Mishapopkin

Hello all,
I have read on many different websites that for many companies, the serial number shows the date of manufacture of the bicycle.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any websites for Apollo bicycles.
I have a vintage Apollo bike and the serial number on the bottom bracket is:

S4 5 106

Does this tell me anything about when the bike was made (or any other info at all)?

Thank you very much in advance.

(Ps: this might be a silly question sorry I'm new to this.)

cb400bill

For Apollo info look at this thread. https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...lo-thread.html

Mishapopkin

I wrote on their page but no one has replied to help me yet.
I figured out by reading some posts on that page that the first 2 numbers are the year followed by the month. In this case, my bike could have been manufactured in 1984 or 1974 or 1964 or 1954 etc (4) in August (8).
Sadly, I'm still not sure what decade it is.

cb400bill

Get your post count to 10 and them post some pics.

The quick way to get to 10 is to go to our Introductions forum, introduce yourself, and then say hello to other new forum members.

Hummer

Hello Mishapopkin,

wecome to the forum.

The first digit "4" is for the year the frame was manufactered, year 1974.
The second digit "5" is for the month of frame manufacture, May.

The headbadge probably says Deelite. Most of the Deelite bicycles that I have seen with the "S4" serial number model name "Ten Speed".

Mishapopkin

Hello,
Thank you for replying.
You're right sorry May not August. I was reading off of someone else's post. But how do you know it's from the seventies?

Yeah it's got a Deelite head badge on the front, and it says five speed so I guess that's the model name.

I might attach some photos later when I get 10 posts.

Thank you.

Hummer

I myself have asked myself similar questions about answers that I have received on this forum. How does that person know what they said or are they just guessing?

How do I know your bicycle frame is from the 1970s?

Past experience mostly. No real documentation. I have seen a few Deelite and Apollo bikes up close and in pictures.

First, the serial number and its format. I have seen bicycles from the late 1960s and into the early 1980s with this format of serial number. So your serial number with a year "4" is most likely 1970s, possiby 1960s or 1980s but not likely.

An aside note. Many, but not all, Deelite and Apollo frames were made by Kuwahara, which is usually determined by the serial number format. Kuwahara has had several serial number formats. Your serial number format is not typical of a Kuwahara serial number.

Second, it has a Deelite headbadge. This headbadge was used up to late 1975.

I hope that helps to explain how I determined the year.

Mishapopkin

Thank you very much. I understand how you got the year now. You're very experienced!