"Bicycle Built for Two" Serial Number Mystery

[greenegrape]

I know this bike was only available 63-64 before Schwinn dropped it and went to the "Schwinn Twinn" but my serial number is only numbers 50262 no letters. I was musing that maybe since it first appeared in the 1963 catalog that my bike may have been made in 1962? But why wouldn't it have a letter preceding?

 

[Oilit]

It looks like that extra stay is brazed on, so I'm guessing the brazing filled in the letter, and maybe a number.

 

[greenegrape]

I wondered about a missing number or letter but 50262 isn't the ending of any of the serial numbers in the appropriate year range. And I saw another "Bicycle Built for Two" with a number that started with an A that I was able to put in the bikehistory.org tracker to find out it was January 1963. I'll look again to see if I'm wrong about the number series because that makes some sense...

 

[greenegrape]

Oilit you're probably right. The 50262 appears in a few ranges now that I have access to the Schwinn serial number data on here. It's likely covering the letter and a first number. Which is strange because the other Bicycle Built for Two I saw did not have the same error. At least I know the general date because it's only a 2 year production/availability. Thank you!

 

[GTs58]

That's a pretty common issue with the tandems. The serial # is stamped on the drop out before it was used in building a frame and when they added the third stay they usually wipe out part of the serial number. You're missing the month letter and the first number. There is one chance you can get a build year if they did the same thing as on the middleweights. Looks like these had the blade fork so check out the inside of the left fork leg right above the axle slot. There should be a two or three number stamping. 10-4 would be October 1964 or 6-4 would be a June 64 casting. That's about all there is other than maybe a casting date cast in one or both of the cranks.

 

[greenegrape]

Genius. Check it out... September 1963!

Thank you both! Case closed.