Help needed to date a 50-80 year old Raleigh bike.

[midlife]

I think you would have to find an old price catalogue but certainly the old roadsters were a lot more. Interestingly the 25" Carlton and Raleigh framed lightweights had a hefty premium as well.

We sold Puch as a cheaper alternative to Raleigh / Carlton / Falcon. And yep, the chrome was not as good as others. Prima was the dropped bar model and I think the flat bar was the Elegance?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

We sold Puch as a cheaper alternative to Raleigh / Carlton / Falcon. And yep, the chrome was not as good as others. Prima was the dropped bar model and I think the flat bar was the Elegance?

Not sure what the model is, but a mate of mine's favourite bike is a 70's gas-pipe 10-speed drop bar Puch he got secondhand - and he's a bit of a bike nerd. He can't explain why, just says it rides better than any of his more expensive bikes! The Elegance and Touring were flat bar 3-speeds. I got the Elegance new and recently a Touring 99p eBay special. Cheaply built but do ride very well nonetheless. Shame the chrome is of shite durability.

 

[midlife]

The common 5-10 speed was the Prima, the flamboyant paint was quite pretty, as you say shame about the chrome. Easy to fit a kickstand though as the chainstay bridge was a flat plate with a hole in it

 

[Polo]

I have had a Raleigh gentleman’s dark green bike Since 1972 that was very old when I required it. It could be as early as 1930’s or more likely 1960’s .The frame number is ‘233555 P’ and situated on the frame just below where the seat tube goes in.
it has a key operated 3 position front wheel lock at top of forks, cable brakes, clamps to take a battery pack, but sadly no battery tube and stainless steel rims. Headlamp is green with chrome bezel and it has a Sturmey Archer 3speed change lever on handle bar. It also has a Brooks leather saddle. Please can anyone tell me the likely age and value. Surface paint and gold lining is not brilliant and chrome is poor, but rides well with smooth gear change. Stored in dry loft for last 47 years. Sadly, no key for lock. I am new to this site and hope will have successfully attached a photo. thank you for any help you might give. Polo.

Polo.

 

[midlife]

Polo.

Did you manage to get the date code from the rear hub?

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Posting malfunction methinks!

 

[Polo]

If you look closely at the lock barrel, the key number may even be stamped on it, in which case it can be replaced without needing to extract the barrel from the fork crown. They are much the same as vintage car ignition or filing cabinet keys.

Polo; Reply to posts from so many of you knowledgeable Raleigh enthusiasts. In no particular order.
1. Sadly no visible barrel number for front wheel lock.
2. I hope I am able to attach photos taken of rear hub and underneath crank case in my quest to find date, but photos fo not send, I’m writing the following details here in case it gives any of you a clue that it would not to me. Rear hub:-
PATENT. 527629
527632
PROV. 21069/44
SWISS. 216572
219045
On the other side of rear hub, there is a long diagonal within which it says; DYNO 3 THREE
Underneath on left and just outside triangle, there are the numbers, 46. On the right side, 11, but strangely in Roman numerals.
Since I found the frame number “233555 P” at top of chassis tube that seat post sits in, I have discovered “356334” on the underneath of the crank case.
3. Partly burnished out before chroming are also some figure/letters on top bracket that that holds the handlebar. See photo.
I stopped riding it in 1978 after an articulated lorry pulled over too soon while passing me and caught my elbow sending me into a ditch.
thank you again to all who have spent time replying to me. I had no idea, all these,near fifty years, since I was given it, (forty two of which spent in my loft) that it would create such nice and helpful responses from so many knowledgeable enthusiasts. It rides so well and what a treat to re familiarise myself with a sturmey Archer. No chain to come off and gears not sensitive to going out of
adjustment either. Polo.

 

[raleighnut]

I'd go with November 46 as the date of manufacture.

 

[Polo]

Did you manage to get the date code from the rear hub?

Hello midlife. I have just posted a reply attached to my first post, ( should I have done that? ) with photos. Just to say that after a very thorough search, it seems to be just patent numbers on rear hub plus a long triangle on the opposite side that contains DYNO 3 THREE and just below on left, 46 & on right 11 in Roman numerals. My full post has photos attached. Polo.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Some of us still appreciate the quality and durability of vintage steel bikes, and Raleighs of this era especially, were the Rolls Royce of roadsters, and even today are the benchmark standard against which the quality of all other utility bikes are judged. Hopefully, I will have my own rod braked one back on the road by the end of next week and it will be providing me with dependable, if somewhat sedate service. It's a real pleasure to ride a well engineered, well-adjusted, solidly made bike, that just glides along almost silently apart from the ticking of the hub gear.
Old British 3-speeds are some of cycling's best kept secrets, and I am happy to be one of those eccentric types that likes them even if they do weigh 40 pounds and don't like stopping in a hurry in the wet.

 

[midlife]

Yep, 1946 according to the stamp. Blimey its seen a few moments in history.!

 

[Polo]

Yep, 1946 according to the stamp. Blimey its seen a few moments in history.!

And so have I midlife! Celebrating my 75th on Wednesday and will be aboard HMS Victory in Portsmouth. My late father interrogated German scientists within days of WW2 ending and was given numerous examples of German technology. I am the proud owner of V1 & V2 rocket gyros. None have ever been sold and none ever put up for sale, an auction house told me last year. At the BBC Antiques Roadshow, Their resident expert, Mark Smith, said I was probably the only private collector in the world to own them. If they weren’t destroyed on impact, the rockets had a secondary explosive device with timers to blow them up in order to prevent the technology bring copied.
PS; I might just keep the bike, after such glowing endorsements from members.
best wishes, Polo.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Very nice, well done on getting to the bottom of the date.

@SkipdiverJohn that's interesting - the bikes I wa thinking of were a 1930s popular ("heavy" roadster) with bolt on stays Vs my current fully brazed 1950s sports. I always thought the distinguishing feature was the wheel size rather than frame design, didn't realise the two went together.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

@ChrisEyles, if you are a Raleigh Sports owner, and you look at the pic the OP has posted, I think you may agree that if you can mentally screen out the visual effect of things like the OP's chaincase, his frame is essentially of the same type as yours apart from the locking fork.
I'm sure my own one is a Dawn Tourist, and apart from the rod brakes (which require a couple of holes drilled through the frame for the pivot pins) the frame is identical to the OP's too. The common factor is we all appear to have 26" wheels, and both the OP's roadster and mine, have a relatively short wheelbase and only moderately slack geometry.
If you compare a 28" heavy roadster side by side to a Raleigh Sports derived 26" variant, the difference in frame geometry and overall bike length becomes quite apparent.
I'm sure if you look hard enough at old roadsters from various makers, you will encounter some 28" machines with fully-brazed frames and 26" ones with bolted stays, but I reckon the general rule of thumb holds good.
There's no doubt in my mind that even prior to major industry consolidation, makers would have copied each other's best features as much as they could get away with without patent infringements etc. If you ignore cosmetic features like lugwork, much the same is true of steel road racing and touring frames as well - apart from a handful of real oddities, the general appearance of the vast majority of them is very very similar.

 

[Illaveago]

It has been very interesting reading all of the comments and finding the date of the cycle . It was also interesting to read about the comments made about the weight of such cycles . My dad seemed to prefer heavy old cycles which my brother and I couldn't understand .
The cycle should clean up well with a bit of polish.
The type of key will be a single edged one , old shoe repair/ key cutting shops used to keep bunches of various types of keys for undoing locks .