Date and possible value of this raleigh?!

[huiyang_123]

Hello!
I've recently restored this raleigh and was just wondering what kind of date it was manufactured? I think it might be late 70's but I'm not too sure! Also, any ideas on the price too would be helpful, I'm thinking about selling it on!
Thanks

 

[YahudaMoon]

Im not sure ? I think its late 70's. It don't look like it's anything special and it has those suicide brake levers. I think they nicknamed them 'suicide levers' as they are deadly because they are useless.

Its still a nice bike though. It's a step through ladies city bike / shopper. Id expect £70 - £100 for it maybe ?

The tubing on the frame looks nice. Could be a good frame or Cheap Gas pipe tubing. Maybe someone else could shine some light on it ?

 

[smokeysmoo]

UNIVERSAL CYCLES basically swallowed up loads of bicycle manufacturers after their creation in the late 70's and right through the 80's. For a long time now they have been generally regarded as a producer/distributor of various genres of BSO, (think Argos, Asda etc).

However, this looks a nice little project if it floats your boat. Value wise it's never going to be worth very much, maybe £70-£100 as previously stated, (on a very good day), although I'd be harder and say £30 - £50 TBH. It's one of those things you might by for a bit of nostalgia, then probably sell on in a couple of months/years and probably even get your money back.

 

[YahudaMoon]

020 high tensile steel suggest its cheap gas pipe tubing

 

[tyred]

It will never be valuable but Mixte frames have their fans so may sell for more than the normal gent's or lady's version of the same bike. Mixte frames are quite stylist and different from the norm and definitely worth spending time on imo.

Should be a nice, relaxing ride if you sort the gearing. It's looks to have a 46 or 48 tooth front chainwheel and probably 14-24 back block, giving a silly bottom gear ratio for anywhere that isn't flat. It would be much nicer to ride with a 40 tooth chainwheel. Don't worry about the "suicide" brake levers. If the brakes are adjusted properly with good pads, they work to an acceptable standard and are a handy feature imo.

 

[chillyuk]

Going by the OP's thread title I think it should be made clear to the OP that this bike is not a Raleigh. Universal bikes used to be based in Rayleigh, Essex, and are nothing to do with the Raleigh bicycle company. This should avoid hassles with an incorrect description in an advert if he sells it on.

 

[Zoiders]

Clean ones that run we sell at the recycling project for about £40/50

£70/100 is wishfull thinking, I would not be comfortable selling a gas piper with steel rims to someone for that amount of money, especialy as the tyres will need replacing soon as they tend to perish.

£20+ for a new set on top of £100 is nudging towards the price of a usable gas-piper from the likes of Decathlon.

 

[TheDoctor]

It's not a Raleigh. Universal Cycles (based in Rayleigh) are pretty much bicycle-shaped objects, and I wouldn't spend much time on it at all. They were very cheap when new, and time won't have done them any favours.
Sorry to sound negative.