Prior to Late 1980 | Late 1980 to Late 1986 | Late 1986 to 1997+
Foreign Built 82 to 95 | Mid 90s 3-Part Numbers | Jazz by Trek
Missing Serial Numbers
Serial Number highlighted with red wax. Click on image to see an enlarged version. (Photo by J. Hansen) |
Prior to Late 1980 | Late 1980 to Late 1986 | Late 1986 to 1997+
Foreign Built 82 to 95 | Mid 90s 3-Part Numbers | Jazz by Trek
Missing Serial Numbers
PRIOR TO LATE 1980
Serial Number Decoding Project Nearly two hundred Trek owners submitted their frame's specifics to help decode the serial number system used from 1976 to late 1980. Our thanks to these generous cyclists. These serial numbers have seven characters, in the form L N L N L N N, where L is a letter and N is a number. Here are the results: The first letter is the model designation. The letter code indicates frame model, which would include bike models made from that model of frame.
The first number is the frame size, where
The second letter represents the month the frame was serialized:
The second number is the last digit of the year, 6, 7, 8, 9 (for 197X) and 0 for 1980. See note below,****, for year exceptions. Again, this is the date of serializing, not necessarily model year. The last three characters - The final letter ranges from A to Z and the final two numbers go from 01 to 99. The last letter might be a run designation, with the last two numerals the frame number in that run? Alternatively, the letter extends the range of the character from 0 to 9 (if a number) to 1 to 26. This gives a range of 2600 for the 3 characters. Any other ideas for these last three characters? The rest of the code defines time to a month. Perhaps once Trek was nearing more than 2600 bikes/frames of a given model per month, a new serial number scheme needed to be developed. Hence the change to the sequential system started in late 1980. Notes:
****Year Exceptions:
When a Trek frame was repainted by Trek, an additional set of numerals was often stamped into the bottom bracket to indicate the frame was repainted. These numbers were usually four digits, in the form NNNN. |
LATE 1980 TO LATE 1986
Table I - 1980 to 1986
Beginning Serial Number |
Table II - Model Years 1987 to 1997
Serial Numbers Include |
270821, 284237, 284335, 293788, 301294, 304445, 304940, 307880, 308292 |
309634, 316981, 319336, 335133, 346451, 347944, 356837, 360384 |
369203, 379079, 391236, 406793, 427402, 438108 |
513747, 532881, 563678 |
579529, 629426, 653761, 740528, 79xxxx |
771408?, 840762, 873805, 883719, 900224 |
1035688, 1087?34, 1106529, 1109196, 1125523, 1125738 |
1164917, 1269067 |
1331934, 1406630, 1431480, 1439467, 1506862 |
1544446, 1878372, 1955570 |
1876296?, 1963294 |
O | Q | S | U | W | Y | |
1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | 2005 |
M,N, M | P, P, P, P | R, R | S, S | T, T, T | U | X |
B | D | F | G | H | I | J | ||
2007 | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||
A, A | B, B, | J, J, C | D | E, E | G | H | I | J |
Prior to Late 1980 | Late 1980 to Late 1986 | Late 1986 to 1997+
Foreign Built 82 to 95 | Mid 90s 3-Part Numbers | Jazz by Trek
Missing Serial Numbers
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