Raleigh Bronze Green

During the 1960s and 70s, Bronze Green became the "classic" color for a Raleigh road or utility bicycle. Whereas black had been the classic color from the 1900s-1950s, Bronze Green supplanted black gradually in the 1960s as the classic color. By the 1970s, Bronze Green became synonymous with Raleigh utility and common road bikes.

But what is Bronze Green? In general, it's a mixture of medium green and metal flake bronze or dark gold paint. But more specifically, Bronze Green actually varies greatly depending on the mixture of paints and even the era of the bicycle.




 Here's an example: a late 1960s-early 70s Raleigh Sprite with very bronze Bronze Green, and a 1974 Raleigh Grand Prix with very green Bronze Green paint.

And at right is the 1974 Grand Prix Bronze Green - very much more a green color than the Sprite.















Both are called "Bronze Green", but side-by-side they look quite different.

At left is a 1974 Raleigh Sports 3-speed, again more green than bronze. It's somewhere in between the Grand Prix and the Sprite in color.






So Bronze Green can mean a couple of different variations of color. The lesson, I suppose, is to carefully match the paint on your individual bike if you're going to touch-up the paint. Don't assume all Bronze Green is the same, or even very close in color.