Royal Enfield, looking for info

[3-speeder]

I am not sure of the brand of stem and bars on my machine but they are of a one piece construction. The bars are built into the stem or vice versa.
The person I think of to help figure out the brand would be @juvela . Maybe he would know.
As far as measurements of the straps I will have to look into that over the weekend.
Great job on the clean up. Looking good.

 

[John D. Williams]

I am not sure of the brand of stem and bars on my machine but they are of a one piece construction. The bars are built into the stem or vice versa.
The person I think of to help figure out the brand would be @juvela . Maybe he would know.
As far as measurements of the straps I will have to look into that over the weekend.
Great job on the clean up. Looking good.

I messaged Juvela and am waiting for a reply, thanks

 

[John D. Williams]

The cleaning is in progress. Some info about this bike, from two UK sources I contacted--

Richard Miller
From:[email protected]
To:John D Williams

Fri, Dec 13 at 8:19 AM


Hi John,

Many thanks for your mail and apologies for my slightly delayed reply.

A lovely find your bicycle and in great condition.

I agree with the comments that it is a lightweight tourist model. I would say it most likely dates from the early post war export drive. Very few, if any cycles were made in the UK for civilian use during the war. The immediate post war ranges generally appeared in 1947 and the emphasis was on export. These ranges were limited and retained most of the war years rationing features (in Royal Enfield's case the move from a brass head badge to a decal one is a tell tale), the aft section of rear mudguards continued to be painted white for some time after the war. War grade tyres were available for sale in the UK through until after the end of rationing in 1953.

Dating a Royal Enfield bicycle by frame number isn't easy but from what information I have 1947 or 8 seems likely for yours.

As you know the handlebars are not correct as from factory but they are rather beautiful and a part of the bike's history.

Many thanks for sharing and I hope the information I have given is useful.

May I use some of your pictures on my website?

With best wishes,
Richard

Cycle Museum
From:[email protected]
To:[email protected]
Cc:CYCLE MUSEUM,DAVIES Freda [NCM]


Wed, Dec 11 at 11:53 AM



Dear John (?)Motiheal,

Thank you for your enquiry. You appear not to be short of advice from friends and fellow enthusiasts over there – some of whom are right. The Royal Enfield appears to be a WB model from either immediate pre-WW2 or the late 1940s. One has to remember that manufacturers had to use what was available or what they could find, so it was not unusual to find, for instance, a ‘mis-dated’ Sturmey-Archer hub gear used on a later bicycle, since the specification required a Sturmey-Archer hub gear and that is all that they had available at the time. But, in this case, the quadrant gear changer does suggest pre-WW2 as SA largely went to the trigger gear changer post-war.

On this machine, that extension and handlebars are obviously a later retro-fitting and, as one of your respondents remarked, that stem itself is quite a valuable item.

By the way, Royal Enfield frame numbers are more-or-less useless as they seem to have made them up as they went along, often starting again with the same sequences of numbers in successive years and even using the same sequences of numbers for different models within the same year.

For general information, please see the attached note on the make.

Regards,

National Cycle Museum
Scotford Lawrence
Historical Advisor.

 

[3-speeder]

Always nice to get more info and learn something about a bike. That's pretty cool stuff too.

I measured my leather straps for the cables and they are aprox. 7/16 by 6 inches

 

[John D. Williams]

Always nice to get more info and learn something about a bike. That's pretty cool stuff too.

I measured my leather straps for the cables and they are aprox. 7/16 by 6 inches

Thank you. More pics from the restoration soon!

 

[SirMike1983]

The two sources you emailed are on-the-money. In many cases, it is hard to tell an immediate pre-war bike from a post-war one. Probably 75% of the time, the bike turns out to be immediate post-war because of the export drive that took place immediately after the war. But every so often you come upon a pre-war bike. The hubs often have no date code to help. The patent referenced on the hub shell was applied for in spring 1939. The AW hubs had the hand-stamped, single digit date code through 1940, but stopped at some point in 1940. My sense is that we could better date those no-date hubs if we knew for certain when the patent was granted, which might roughly track with the transition from "Patent Applied For" to "Patent" markings on the no-date AW hubs. My 1939 and 40 AW hubs have "Patent Applied For" on them, and my 1946-47 no-date hubs have "Patent" on them. If I had to guess between pre and post war, I'd guess your Enfields are immediate post-war (as the first source you emailed indicated) given the hub imprint and export numbers over the years.

 

[John D. Williams]

The two sources you emailed are on-the-money. In many cases, it is hard to tell an immediate pre-war bike from a post-war one. Probably 75% of the time, the bike turns out to be immediate post-war because of the export drive that took place immediately after the war. But every so often you come upon a pre-war bike. The hubs often have no date code to help. The patent referenced on the hub shell was applied for in spring 1939. The AW hubs had the hand-stamped, single digit date code through 1940, but stopped at some point in 1940. My sense is that we could better date those no-date hubs if we knew for certain when the patent was granted, which might roughly track with the transition from "Patent Applied For" to "Patent" markings on the no-date AW hubs. My 1939 and 40 AW hubs have "Patent Applied For" on them, and my 1946-47 no-date hubs have "Patent" on them. If I had to guess between pre and post war, I'd guess your Enfields are immediate post-war (as the first source you emailed indicated) given the hub imprint and export numbers over the years.

Spot on SirMike. And you mentioned my "Enfields"-- how did you know I had a Royal Enfield Aero in Key West 1984? So this is my second. The resto is progressing well.

 

[John D. Williams]

Progress--

 

[SirMike1983]

It's in really remarkable condition. Even the head tube graphic and pin stripes are still in great shape. Really nice find and clean up.

 

[3-speeder]

I messaged Juvela and am waiting for a reply, thanks

Hope our friend @juvela is just on holiday