Cycles Peugeot serial number labels: An Introduction.
Cycles Peugeot was one of several companies owned by members of the Peugeot family. By the 1970s Cycles Peugeot was a long established and large manufacturer of bicycle frames and the assembly of complete bicycles at Beaulieu, outside Valentigney near the Swiss boarder. In 1972 Cycles Peugeot purchased a second manufacturing facility at Romilly-sur-Seine, south and east of Paris. A former refrigerator factory, it was converted to bicycle production.
Management of all the individual completed bicycles would have been a large task. Peugeot had been stamping six digit serial numbers into the frame, on the bottom bracket or the dropout.
Cycles Peugeot had a long history of attaching serial number labels to the frames they manufactured. Beginning in 1972 through to 1992 when the Peugeot family sold the bicycle manufacturing to the group that became Cycleurope, and continuing until 2002 when Cycleurope’s license to use the Peugeot brand name expired. The format of the serial number labels changed several times over the years from 1972 to 2002.
The first labels, in 1972, were an aluminum metal strip riveted to the bottom bracket. The aluminum labels had numbers only stamped into them.
The second labels were white labels taped to the bottom bracket, In 1976 cycles Peugeot made changes to way the serial numbers, frame numbers, and date codes where displayed on the bicycle. The serial numbers where now put on a white label that was taped with a clear adhesive covering to the bottom bracket. The white label also included a model designation and a frame size.
During the second half of 1982 some of the white labels began to be affixed to the side of the chainstay.
Eventually all of the white labels were put on the chainstay.
In 1988 and 1989 Peugeot began to transition the white labels to include more information about the complete bicycle and later a barcode. The white labels where no longer taped to the frame. The labels now had adhesive backs. There are at least two types of transitional white labels.
The third labels were barcode labels with text information. By 1990 Peugeot had transitioned the white label to include a barcode and coded information about the completed bicycle. The barcode labels were located on the underside of the downtube. These barcode labels continued until 1999 and possibly beyond until 2002 when Cycleurope’s license expired.