oldveloman

Hi all,

As the title suggests, I am looking for some info on dating my Triumph bicycles ( post 1954 Raleigh- takeover ).
I' ve been searching the net, but there' s not that much info out there, so I hope some of you know more...

Now I know Raleigh used a similar serialnumber system on all their brands, but one of my bicycles doesn' t fit in.
I believe it is a late fifties “ Triumph Sports " model and I have been using it for about 25 years as my - nearly - daily bike.
Wen I bought it, it was in pristine condition, but rain and salty roads in winter took their toll, so I put it aside a few years ago and use my 1954 BSA tourer since then.
The Triumph is on my “ to restore- " list, alongside a Triumph ladies model, a tandem ( ± 1950 Belgian “The Gold Lion" ) and another Belgian 38cc Victoria-motorized 1951 “ Taxandria " bicycle.

Some 20 years ago, I replaced the Triumph's original ( single speed ) rear wheel with a Sturmey 3 speed wheel I had lying around, so no clue there.
The bike is fitted with Weinman alloy brakes and levers ( don' t know if these are original ? )
Here' s some pictures. First one shows 4 views of the gents model. Picture 2 an 3 show the ladies modeel and its serial and picture 4 shows the serial of the gents model.
The ladies model with serial 1915219 - according to various lists I found - could be a 1963-1965 model, but the gents model is a mystery : XY 8567 doesn' t fit any list...

Anyone out there who can point me in the right direction ?

Regards,
Peter

dweenk

That is one well used bike. Perhaps date stamps on hubs, brakes, etc would give a clue?

oldveloman

Hi dweenk,

Well used indeed
Brakes are Weinmann 810 and marked " Made in Western Germany by Weinmann ". Don' t know if they were fitted when the bike was new...
I do have a set of steel brake calipers from another Triumph that I broke up ( bent frame ), if those Weinmann brakes aren' t original though.

Front hub has the Raleigh logo on it, but I can' t see any date or number...

As I plan to resore it to its original condition, I am looking for brochures and pictures to see what I need, but then I need to find out its manufacturing date of course.
I know these Triumph Sports models were indeed built in the late fifties with the same colourscheme and transfers, but the serialnumber on my bike puzzles me...

Here' s more pictures of the complete bike.
Sprocket and chainguard were replaced by me over the years.

rhm

Weinmann brakes are not dated, but their style changed subtly over the years. The latest models have the word WEINMANN in tiny type inside an incuse rectangle; earlier versions have the word WEINMANN stamped directly on the arm without the box; the larger the type, the earlier. The model number works the same way. On the earliest ones the word TYPE uses a lower case "y" so it looks something like TyPE.

Earlier Weinmann brakes were made in Switzerland, later ones Germany.

rose359

Is there a resource for decoding Triumph serial numbers? My Triumph muscle bike (model name unknown) is similar to a Raleigh Fireball or



Rodeo