I have a bicycle frame (mountain) that I want to identify, but all I have is the serial number.?

Question

Its an aluminum MTB frame, ser # iw1f00266, with a taller, skinner down tube than you would normally see on a bike. Anybody know how I can go about doing this? I can only narrow it down to about thirty manufacturers.

Answer 1

Wow, you got it that far down?! Can you provide a color, whether it has a replaceable rear dropout, the headset configuration, the BB style, and whether it is a hardtail, softtail, or full suspension? If full suspension can you say whether the pivots are ball bearing, metal sleeve, or plastic sleeve? Does it have disc mounts? What is the rear wheel spacing? Pictures of all this would be best.

The serial number on a bike frame tells nothing of the company that sold it. I CAN tell you that the frame was made by Ideal Bike in China- they have a Taiwan factory but don't build frames there. Ideal assembles bikes for dozens of companies on a regular basis. The number that you mention is actually a production number for the factory that is used for quality control, then the company that sells the bike uses it again as a serial number.

A frame that you describe sounds like a standard catalog item for them so is probably used by a lot more than 30 companies, but the info I asked for can narrow it down- at least to give you an idea of quality.

EDIT: Looking at the bike now, I can tell you the original bike was a KHS. Now, I had to do a bit of research because KHS doesn't purchase aluminum or steel frames from anyone- they make their own- and there I found my error. Ideal frames are noted by ONE of a few letters prior to a number. Your number is "iw", not just "i".

Soooo, the bike is a KHS Alite series bike from 2001. Not a terrible bike.

Answer 2

Kudos to mirageguitarworks research and reply!