When Was My Three Speed Bike Made? A Beginner's Guide

 

If you are a beginner looking to find the date of manufacture of a particular three speed bike, here are the basic ways of doing it. Let's presume you have no access to service records or the original owner and you're just finding a bike "in the wild".

 

1. Look on the rear hub for a date code. Sturmey Archer hubs usually have a date code and a model stamped on the rear hub shell.

•  "K" model imprinted on hub: 1918-1937 era. Look on the hub for a date code. Date codes with just one number date to the 1930s, with the single number being the year in that decade (e.g., "5" means 1935, "6" means 1936, etc.).

• "AW" model imprinted on hub: 1936 or later. If the imprint is just one number, it dates to the 1930s with that number being the year in the 1930s (e.g., "6" means 1936, "9" means 1939). If the imprint has two numbers, those numbers are the month and the year (e.g., 5 73 means May 1973; 6 55 means June 1955).  If not date code at all, those date to around the time of WWII, just before to just after the war.
  

• "FW" model imprinted on hub : four speed hub, 1946 or later. Date the same way as the AW hub above (look for the two number date code). 
  

47 10 means an October 1947 hub

 

 2. Look at the model name and overall appearance of the bike. For Raleigh Sports bikes, visit the Headbadge website HERE for a helpful chart. For Schwinn bikes, visit the field guide HERE. 

Ornate graphics and serial number show this is a 1959 Schwinn

 

Graphics help identify a 1958 Raleigh Sports

 

3. Look at the serial number of the bike. For Raleigh serial numbers, visit the Headbadge website HERE. For Schwinn serial numbers, check the bottom bracket, non-drive rear dropout, or the head tube. If the serial number of a Schwinn is on the bottom bracket, it's before 1952. If the serial number is on the non-drive rear drop out, it's from 1952-1969. If the serial number is on the head tube, it's 1970 or later. See the Angelfire Schwinn serial number guide HERE. Schwinn New World models have a serial number database HERE. Post-war Schwinn Superior bikes have a database HERE.

4. Look on the front hub for a possible date code. Certain Sturmey Archer front hubs, particularly those with drum brakes or dynamos inside, have date codes. Look for two numbers, a month code and a year code (e.g., 5 52 is May 1952; 6 71 is June 1971; etc.). Note - not all front hubs have a date code, so this is approach only occasionally helpful.

02 91 means February 1991 on this hub.

 

5. What kind of Sturmey Archer shifter is present? These are not always reliable because people change shifters. But sometimes this can help. See Martin Hanczyc's guide to shifters HERE. 

An early 1950s style shifter.