Mr. Freitas Asked:
Just out of the box(greatest packing job I've seen in a while) OK all you RALEIGH experts out there ,what is it I bought? serial reads SB33** cant read it to well because of the thick paint.
Mr Kohler replied:
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Well according to the CR posting by Mike Mullett back in April, an SB33** serial number would fall between 1979-80. My SB 4074 was shipped from the UK about November 1980. Your frame, however, has braze ons for the brake cable atop the top tube which must have been added later OR this was a frame built for specs other than Raleigh Team. On these the braze ons were under the top tube.
My 2-cents: I'd say that 1980 is way off, and the notion that the 33xx serial number would make it older than the 1979-80 with serial number 4074 is also not correct. Are we usre these serial numbers are sequential? Is it possible that the s/n on Freita's bike is 83xx, or something? I'd say that the frame in the photos, paint and braze-ons aside, is no older than 1985. The seat lug is that boxy investment-cast (Cinelli?) type that a friend had on his custom 753 from 1987, and we didn't really see it earlier than that. The very small seat stay caps are mid 80's and later, and while I can't be more specific, I'm pretty certain that they were not around in 1979 or before. Back then the stays were much bigger, not the thin-fat-thin profile that we see on the subject bike. The bike also appears to have a Cinelli BB shell. This BB, and the lugs, all point to mid-to-late 80's production (I'd say 1986-1990) and I'm sure some else can be more specific, I see nothing to suggest that the paint and braze-ons are not original.
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA
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