Date my Raleigh!

Interesting story behind this bike.....back in 1995 my brother was living on Ashley Down Road in Bristol in what can only be described as a "Student House". After a particularly heavy night his Mrs sent him out for a pint of milk and he came back with this bike. It was immaculate at the time, but he wasn't really "committed" to the bike and as a result it ended up in a barn at my Mum's house until today. I was looking for some polyfilla and came across it again. Pumped the tyres up and she was ready to go! The dynamo even works!

I know she looks a tad rusty, but everything works prefectly, including the dynamo and it's battery!

Tempeted to do a full resto, but on the other hand I love the authentic look of the rust!

Question is what year is my Raleigh?

Couple more pics

There should be a year/month date on the rear Sturmey hub which will be 3-6 months before the bike was assembled on average.....

I'd guess late 50's to late 60's- should be thick enough frametubing to be powdercoatable and rebuildable. Ive rebuilt worse.........

Andy

fatfixie":1aqpoaep said:

There should be a year/month date on the rear Sturmey hub which will be 3-6 months before the bike was assembled on average.....

I'd guess late 50's to late 60's- should be thick enough frametubing to be powdercoatable and rebuildable. Ive rebuilt worse.........

Andy

Click to expand...

It is pretty heavy so I'm assuming the tubes are pretty thick! I'll check out the hub, cheers.

It just rides so nicely, I can't leave it to rust!

leave it alone.rat look!!

Bummer I thought you'd started a singles thread.

Struggled to see it, it blends into the wall so well .

If that's got 32 spokes on the front wheel and 40 on the rear, it's from before the sixties. If it's 36 each wheel ("continental" spoking), it's from the sixties or later.

40/32 spoking is a much better piece of design than 36/36. The back wheel is under much more stress than the front, and by a clever bit of design they use the same length spoke.

If I ever build my dream bike, it will have 32 hole front wheel and 40 rear.

They're great though, aren't they?

Theftproof bikes always weigh 40lb. Either 25lb with 15lb of locks, or just a 40lb bike.

Ask on the Raleigh forum -

http://www.raleighbikes.com/

Someone there will probably be able to tell you.