multimodal commuter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NJ, NYC, LI
Posts: 19,808
Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
Mentioned: 584 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1908 Post(s)
That's the non-folding version of the Raleigh Twenty. They were made from the mid/late 60's through the late 70's or later. One of Raleigh's most popular models, sold under a number of different marques (including, obviously, Hercules).
The 3-speed hub is marked with a coded date, which takes the form of two digits followed by a space then another one or two digits. These tell you when the hub was made. You'll find the words "STURMEY ARCHER" and "AW" and then these numbers. So if you have 73 8 your hub was made in August 1973. The rest of the parts of the bike would date to approximately the same time, and it all came together a little later.
Looking at your photo, 1973 won't be far off. Yours is a beautiful specimen, and could easily bring a couple hundred dollars around here.