Tandemtom2024

Hello everyone. I have a vintage, Raleigh, Avenir, 24 speed, tandem, bike, in excellent condition and I can't understand the meaning of its serial number. The tandem has two numbers. One is 08D0036303 and the other number is BC-08. Please help! If you know how much the bike is worth, I might be interested in selling. Thank you!

veganbikes

You will probably want to ask in the What It's Worth sub-forum. You can ask the moderators to move the thread there. They have a lot of people in the Classic and Vintage WIW section, folks who know Raleigh. You might also have them combine the other thread with this one so you aren't making duplicate threads.

alcjphil

Bicycle serial numbers have nothing akin to VIN's on cars. You have found 2 numbers: The first probably indicates the date of manufacture OF THE FRAME, The second is probably an indication of the frame size. It isn't unusual for a bicycle frame to be manufactured in one facility and to be assembled into a complete bicycle elsewhere
A car VIN is applied at the end of the manufacturing process. A bicycle frame serial number is applied at the beginning

dedhed

​​​​​​https://www.kurtkaminer.com/TH_raleigh_serials.html

Russ Roth

Its not going to be worth a lot, probably only a few hundred for an easy sale. Raleigh made a few tandems in the late 90s to mid teens, being 24sp I'd guess yours is in that age range though I don't remember it in particular. The nicest were the pursuit which was a 27sp road tandem, the disc version of the companion or the Cadent. The rest were largely comfort style for couples to have fun, leisurely rides around town or the local bike path. The disc Companion and Cadent were slightly better equipped versions of these comfort style and used 700c wheels. Other than the Pursuit, they all retailed for 600-1200 and, like many tandems, haven't held their value well. Last year I paid 300 for a 27sp Ultegra/Phil Wood equipped Co-Motion that would have been significantly more than yours when new and is probably about the same vintage and that's cause after 6 months of trying to sell it for 500 the owners just wanted it to move on. But I've also sold 3-4 tandems that, after weeks of trying out didn't fit right, for 300 with no issue. So while I suspect you'll have a hard time getting more than that unless you get lucky, it should be an easy amount to sell it for.

Tandemtom2024

Hello Russ. Thank you for the information. I have never came across a tandem bike in my entire life, and I'm going into all this blind. It really is a nice looking bike, works great (that I can tell), and despite not knowing what the serial number means, I'm very interested in learning more. What venue do you recommend trying to sell for a fair price? Thank you again. Tom

mstateglfr 

You own a tandem, your screen name is tandemtom, but you have never come across a tandem bike in your life?

bboy314

I’m guessing they mean this is the first tandem they’ve encountered, and it inspired the screen name which they needed to join the forum and ask their question.

OP, as others have said, used tandems are a tough sell, even really high end ones, which the Raleigh isn’t. A few hundred bucks is probably the best you’ll get depending on your market.