If a bike has a December serial number there no way in hell that it was built, boxed up, shipped and then sold just in time for Christmas. There are so many made up unbelievable stories going around and the BS has spread world wide.
1st. A drop out component or head tube is stamped out of a piece of steel.
2nd. The drop out component is then stamped with a serial number and the head tube is stamped, rolled, welded, cleaned up and then stamped with a serial number. The day that the serial number was stamped is the date that you see on the list.
3rd. Then the drop out or head tube was used to build a frame. And that was sometime after the recorded date of the SN stamping.
4th. The frame was then prepped for paint, then acid washed, primed, base coat if used and then finally painted the finished color.
5th. The finished frame was then built up to what ever model.
6th, The finished bike was rolled off the line, boxed up and later shipped to a dealer or one of Schwinn's distribution centers.
A bike was not built in a day. From the many 1976 and later examples that I have noted the shortest time span between the serial number date and the final build date stamped on the head badge was just under a month. Many, the majority, have had a two or three month span from the SN date to the build date. Saying a bike was built on the date that the serial number was stamped is totally false. There is no possible way to know when a bike was built until Schwinn started stamping the final build dates on the head badges. If your frame has an October, November or December 71 serial number it very well could have been built up in 1972 with the M code most definitely.
The 1972 Schwinn Catalog introduced and featured the Krate with Disc break as
"New for '72" but as others have mentioned the first Krates with Disc rear break were released in Dec of 1971, just in time for Christmas, the Serial numbers start with "MG" and I have currently seen the Orange Krate and Lemon Peeler on eBay selling for $2,999 to$3,500 with mostly original parts and paint, they sold for $113.95 in 1972
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- C30-9 5-Speed Stik-shift Krate .... $113.95