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.
Why register? Because if your bike is ever lost or stolen, we can provide you with key information that can help you recover your bicycle quicker and easier. The most complete history of BMX Products, Inc. We have established this site because we have become aware of the many other loyal Vintage Mongoose owners and former owners throughout the world who want information about their Vintage Mongoose bikes. It is a place where you can get technical information about parts, interviews, racers, company. Wiiware wads. The placement and sequence of the numbers is stamped in the same place under the bottom bracket. Many of the GT serial numbers start with the same letter sequence. After a bit of digging around online I soon realised that GT BMX bikes and Mongoose BMX bikes were owned by the same company and also made in the same factories in Taiwan.
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.
A B C D E F G H I 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
The 4th letter indicates the Month
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:
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.
There is no function for me to reply to comments left on this post.If you have a BMX and don't know what the serial number means. I might be able to help. Go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rerides.bmx and give us a like! Then upload a photo of your bike and the serial number. We'll take a look and try to help you out.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this post, sign up to the blog via email at the bottom of the page and get every post direct to your inbox. For more information on this BMX and more, you canLIKE my Facebook page, to receive regular updates in your feed, visit there-rides websiteor see the rebuilt and restored rides and parts for sale on our eBay store. For more images of all our re-rides in progress follow us on Instagram.
A quick how-to guide for reading the serial numbers on your mid-school and new school Haro BMX bikes. This is the fourth post in the series. Mongoose, GT and Redline BMX serial number guides are already up on the blog.
As I'm sure you know finding out what year your Haro BMX bike was made is important information. The date will help you find the correct decals for your bike and also help to figure out what your Haro BMX is worth if you are going to sell.
This post is intended to be used as a guide to help you read the Haro BMX serial numbers and find out what year your BMX was built and sold. The serial number guide will help date Haro BMX bikes made between approximately 1990 and 2009. This guide may not work for all Haro BMX bikes built between this time and I have listed below which Haro serial numbers it does work for. I spent quite a bit of time looking into the Haro serial numbers on a few of my bikes as well as checking against other Haro BMX owners to see if my serial number crack was right. As with the other 3 cracks, this holds up too.
For early 1980's Haro serial number information refer here to this post on BMX Museum.
The late 1980’s Haro had a pretty simple serial number system. Generally, the year was stamped as the first part of the serial number.
For example my 1989 Haro Invert has a serial number H8808XXX. The second two digits - the number (88) refers to the year – 1988 and the month of build is referenced as 08 for August.
The serial number below can be read in the same way. July 1989 built bike. This bike would be known as a 1990 model.
1990 to 1999 Haro BMX Serial Numbers
Series Serial
In the early 1990's the Haro BMX serial number system changed, the build month often became a letter from A to L. The basic build year stamp remained - A91H. 91 is for 1991 and H is for August. See the month chart below.
A B C D E F G H I J K L Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
The example below is slightly different but still has the build year as a number in this case a 4. This makes the frame 1994 built, and listed as a 1995 Haro Group 1 Ci BMX. The CI is referenced at the beginning of the serial.
As with the serial above, some Haro BMX models also had the model name referenced in the serial number. The just the year stamp remained - dropping the decade. Month possibly remaining as number also. CO1271 - this was taken from a 1992 build Group 1. The model stamp always seemed to come before the year. Month of build often after the year.
For a list of model abbreviations refer here to this post on BMX Museum.
The above bike is a 1995 built, 1996 Haro Sport BMX
1995 built, 1996 Haro Group1 Si BMX
2000 to 2009 Haro BMX Serial Numbers
Into the 2000's once again the system changed slightly. However the basic structure remained the same. The number of digits at the start of the serial number increased, possibly as the number of frame models increased frames, but the year and month reference remained.
The above example is a Nov 2000 built, 2001 Backtrail Pro
June 2002 built, 2003 Haro Mirra Pro
Mongoose Bmx Serial Numbers Lookup Numbers
Build date vs official model date
The Haro serial number will give you the build date of your Haro 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 2004. A bike with a 2003 build date will be listed in the 2004 Haro Catalogue and would have the 2004 decal set and parts.
If you want to know more about the Haro 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.
There is no function for me to reply to comments left on this post. If you have a BMX and don't know what the serial number means. I might be able to help. Go to our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/rerides.bmx and give us a like! Then upload a photo of your bike and the serial number. We'll take a look and try to help you out.
Serial Reader
Thanks for reading. If you liked this post, sign up to the blog via email at the bottom of the page and get every post direct to your inbox. For more information on this BMX and more, you canLIKE my Facebook page, to receive regular updates in your feed, visit there-rides websiteor see the rebuilt and restored rides and parts for sale on our eBay store. For more images of all our re-rides in progress follow us on Instagram.