juliandorado

Hi there! I am new with Raleigh's. I just bought a restored Golden Arrow, i want to know the year of the bike. The problem seems that when they re-painted it the serial number vanished

I have some pictures and a serial number on the hundlebar, reads 479213. Can i know the year of the bike with that number? They told me it's from 1960 but i think its older. Any help will be useful!

I attach images in this post.

Thanks a lot,
Julian from Argentina.

juliandorado

Will try to have some more pictures soon!

sailorbenjamin

Daammn, that's sweet. GAs date back to the 20s and 30s. I let mine go several years ago and I've sort of regretted it ever since. The serial number should be on the seat lug.

big chainring 

That is nice. Someone did a great job on that. Just classic.

Can't help with the year. Feel free to post a lot of pictures.

Ed.

My Father had a Golden Arrow before the Paramount, which he acquired in 1938. I've never even seen pictures of his Golden Arrow, but he did use the wheels from the GA on his Paramount. I have the Paramount, but I do not have those GA wheels.

sailorbenjamin

I still have the GA wheels.

sailorbenjamin

Those look like Birmingham fenders.

juliandorado

Another picture i have!

juliandorado

I finally have them! Good and lots of high quality pictures of my bike. Hope this helps with clarification on the year and to have a little more information about it.
The person who sell me the bike told me that it was bought around 1960, but i guess thats the time it arrived to Argentina, the bike was put together way after. What do you think guys? Thanks again, you rock

juliandorado

Some more!

auchencrow

I can't get any closer to the year than did Sailor Benjamin, but congratulations on your new acquisition Julian. - I have one as well (a '38), and can attest that they're fun bikes to ride.

Ed.

She's a beauty!

rhm

I'm thinking if this bike was made for the South American market, it is a model only seen outside England or the US, and this is pretty well confirmed by the wheel size, which was Dunlop's equivalent to 700c. Pretty unusual, and very cool. Whatever it is, it is beautiful.

photogravity

I *think* l love this bicycle! I'm not sure how period correct it is, and those fender stays are an abomination, but the bike has a pleasing look to it.

Is there any chance you could get a picture of the decal on the rear fender/mudguard?

David Newton

Wake up Julian!
Beautiful bicycle!
How is a single speed bike to ride in Argentina? Are you in Buenos Aires? Is it flat-ish there?

sailorbenjamin

Nice fluted cranks. Mine had those with a Raleigh Heron chainring that bolted on. Most of the Heron rings you see are swaged to a straight crank. The bolt on kind was for the early expensive models. Could be the original was worn out and replaced with this one. They're hard to find. That headset with the nutted band was on mine, too. Haven't run across that anywhere else. Can't find a picture of it at the moment but I did find one of the downtube decal;

Well, here's an overall shot that you can zoom in on;

OH, and this is what Lauterwassers look like. I'm gonna guess that your bars have been replaced, due to that shim in the stem. Then again, I guess maybe the stem was replaced, cause the Raleigh bars were smaller in diameter than other brands, not bigger.

juliandorado

Thanks a lot auchencrow, and i can tell you that they are super cool bikes to ride

juliandorado

Thanks a lot rhm, i also think its an unusual one!

juliandorado

Jeje i also love her! I can take a picture of the decal, i will post it soon. I think that the decal was replaced when it was restored around 20 years ago. So i dont think its an original one.

juliandorado

Don't they look like they are this Highgate ones?


Also do you think the rings are not the original ones, right? i cant figure out what parts of the bike are original and which ones where replaced

Loved your bike and your help!
Thanks

juliandorado

Quite flat around here, and this bike fly's around! its really something

sailorbenjamin

Yeah, I think you do have Highgates. I'm thinking your chain is a replacement. Not a bad looking one, though.

auchencrow

This is the bolted Heron crankset @sailorbenjamin alluded to - pretty typical on GA's I've seen...



Likewise the clip headset:

sailorbenjamin

Yeah, that's the one I'm thinking of, but now that I see it up close, it's got a different BCD that Juliandorado's. Then again, he's got the Heron stamp and the nice fluting, so it's gotta be high end Raleigh stuff.
Did they make different sized Heron chainrings?

clubman 

Yes that's the odd ball one that came on those unusual orange "Super Sports". These cranks have up shown in a few threads. Check out Kurts page on it The Headbadge: A "Super Sport" - but it's not a Schwinn.

Hilary recently had an NOS replacement ring on his site.