Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - 1930's or 40's? Humber Sport

Tires are shot, otherwise bike works. Some rust on rims and components as seen in pics. Chrome loss on stem. Do you have an idea of what this bike should sell for? And date, or way to identify date?

http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac329/hellobikee/IMG_1044.jpg
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac329/hellobikee/IMG_1046.jpg
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac329/hellobikee/IMG_1048.jpg

nice bike! best way to date would be to look for a date stamp on the rear hub.

Oops yeah, forgot about the hub. Thanks!

Humbers seem to be fairly rare, but not in a good way. I have been searching and find very little about them. They get a nice mention by Sheldon Brown, and seem to be well thought of, but not sought after.

I have the Riviera (see posts in C&V) that is definitely a Raleigh as it comes from after Humber was bought out. I have to admit I hadn't heard of them when I spotted the Riviera in a thrift shop, but I could see it was well made, had a leather saddle, quality components, etc. You can see the same qualities in yours.

I would think yours is well worth restoring. It has the distinctive split fork and I would check the cranks to see if they have the men design described by Sheldon Brown.

Much depends on whether your plan is to keep it and ride for yourself or do you want to sell it? If you want to sell it, then the question is "who is your target customer?" It would probably make a great commuter for someone in the city, but I doubt they'll pay very much (I'd check Craig's list in your area and see if similar Raleigh's are for sale); equally, I am not sure what a collector would think...I'd love to have one, but will probably keep my eyes open and look to see if I find one like yours that I can restore. You might also check with Kurt, who has restored many a Raleigh and may have some ideas.

Ahh: check the top lug near the seat post. That's were i finally found a serial number. It was not a very deep etching and the paint obscured it.

Just found this link:

http://genetics.mgh.harvard.edu/hanczyc/1953humber.html

Thanks for the info and links, which are very helpful. I am going to fix it up and see how that goes.

You might try getting into touch with this guy: http://3speedtouringinjapan.blogspot.com/ He is quite the Humber fan and has some old catalogs.

Since he is not in the U.S. he pobably can't give you a relevant value, but he'd at least be able to give you some information about your bike.

I would think about the value as starting with something like the more Common Raleigh Sports, which if it were in the same condition as the bike shown here might be worth something like $25-$50. Then account for the leather saddle and full chaincase, which make it more interesting, maybe $50-$70 as is. Clean it up, repack all the bearings, and put on new tires, and it should easily be worth $150 or more to the right buyer. Of course if I owned it, I would hold on to it (unless it doesn't fit)

It's a beauty, though I doubt it's as old as the 40's. The chrome looks pretty good to me; I suspect it would all clean up very nicely. And a man's frame in the 23" size like this is relatively hard to find (most are smaller).

I agree with the last post; value goes up if the bike is thoroughly cleaned and given the necessary maintenance; you could easily get $150 for it.

OK, I know this thread is 7 months old, but I'm curious; have you cleaned up your Humber? I'd like to see pictures if you have, as I just bought a mid-50's dated Humber Sports and I'm searching for reference pictures and information.

gems,

Can you post a picture of the S/A trigger? That would be helpful in determining the bike's approximate age.

it's early 50's vintage I bet. My early 50's Raleighs have the same tubing logo on the seat tube, and similar font on the chainguard...