Dating a very old Royal Enfield bicycle

This was one smart looking bicycle.

 An attractive and interesting looking Royal Enfield bicycle, obviously old, was recently identified by an archivist at the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK). 

The bicycle's buyer, João, found it in Portugal, but he didn't seem to know a lot about it. 

He knew it was English, and thought it might be from the 1940s. But the maker's badge on the headstock had worn off. 

He certainly realized the bicycle was a Royal Enfield product because of the chainwheel's artillery-piece motif. It's the unmistakable visual expression of Royal Enfield's longtime motto, "Made Like a Gun." 

Royal Enfield produced bicycles in Redditch, England, long before it made motorcycles. The first "Enfield" bicycles appeared in 1892 and "proved an instant success," according to Peter Miller's book "Royal Enfield, The Early History." 

The "Enfield" name was inspired by the fact that the factory had completed a contract supplying firearm components to the Royal Small Arms factory in Enfield, England.

The company quickly plucked the "Royal" name as well, and its bicycles became "Royal Enfields."

João emailed me asking for information about his bicycle.

His Royal Enfield looked to me to resemble a Royal Enfield bicycle of the 1930s. The intriguing "can" on the front hub was a drum brake, I thought, although this seemed odd as there was a front caliper brake as well.

Only the outlines of the head badge remained.

I ran through the Internet looking for vintage bicycle head badges that might resemble, in outline, the worn remains of the logo on the bicycle.

I could see the faint remains of a crown and shield, typical of Royal Enfield bicycles of the period, but found nothing that exactly matched images on the Internet.

Worse, I found that many English bicycle makers of the day used a crown motif as part of their badges.

This was even the case for Canterbury Cross bicycles, for a time a lower-priced sub brand of Royal Enfield. Some Canterbury Cross bicycles made by Royal Enfield had even used the distinctive cannon chainwheel design! Confusion.

Fortunately, some real experts were about to weigh in.

João sent photos of his bicycle to the historian at the National Cycle Museum in the UK. The response was helpful, but there was a problem:

"Royal Enfield  bicycles were made in Redditch in England for almost one hundred years and had a reputation for quality and solid reliability... Unfortunately, they also had a reputation for poor record keeping so it is always very difficult to find accurate information on dates, models of machines and so on. I have been unable to find a record of your frame number."

I decided to try sending the photos to the Royal Enfield Owner's Club. Its members mostly own Royal Enfield motorcycles today, but the club has taken Royal Enfield bicycles under its wing, too.

Club member, and bicycle and motorcycle enthusiast Richard Miller recently undertook collecting information about pedal powered Royal Enfields on the website Royal Enfield Bicycles.

Richard is the son of Peter Miller, the late author of "The Early History."

Thankfully Richard found a period catalog illustration that seems to show this  bicycle.

"I am the bicycle archivist for the Royal Enfield Owners Club in the UK," he wrote.

"Your cycle looks to be a nice find and is in good original condition. It is a Model E Deluxe; below is a picture from the 1938 catalogue. As far as I know this model was not produced after the War so it should date from the mid to late thirties."

I think we have a winner.

I was floored to see that the illustration even included the front drum brake, and the advertising copy boasted of "internal expanding brakes" as a selling point.

Richard's website is still a work in progress, and it asks for your help:

"If you have a picture of your Royal Enfield bicycle that you would be willing to submit and published in a gallery please do so via the contacts page.

"Your help with building up the serial number database would be very much appreciated – to assist please send in the serial number of your Royal Enfield bicycle along with (if known) the year of manufacture or model name or photo (or all three if you are feeling particularly helpful!). The contact details link is on the top navigation bar.

"Early Royal Enfield had their frame number on the lower front part of the steerer tube or in some cases on the right side rear drop out; after that it moved to the left hand top of the seat tube. Some sporting models have their frame number on the left hand rear drop out."

And, finally, it has one piece of advice many will appreciate:

"If you have a Royal Enfield fitted with its original three speed Sturmey Archer hub you are in luck – Sturmey hubs are normally stamped with a month and year code."