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Repair · Restore · Ride

The Vintage Bicycles UK community

Where it all began…

I started the group in November 2014, just for a friend and me to share our vintage bicycle projects. It has grown and grown since.

I've been around bicycles since the 1980s, out in my grandfather's shed watching and helping him fix them in any spare time I had, until around 2001. So I've always been around pre-1990s bicycles.

Garry Gregory, founder

Join the communityExplore the guide
The Vintage Bicycles UK badge: a chainring around a vintage bicycle, reading Repair, Restore, Ride, Est. 2014, The Heritage Preserved
35,000+members in Vintage Bicycles UK
21,500+in For Sale, Swap and Wanted
15,500+in Retro Mountain Bikes UK
2014when it all started

Group sizes as of October 2026.

From my collection

Bikes and parts I've had

Green Hercules gents' bicycle with a sprung saddle, upright bars and chrome mudguard stays, seen from above
The green Hercules, with Balmoral on the top tube.
The same front and rear lamps, now bright and clean, with a dynamo beside them
After: the same lamps, cleaned with kitchen foil and polished with Autosol. The dynamo is on the right.
Black BMX with red tyres, red saddle and red grips on a display stand
The Scimitar BMX on show.
Orange Gary Fisher mountain bike with Gary Fisher on the down tube
The Gary Fisher, with Wahoo on the top tube.
Orange Sunbeam small-wheel bicycle with a white saddle and a rear carrier
Orange Sunbeam small-wheel bike.
Raleigh Vektar with a red frame and white body panels on grass, with a black ladies' bike behind
Raleigh Vektar at a show.

See all 160 photos

The community

Find your group

Everything happens in our Facebook groups. Pick the one that fits, or join them all.

Vintage Bicycles UKOver 35,000 membersThe main group. Show your bikes, ask questions and share your finds.Join on Facebook
Vintage Bicycles UK – For Sale / Swap / WantedOver 21,500 membersBuy, sell and swap bikes, frames and parts with other members.Join on Facebook
Retro Mountain Bikes UKOver 15,500 membersFor the mountain bikes of the 1980s and 1990s.Join on Facebook
Vintage Bicycles UK – EventsOver 750 membersRides, jumbles and meet-ups.Join on Facebook
Vintage BMX UKOver 50 membersOld-school BMX.Join on Facebook
The guide

Every model, sourced. Search 352 pages.

Built from the catalogues and the historians, with every fact linked to where it came from. Search by name, brand, type, a year or a decade. The same box searches the guides, tools and parts too.

Try:
Brands

The makers

Each brand has its own page with its models underneath. Brands marked 'Pages coming' are waiting for catalogues we can check.

Raleigh and the brands it took over

RaleighNottingham · 1887 or 1888, sources differ106 model pagesHumberBeeston · cycles from 1878 · Raleigh from 19325 model pagesRudgeRudge-Whitworth, 1894 · Raleigh from 19437 model pagesTriumphFounded 1886 · Raleigh date disputed1 model pageBSABirmingham · bicycles from 1880 · Raleigh from 19576 model pagesCarltonCarlton, then Worksop · 1896 or 1898 · Raleigh from 196016 model pagesPhillipsTube Investments group · Raleigh from 19602 model pagesHerculesBirmingham · 1910 · Raleigh from 19601 model pageSunName from 1885 · Raleigh-run from 19614 model pagesMoultonBradford-on-Avon · Raleigh 1967 to 19743 model pages

British classics

DawesBirmingham · 1906 or 1926, sources differ5 model pagesClaud ButlerClapham Junction, London · 192856 model pagesHoldsworthBeckenham, then Putney · from 192320 model pagesHetchinsTottenham, London · 192214 model pagesVikingWolverhampton · 1908 to 19671 model pageElswick-HopperBarton-upon-Humber · 18804 model pagesFalconCoventry, later Brigg · 1880s2 model pagesPashleyBirmingham, later Stratford-upon-Avon · 19267 model pagesMercianDerby · 194613 model pages

The retro mountain bike era: British brands

Muddy FoxBasildon · mid-1980s12 model pagesRidgebackMilton Keynes · 19832 model pagesSaracenWarwick · 19831 model pageOrangeHalifax · 19881 model pageBritish EagleCoventry roots · ended 19942 model pages

The retro mountain bike era: from overseas

GTSanta Ana, California · 19792 model pagesKonaWashington State · 19881 model pageDiamondbackNewbury Park, California · 19772 model pagesSanta CruzSanta Cruz, California · 19935 model pagesGary FisherMountainBikes from 1979 · Trek from 19933 model pagesSpecializedMorgan Hill, California · 19745 model pagesTrekWaterloo, Wisconsin · 19767 model pagesCannondaleConnecticut · 19711 model pageMarinNear San Francisco · 19869 model pagesKleinChehalis, Washington · Trek from 19952 model pagesYetiFirst frame 1985 · Schwinn from 19957 model pagesRocky MountainVancouver · 19815 model pagesRitcheyFrames from 19734 model pagesScottSun Valley, Idaho · 19582 model pagesGiantTaichung, Taiwan · 19721 model pageMongooseBMX roots · 19744 model pagesUnivegaLong Beach, California · 1970s1 model page
Guides

Buying, cleaning and servicing

Our members' know-how from years of restorations, checked against Sheldon Brown, Park Tool and the makers, with sources on every page.

How to spot a good restoration candidateA checklist to use before you hand over cash: what to look for, what to question and when to walk away.Cleaning chromeBring back the shine on chrome rims, bars and small parts without scratching the plating.Servicing a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hubStrip, clean, oil and adjust an AW-type hub, following Sheldon Brown's notes.Getting the tyre size rightOld inch sizes are ambiguous. The ISO number on the tyre is what has to match the rim.

All 17 guides

The workshop

Tools and parts for old bikes

The Park Tool part numbers that fit cottered and cotterless cranks, cup-and-cone bottom brackets, old freewheels and fixed sprockets. Plus Sturmey-Archer hub and Brooks saddle guides, with the replacements to buy.

See the toolsSturmey-Archer and Brooks
Help fill the gaps

Got an old catalogue in the loft?

Our biggest gap is UK Raleigh catalogues from 1959 to 1983, and every other brand needs its catalogues too. Photograph the pages that list the models and we'll record every name and number, with credit to you. Photos are never published.

Share a catalogue