Phillips Bicycle?

schwinnmesa · Jan 3, 2009

I was at an antique mall the other day and noticed a very old ladies bicycle, black in color. The brand name was Phillips with the text around the sprocket too. The decals on the bike said, "Birmingham - Made in England" with a serial number of AO11779. The brakes were very unique, not your typical caliper brakes. They pulled up on the rim rather than squeezing the sides. I'm just wondering how old these bikes are and what they're worth.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

StephenH · Jan 4, 2009

Those brakes are called "rod brakes". Raleigh actually used rod brakes on some bike models up untill 1968 or so. I don't know the history of Phillips; it may have been incorporated into Raleigh at some point. Rod brakes are still used on various Asian bicycles.

The Raleigh rod-brake bicycles in good rideable shape, in men's frame, go for around $300-$400 here in the US. Women's frames seem to be more common with less demand, and consequently don't bring as high prices. The Phillips seem to be similarly valued to the Raleighs, from what I can tell. If it was especially old or especially nice condition, it might be worth more.

Some of these bikes had options such as generator hubs or 3-speed hubs that affect the value some. If you have to replace tires, tubes, wheels, brake pads, etc., you can spend a fair bit of money getting one into riding shape. They generally have 28" tires, which are harder to find and cost more.