Your guide to old Mongoose serial numbers. Find our what year your BMX was built and sold and date mid school and new-school bikes made between the mid 90’s to mid 2000’s. The guide covers many serial numbers but not all. There were many different factories making Mongoose BMX bikes and all had different serial number codes.
Mongoose serial number information has never really been properly documented, possibly lost as the company changed hands and moved production. However, there are a few BMX restorers who have painstakingly attempted to decipher these multi-digit mysteries.
A big part of buying, rebuilding and restoring old BMX bikes, is knowing exactly how old they are. When I started looking into finding out how to read Mongoose serial numbers I found plenty of information on Mongoose BMX bikes made in the 80’s and early nineties through google and BMX forums. The problem was there was no information helping to date Mongoose BMX bikes built from 2000 onwards. It seemed nobody figured out how to read the serial numbers.
Older Mongoose bikes made through the 1980’s had pretty easy serial numbers. Generally the year and month of build was stamped as the first part of the serial number. For example my 1986 Mongoose Expert has a serial number M6EG0652. The first number (6) relates to the year – 1986. The next letter relates to the month (E) is May based on the convention January (A), February (B), March (C), April (D), May (E), June (F), July (G), August (H), September (I), October (J), November (K), December (L). It is assumed that the G0652 is the production number. There were a few variations on this type of serial number, but usually they were pretty easy to work out.
There are much more difficulties when looking at Mongoose serial numbers through the 1990’s and 2000’s. I spent quite a bit of time looking into these numbers on a few of my bikes as well as checking against other Mongoose BMX owners to see if my serial number crack was right. It seems to hold up and here it is.
Mongoose serial numbers are usually found stamped on the bottom of the bottom bracket. This is not always the case and there will be some bikes that do not fit into this formula.
Mid-school Mongoose BMX bikes built through most of the 90’s have a serial number that begins with 4 letters. The 3rd letter corresponds to the year of manufacture.
Search for your bike here.
A B C D E F G H I
91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
The 4th letter indicates the Month
- Bike Serial numbers All bikes 1 all have unique serial numbers. Finding a bicycle serial number Most bicycles have their serial number engraved beneath their bottom bracket, but sometimes serial numbers are found in other places. Here are some examples of where and what to look for: The bottom bracket (where serial numbers are typically located.
- Older Mongoose bikes made through the 1980’s had pretty easy serial numbers. Generally the year and month of build was stamped as the first part of the serial number. For example my 1986 Mongoose Expert has a serial number M6EG0652. The first number (6) relates to the year – 1986.
A B C D E F G H I J K LJan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
A few serial number examples are:
HFGB00000 – 4 letters, GB are the dates. G is the year (1997), B is the month (Feb)
HFBH00000 – 4 letters, BH are the dates. B is the year (1992), H is the month (Aug)
New-school Mongoose BMX bikes built through most of the 2000’s have a serial number that begins with 5 letters. The 4th letter corresponds to the year of manufacture and follows on from the mid-school serial numbers.
J K L M N O P Q R S
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
A B C D E F G H I J K L
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
A few serial number examples are:
HAMME00000 – 5 letters, ME are the dates. M is the year (2003), E is the month (May)
SAJPJ00706 – 5 letters, PJ are the dates. P is the year (2006), J is the month (Oct)
Please note: The Mongoose serial number will give you the build date of your BMX. Frames were normally manufactured the year before being sold in bike shops. So a build date on a frame of 2003 usually means the bike was sold in stores in 2004. This is the case with the 2003 Mongoose Brawler 24 below. The Serial has a build date of 2003, the 2004/004 on the stickers indicate this was a 2004 model.
I have confirmed this Mongoose serial number crack many times against bikes that have been known to be purchased that year, bikes with distinct graphics and colours and checked them against Mongoose BMX catalogues.
If you want to know more about the Mongoose BMX you have, visit ourBMX Catalogue website. You'll find all the original catalogue info you need including original parts lists, specs, colours and photos of restored bikes.
Mongoose Bike Serial Decoder Download
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Mongoose Bike Serial Decoder
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