current state.
rear view
cuts a nice profile!
decals revealed after removing batman tape and metal head badge
sturmey archer aw. Stamped "62" "2"
front rim.
front and rear fenders. Decal almost entirely worn off rear.
hi, again. I think i can post photos now that i've achieved ten posts! I had all of this written out prior to joining this forum, so bear with me if it's kinda long. I found this bike, or should i say it found me, at a local thrift store. I knew it seemed something unique, but didn't pull the trigger on buying it for the $40 they originally wanted for it, and it looked like a kid had previously owned it as it had batman duct tape over the seat and down tubes, but after a week of it sitting there and no one wanting it we negotiated a $25 price and it was mine! When i saw it originally i had taken some pictures of and had tried doing some research online about what kind of bike this might be. I googled the "royal" head badge and could only find one photo by someone selling a crusty one on u.k. Ebay for four pounds. I did find all sorts of similar logos though, but nothing else that matched. I determined, i think, it was probably something made by raleigh or a subsidiary. Through sheldon brown's site i found out how to determine it's age via the sturmey archer gear hub. It was indeed stamped "62" "2" "aw". So, 1962! Heck, that's old! I should know as i was born in 1964. ;-) i found the stamped serial number under the seat and it reads "26269 n ph". For some reason sheldon brown's and other sites skip how to decode serial
#s from 1962 and 1963. So, anyone's guess is as good as mine what it means. I think since there is a "2" "62" close to each other at the beginning and that's the same as what's on the gear hub, i'm going with 1962 as year of build. The "n" some would saw could be made in nottingham. The decal on the rear fender is mostly rubbed off, and i read on another site that's where it might say nottingham. No idea about the "ph", well i do have a theory. After i cleaned off the batman tape one could see remnants of the decal on the seat post of what appears to say "made in england for someone harris something building in new york". Well, i did find one other mention online of another person having a bike from this year and his decal read, "made in england for d.p. Harris hdw & mfg rollfast building new york". Yup, that's what this one appears so say too. Does the "ph" on the stamped serial# mean p harris? Furthering this theory, the only mention of a "royal" brand on brown's site says there was a "royal scot" (closest to royal on the list) brand that was made for a major bicycle dealer in new york. So, that's my best guess. The bike was made in england by raleigh for d.p. Harris (founder of the famous rollfast bikes) in 1962. So, then, how did it get to denver, colorado? Someone thought enough of the bike to replace some parts at some point to keep it going; an aluminum usa sunrim on the rear, a vinyl avocet seat, a nitto aluminum handle bar neck , cheng shin tires a added a nifty 1980s union dynamo front and rear light set (made in west germany - it works!). I'm guessing the brake and gear cable lines and tubes may have been replaced too. Otherwise, best i can tell is everything else is original and i'm happy to report the thing rides great! The tires and tubes even are holding air after pumping them up and the gears and brakes work fine. I haven't really had to do anything but some cleaning, and i'll do more in the near future, plus lubricating. I love the rusty,rough patina. Anyway, that's the story so far on my 1962 royal english 3-speed. I know it's a "b" brand raleigh and probably not worth very much money, but it has character and i love it! If anyone has any info or corrections, please feel free to chime in.