# Any help with bike identity



## GwGorham (Sep 3, 2018)

Hello all,

I just today purchased a classic Robin Hood. I have been trying to ascertain the age of this bicycle, and am not having much luck. It appears from what I read that the age is most commonly identified via the SA 3 speed hub. Any ideas on how to do so if the rear hub has been replaced? Apparently at some point someone put a Resilion rear hub in. This I believe is a single speed/coaster break hub.

There is a number stamped on the bottom bracket, 3552338 but I cannot find the relevance of it. This bicycle has a curved top tube, not straight. The curvature of the top bar makes me think it is a little older, perhaps a 1960? I have seen images of Gazelles that were identical to this bicycle save the stickers. Here is an image of the bicycle:


I have been looking everywhere on the web I can. Going to look into contacting Raleigh or find some old school bicycle dealers around here. Any ideas you might have are welcome.


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## GTs58 (Sep 3, 2018)

The bike was possibly a coaster brake one speed originally so no SA. There is only one person here that I know of that is a big fan and collector of English bikes, but I've heard he's in the process of moving. I'll give @SirMike1983  a heads up and hopefully he can help out. 

Is there another stamping around the seat post clamp?


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## dnc1 (Sep 4, 2018)

Definitely looks like a model for the export market, so @GTs58 may well be correct re. the coaster brake.
More pictures would be helpful.
Nice find in pretty good condition too.


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## GwGorham (Sep 4, 2018)

Hey folks thanks for the heads up. I will keep researching it to find more. There was not stamping near the top of seat tube. I will give a more careful inspection when I can.


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## SirMike1983 (Sep 4, 2018)

It's a Raleigh-made Robin Hood from the 1960s. The bottom bracket serial number usually means a 1960s-era Raleigh/Robin Hood.

This looks to be an export juvenile model made for the North American market. The bent top-tube models like this usually came in 26 and 24 inch wheels, and were meant for teenaged or juvenile riders. Adult frames were the 21 and 23 inch diamond type. The coaster brake was made to appeal to the U.S. market (and Canadian to a lesser extent), where young riders preferred coaster brakes.

Resilion started as a maker of high-quality cantilever type brakes in the early years, but was bought up by Phillips/Bristish Cycle Corp and became in-house at Phillips by the 1950s. When the Phillips/BCC products consolidated with Raleigh in Nottingham around 1960, the Resilion name went with it. Resilion coaster brakes were one of the single speed coasters available to Raleigh (along with the Sturmey Archer and the Perry). I've seen the Resilion brake on other Raleigh products, which were often made for Western Auto under the Western Flyer badge (also 1960s-era bikes).


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## GwGorham (Sep 4, 2018)

So my brother found this website that lists out the years of serial number ranges. Apparently they didn't start putting the serial number up on the top tubes till i think the late late 60s, no later than 1970. They started in 1963 with the serial number 1000000 on the bottom bracket. So with my serial number (3552338 ) it is likely in the 65 or 66 range.


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## GwGorham (Sep 4, 2018)

SirMike1983 said:


> It's a Raleigh-made Robin Hood from the 1960s. The bottom bracket serial number usually means a 1960s-era Raleigh/Robin Hood.
> 
> This looks to be an export juvenile model made for the North American market. The bent top-tube models like this usually came in 26 and 24 inch wheels, and were meant for teenaged or juvenile riders. Adult frames were the 21 and 23 inch diamond type. The coaster brake was made to appeal to the U.S. market (and Canadian to a lesser extent), where young riders preferred coaster brakes.
> 
> Resilion started as a maker of high-quality cantilever type brakes in the early years, but was bought up by Phillips/Bristish Cycle Corp and became in-house at Phillips by the 1950s. When the Phillips/BCC products consolidated with Raleigh in Nottingham around 1960, the Resilion name went with it. Resilion coaster brakes were one of the single speed coasters available to Raleigh (along with the Sturmey Archer and the Perry). I've seen the Resilion brake on other Raleigh products, which were often made for Western Auto under the Western Flyer badge (also 1960s-era bikes).





That is some great information SirMike, thank you very much!


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## Oilit (Sep 29, 2018)

GwGorham said:


> So my brother found this website that lists out the years of serial number ranges. Apparently they didn't start putting the serial number up on the top tubes till i think the late late 60s, no later than 1970. They started in 1963 with the serial number 1000000 on the bottom bracket. So with my serial number (3552338 ) it is likely in the 65 or 66 range.



It sounds like you found the Headbadge web page by Kurt Kaminer. He has some good information on Raleigh built bikes.


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