I posted this once before and someone answered it, but now I can't find that post. Doh.

Apologies for asking again.

Concerning Raleighs: how do you date a Raliegh from its serial number? A buddy of mine has a Record identical to mine, but it's not a Notty. I think it was built in Canada or Korea. The serial number is stamped on the left rear dropout. Mine's on the rear of the seattube.

I just can't remember the sequencing of the numbers and letters. But from that original thread I learned my Nottingham is a 1974.

Pls help thx.

The usual site that tells the correlation between letter code and manufacture location seems to be unavailable. Here's an alternate with information for establishing the date.

It's back up now. Look here.

Can anyone help IDing a Raleigh my friend wants to buy. he is being told it'd a 1953 Girls bike. Has almost too decent a paint job, says nottingham on the rear fender and on the Headbadge. Painted made in England on the drive side upper down tube(ladies bike remember). The serial #'s are on the front of the seat tube and read A71139A can't figure it out or is it a repro? I just don't want him getting taken...Thanks...Mo

If you can't find it here, it hasn't been decoded yet:

https://www.jaysmarine.com/TH_raleigh_serials.html

-Kurt

I can't find the other thread you made for adding serial numbers anywhere on BF. The search function here SUCKS so bad so I'll add this one here.

Hub says 71. Serial is 3446705

21" Step-through frame

It took me a long time to find it and without your site showing where it should be I would never have guessed there was a serial number in that location. Only with magnification and playing with the shadows with a bright LED light can the numbers be teased out. The serial number is there but it is absolutely worthless other than for us collectors as nobody would ever see it there.

I'm assuming this is a '72 model

Ok so I got the numbers off the Strumey Archer rear hub, supposed to be a 2 spd. Bike is a Girls Tourist. # is on the top of what would be the seat post clamp area. Says A71139A can't figure it out or is it a repro? The hub says 76-2-AW. The kick stand is alloy ESGE says R-B West Germany. All the decals say made in England and the fenders and HB says Nottingham. I say a 70's model made to look like the older raleighs? Your opinion....Mo

The AW hub is a 3-speed and is the most common of all vintage Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hubs. 76-2 means it was made in February of 1976. Just because the hub was made in 1976 doesn't mean the bike was made then -many people would replace a wheel because of an issue with a hub or the wheel itself if there was damage to the rim/spokes.

I don't know what you are talking about "repro" as pretty much nobody made "repro" Raleighs as they are NOT THAT VALUABLE because there are gazillion of them out there. Nottingham churned these things out and sold them for many years throughout the 20th century and changed it very little up into the 70's. It's not a "repro" -it's just the same model made for 3/4 of a century year after year. The bikes made in the 70's looked very much like the ones made right after WW2. Sort of like Harley Davidson but without the "fad" modern popularity.

Many other companies built licensed copies but under different names and without the Made in England sticker or the headbadge that says Nottinghame on it. Nobody was making "repro" Raliegh bikes.

The actual serial number isn't as important as where exactly it is and how it was stamped. The fact that is on the front of the seat lug pretty much dates it as a 70's bike Kurt has done a lot of work on the serial number database but it's not really at the point where you can punch in a number and get a year. Raleigh didn't really keep this info over the years and they are gone now so the only way we'll ever be able to figure them out is to get a lot of people helping with giving info to kurt to zero in on the many different systems they used.

If you look here you can zero in on the age by the stickers and other visual details. If you look here you can try and match the equipment details of this bike with the slight year-over-year changes over time.

In the end your friend isn't going to get "ripped off" because a 1953 bike and a 1970's bike really don't have that much difference in value IMHO. These bikes are not rare or all that hard to find -even the 50's models. Condition is the most important part but there are many out there in good condition.

Agreed, and especially with the Tourists--and the ladies' Tourists even more so--a 1970s model is equally as desirable as a 1950s model. In my experience, the loop frame Tourists are harder to find than the men's versions and seem to sell consistently in the $300-400 range if they're in good condition.

I'm not so sure that the bike in question from Mofoco1's question is even a Tourist. It could very well be something else such as a simple Sports, and he is just throwing the term around not knowing any better as he seems to believe the bike has a "2-speed AW hub."

If it is indeed a 70's model, the actual designation of which roadster model this bike is is pretty much moot anyhow. With bike shops swapping parts around before and after a final sale and upgrading/downgrading certain things it is just a matter of opinion what model the bike was at the point of sale due to the fact that no records were kept by Raleigh with regards to serial numbers and years, much less models.

The bike in question could very well be valued anywhere between $30-300 depending on overall condition, paint, color, geographic location (some tweedy areas are HOT right now), accessories, hubs, saddle type and condition, installed lighting and brackets, chainguard, riding season, and how recently it was tuned/restored -and by whom.

True, though I'm assuming that if he says Tourist it's because it says that on the chain guard which would make sense for a '76 bike. And no, we have no idea what the seller is asking. Boston is a pretty toasty "tweed" market but there are always plenty of inexpensive Sports around and even men's Tourists (and Twenty's too!) but the womens' seem to be harder to find.

I need some help with an identification of a Raleigh Gran Sport that I had given to me. The serial number, stamped on the BB is RA21437. In looking at the jaysmarine website,it looks like it might be a 1962, although those era bikes were stamped near the seatlug. The bike has a Campy groupset with the RD stamped Campagnolo Gran Sport. I'll try to attach some photo's later. Any help on the serial #/year is greatly appreciated.

Post a photo when you get a chance.

-Kurt

Her are a few pictures of my Gran Sport. The frame is in reasonably good shape, no rust but the paint is showing the years. Thanks for checking it out. I like the old Campy cast RD.

Seems to add up. That's the scheme I'd expect to see on a mid-'60s Grand Sport. They're a bit uncommon to find, so I have yet to figure out how the lineup was structured during this period.

-Kurt

Yes it says Tourist on the Chaingaurd. I had not replied as I had not been back in the shop to view and report back on it. The seat was very dry and weathered, the shop owner tried using a dye the has never quite dried( I think it's toast).

I just picked up what I believe to be a Raleigh Gran Sport. I found it in a basement of a local Saint Vinnes. It caught my eye because it was the same color of my Bottecchia I owned when I was a kid. I looked it over and saw the word Campagnolo on the shift levers, and the releases. Someone put a cheap deraileur on it and cheap seat. I plan on rebuilding it. It has no decals what so ever.
It has the serial number under the crank. RA7923. It seems heavy so I don't think it is reynolds. But it has GB Coureur 66 brakes. Any clue what the year might be? And if it might be Reynolds tubing? Thanks

^ Early 1960s, hi-ten tubing (not Reynolds 531).

Neal

so I've checked the sites (yours and Sheldons), and I think I got one of the early 60's Raleigh Superbes.

The numbers on the underside of the BB is 22752. No letters.
However on the top of the lug which connects the seat tube and the top tube has got the number 2134212 stamped into it as well. Again no letters.

Checking the hub does no good since it seems to have been a miss stamp at the SA factory. Only half the logo is stamped on it. The model, and date are the part that is missing. As is some of the other info usually stamped on the hubs. I think I can see faintly when going over it with a pencil a number 1, buts it's only the top half of the number (luckily it's got that 1 tail.)

Here's a couple pics.




It didn't come with the lights, Dynamo, tool bag, or pump.

Shifter is metal, no gear numbers or window. Red circled R caped nuts.
Plastic fulcrum. Raleigh peddles. Nice gold pin striping through out. Lugs on seat tube and down tube for the chain guard. Pump mounts.

Oddities: no white tail on the rear fender, the color banded stickers on the seat tube seem to be not factory in that unlike the others on the bike, they aren't under the clear coats, or are thicker paper stock than the others.

Lemme know what you think/know. Mostly I just wanna help with your quest to figure out the numbering system. I love the bike and really the only info Im interested in is if it was probably a front or rear dynomo so I can rebuild it.

ok perhaps I jumped the gun on the one above (though I'm still scratching my head on duel stamps, but I'm guessing this one is going to be seen in the up and coming 1971 catalog (which I think is cooler since 71 is the year of my birth). Dyno was an option in 72, so this one most likely didn't come with it (probably going to go for it eventually anyway).

Some of the difference in options from the Sports vs. the SuperBe you've got listed on Headbadge.com chats might be upgrades. For example, the shifter on mine is all metal, with no windows (on the sports charts as the 1963-1966 stock part), after all full metal case without extra openings would be more durable and perhaps more "upscale" than the plastic ones. Though this is just a thought. I haven't studied this topic as long as most of you have. Though I do find it intriguing.

hi. iv been looking at these posts and i still cant find out what year mine is. its a white raleigh solo. i moved the cable guide on the bottom and the numbers are 62435, but theres no letters

Hi, I'm looking for some input on dating my Raleigh Sport. The hub is AW 1965 from the stamp. This seems to jive with the decals from what I saw on the Headbadge site. Most of the components are stamped Raleigh, but looks like the frame was repainted (kind of badly; you can still see the copper green underneath)

What has me stumped is the serial. I found it on the back of the seat tube, running along the length of the tube, but it's 7-digit starting with 23, which sounds more like an early-70s number. Does this mean the previous owner probably put an older hub on a newer frame, but used decals from the old frame? Ultimately, I don't think it makes a big difference, but I'd like some closure if it's available



(forgive me for the rear fender; I broke the clip holding it on down at the bottom bracket, but now it's safely zip-tied in place )

Trying to figure out the date of a Sports via the serial # is just not going to work, despite what you might read on the head badge. If you look long enough at any set of numbers, you'll see a pattern, but that doesn't mean that Raleigh intended a pattern to be there! I'd go with 1965 as the year of your Sports, assuming the rear wheel is original.

Does anyone have any idea what the MFG date is for this serial number?
M9C23692
The bike is a women's Raleigh Record and was made in Taiwan, the number is on the bottom bracket.

This frame was gifted to me. I'm using a wheel set from a 1971 Triumph ladies bike I didn't need.

I have looked at several sites in search of a key in order to determine the year this was made.

on the BB there are 2 series of numbers, on 2 lines

Line 1: 7-3669

Line 2: 120629

Any help would be greatly appreciated !


cheers,

Louis