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GeePig said:
TI Sturmey-Archer, so no older than 1960, so unlikely to be older than me.

Dammit, I remember such things new in the shops...
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I talked to the original owner‘s son last night at a party; I told him about my ‘1930’s theory’ On the bike. He said no way. He said he was really young, but remembered his his dad (Mr. Thieben) bought the bike new at a bike shop in Long Island in the late 60’s.

Wildcat said:
If it's super smooth and has no play, I'd leave it alone, except for a little light oil.
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100%. - 0 play.

Ride 'em High said:
I'd done some investigation since finding one similar and will likely return here for later instruction so I appreciate all this, but couldn't quite connect those numbers nor frame with a 30s build either, and I tried. (Surely you've seen that the 30s builds supposedly start with a letter). I did just notice that tiny mushroom hook behind the cranks on both frames for the pump mount. At the very least the 70s frame has a more precise bend that might hint at newer machining and if I'm seeing that correctly doesn't seem to use copper at the head like the (hopefully) older frame.
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I’ll dig deeper on the SN today. I was thinking 30’s on this bike as all I can find is A ‘30‘ on the bottom bracket and I read somewhere that for a while all Raleigh did for serial numbers was stamp the last two digits of the year of manufacture.

I trust my source on the late 60’s / original owner, but I will dig deeper on the serial number just to see if I can make some since of it.
 
Jude Ephesus said:
I talked to the original owner‘s son last night at a party; I told him about my ‘1930’s theory’ On the bike. He said no way. He said he was really young, but remembered his his dad (Mr. Thieben) bought the bike new at a bike shop in Long Island in the late 60’s.
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I'd done some investigation since finding one similar and will likely return here for later instruction so I appreciate all this, but couldn't quite connect those numbers nor frame with a 30s build either, and I tried. (Surely you've seen that the 30s builds supposedly start with a letter). I did just notice that tiny mushroom hook behind the cranks on both frames for the pump mount. At the very least the 70s frame has a more precise bend that might hint at newer machining and if I'm seeing that correctly doesn't seem to use copper at the head like the (hopefully) older frame.

If that tiny piece shines up like copper it's a good indication it may be pre-war.

I just checked my own frame for hooks and found none =( which seems from the catalog that you can at least narrow the model down from their having a pump or not.
 
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Jude Ephesus said:
And @The Renaissance Man was right: a whole bunch of numbers after the ‘30’

No clue what it means, but looks like a full serial number to me!!!

from what I can gather, the 7 digits + BB location would indicate that my friend is right and this would be a ‘63-‘69 frame.
View attachment 234568
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Sixties to mid 70s you don't have the Raleigh self adjust brakes but may have been changed I'm thinking superb model with different front tire and your crank has eyes late 70s models didn't
 
ingola said:
Sixties to mid 70s you don't have the Raleigh self adjust brakes but may have been changed I'm thinking superb model with different front tire and your crank has eyes late 70s models didn't
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One thing I did notice, and I’m a bit concerned, the green bike has tabs on both the down tube and the seat tube for mounting the chain guard. This black bike doesn’t have anything! o_O
 

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