced with the more rounder style Tange made forks. It is our guess that it was done this way to allow clearance for the squarer shoulder on Ashtabula forks. Note the flared shape of the 75 frame vs the later style (which carried on through all the later years of this frame style) and the extended seat tube.Ī further feature was the headtube was offset to extend more to the bottom than it was to the top. The early 75 coaster brake tab is also thicker and is comprised of two layers of steel welded togetherĪnother feature of an early 1975 frame was the chainstay brace where it connected the seat tube. Some time late 1975 and onwards it became a single layer of steel, more oval and thinner in shape. The brake tab on these frames is rectangular in shape. For example, a frame from 1975 will have the numbers like 11994.Ī feature of an early 1975 frame is the brake tab. For the most part the early Mongoose frames from 1975 and into early 1976 were done with hand stamped 5 digit numbers starting from 10000. Identifying the serial numbers on the early Mongoose frames is actually quite easy and intuitive. Frame ID > Serial # Interpreting the Serial numbers and features on BMX Products, Inc.
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