Originally Posted by
Ex Pres
After my clean and reassembly, I'm going to post a thread. I'm also going to need a longer post and stem to actually ride it. The serial# is C07683, which I've found two decoder ring interpretations on the web. If it's like what BG posted for the BG series (I found this on the CR site), it's the 7th bike built in June of 1983. But I've seen elsewhere for the Chinook bikes, this means the 76th frame built, also during 1983. So does that mean the 76th frame of the 101 Chinooks that were built, or the 76th built that year? In any case, the component group is all dated '83&'84, so I assume it actually left the shop as a built bike in '84.
I did find on Bulgier's site a BG brochure from 1981 that included the Chinook line, but have no idea if any were actually in the wild until 1983.
Thank-you for posting the serial number. It makes sense that the alpha prefix would change from a G, for Brice Gordon, to a C, for Chinook. Otherwise, the format appears identical. My understanding has always been that your serial number would be interpreted as the 7th frame from June 1983.
Regarding the Bulgier site literature, I strongly suspect that it represents multiple years. While the one sheet is clearly dated February 1981, the other pieces are not. The dated sheet lists only Campagnolo equipment including a Nuovo Record Touring group with Rally rear deralleur. Yet the pictured Bruce Gordon Touring bicycle cleary does not use the Rally rear derailleur. It is Huret Duopar and the front derailleur appears to be the SunTour Cyclone M II, which did not debut until the 1982 model year. Furthermore the Chinook Touring model shows what appears to be Shimano New 600EX derailleurs, which did not debut until the 1984 model year.