Old Raleigh Pioneer Classic 15S with no Letters in the frame number?

[Imladris]

Hello, picked up an old ladies step through Raleigh Pioneer classic, with center pull brakes - the ones with just a pair of wires.

It's a school bike for my 11 year old, though we may look at doing something different with the brakes as not very powerful, compared to the V brakes she is used to.

It had very rotten road tires and cracked mudguards too, but we swapped those out for some good Schwalbes.

There is a number on a sticker and also another stamped vertically low on the seat post tube, but I've been all over the recommended websites and the schemes with only 7 digits and no letters ended long before the 1989 to 1996 this bike was supposedly manufactured.

Can anyone help please?

Frame number is 6094144 and the number on the sticker is 51983876. It also says complies to BS 61027 so does that mean 1993 when that came out? I think it did anyway.... Unless these are added aftermarket.

But if a 1993-1996 one then why not have the same type of numbering with the letters and numbers?

All thoughts gratefully received.

Thankyou.

 

[raleighnut]

You can fit V-brakes to that easy (same pivots) and as for Raleigh frame numbers...........they've always been a mystery.

 

[tyred]

I can't narrow it down but definitely mid '90s. Earlier Pioneers like the one I will be riding in the next half hour or so had lugged and brazed frames with Reynolds 501 tubing and horizontal dropouts.

I had a very similar looking (to yours) Pioneer Jaguar that I fixed and sold to a friend. It was a very different bike to mine as it was lugless construction. I was told that all Raleighs from the last few years of Nottingham production were all of lugless construction. It was Raleigh 18-23 tubing and had vertical dropouts. It was a deceptively nice bike to ride.

Canti brakes should work to a decent standard if adjusted and use decent pads.

 

[Jameshow]

Look at some if the components they usually have a date stamp moulded into them?

 

[Drago]

GS100 with those odd plastic encased canti brakes makes it 1993 +/-1.

You can probably find a date code on the rearmof the cranks.

 

[simongt]

It had very rotten road tires

In about 1981, my in laws kindly acquired an old ladies single speed BSA for me to commute on; I was pretty broke at the time.
The tyres bore the legend 'Dunlop War Grade Rubber'.