FRAME NUMBER BICYCLE DATING GUIDE. RALEIGH FRAME NUMBER DATING. If you want to date a vintage bicycle and it has chrome parts. The most complete vintage Raleigh serial number chart. Given the number of bicycles produced at Raleigh during any given year versus the relatively small sample.

Having checked all the usual haunts (Sheldon Brown, Kurt Kaminer and a couple of others), I've drawn a blank in trying to decode the serial number of a vintage steel Raleigh R100. The build is Shimano 105 1050/1051 series, which seems original and dates the bike at circa 1989.

Despite the 'Made in England' decals, it could be an Asian-made frame, and the standard N=Nottingham, W=Worksop. Scheme doesn't extend to my serial number. The confirmed serial number is YF98K00287, which I'd tentatively parse as follows; - 'Y' or 'YF' may refer to the factory/location in which the frame was built - 'F' could me a month code - '9' may be 1989, or '98' could be (19)89 transposed - 'K' could be a month/shift/batch code - '00287' is likely to be the sequence number in the manufacturing batch/shift TIA.

What this chart is intended to be: This chart has been developed as an additional reference guide (more so then simply dating off Sturmey-Archer hubs) for the positive identification of Raleigh frames and entire bicycles. As proper factory documentation is very limited, the following charts are a constant work in progress; they have been compiled by examining numerous Raleigh frames from each period, component date codes, decal schemes, color availabilities per year; and - occasionally - official papers. That said, these charts are representative of U.S. Production only, unless noted.

And export production serials may vary - conversely, they may not. There isn't enough data to claim either option as absolute. Keep in mind that these charts are incomplete, and there is a reasonably wide margin of error between serial cutoff dates.

Given the number of bicycles produced at Raleigh during any given year versus the relatively small sample size of bikes available to me (200+ individual examples at last count), I cannot guarentee absolute accuracy. Nevertheless, please put your mind at ease - these serial charts have been checked, re-checked, and are as accurate as I can provide at their time of publication. If new information is found, these charts will be duly updated to reflect such. IMPORTANT NOTE to beginners: Some serial systems from one era may resemble that of an earlier or later era. Please make a concerted effort to see that your serial(s) is/are an exact match - that is, the serial number system, serial placement, and font type are identical to that of your frame.

Otherwise, you might accidentally misidentify your Raleigh bicycle. Dor your sake and that of fellow collectors, please make 100% sure that your conclusions from this chart are correct. If your Raleigh is equipped with a Sturmey-Archer rear hub that you suspect has not been been changed, check the date code on the hub's shell as well for additional verification. REPRODUCTION POLICY: Please do not repost the serial charts below elsewhere. Visopt Vray Sketchup Full Version here. I have put considerable effort into keeping these charts accurate, and - as stated before - not all of them are finalized.