Hi all,This is my (what i assume to be based on the stampings) 1968 malvern star *something* that I recently bought for AUD$50. I know next to nothing about vintage bikes but bought it because I thought it looked cool. The Sturmey Archer hub came to me only being able to get into two of the three gears, so I took it apart, gave everything a nice clean and oil and put it back together with the help of a very clear youtube video and now it shifts between all three perfectly.
As I said, I don’t know anything about vintage bikes or Malvern Star. I would love to hear what kind of bike this would have been in its day/how high end or low end it might have been. Or to identify the bike beyond just malvern star at all!. The only other information I have about the bike is that it is quite heavy, significantly heavier than any modern bike I’ve ridden. Excited to hear what everyone has to say.If any more images are needed to ID let me know and i’ll take some more
Decent mid level Raleigh Sports knock-off. The 3 speed hub will date it with a year or two.
Does the Dyno work? It’s the front hub. Not a ton of power, but it will light up a few modern led lights, or you can convert vintage lights to led.
If it doesn’t work, don’t open it. Unlike the IGH you cleaned up, it’s near impossible to fix and reassemble.
It’s a great, comfortable cruiser. Short of racing, it’ll likely take whatever else you can throw at it.
As always, though more Raleigh specfic, jump down th Sheldon Brown rabbit hole.
If you’re planning on updating, there are two standard ones for vintage 3 speeds, aluminum wheel rims, and replacing the 18 tooth chain ring on the IGH to a 20. Modern Shimano IGH rings work and are cheap. You might need a new chain or add a couple links, often dont need to, but it’s a crap shoot.
firstoff on
Hey OP. Congratulations on a fantastic find and a great bargain.
As you know nothing about vintage bikes let me tell you that Malvern Star was a household brand from the 1920s to the 1960s, and probably still is the most prestigious cycling brand Australia has ever had. It started in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern and was made famous by the great Sir Hubert “Oppy” Opperman who rode on a Malvern Stars throughout his career. Suggest you read his [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Opperman) page where every photo of him shows him sitting atop a Malvern Star.
The name ‘Malvern Star’ was acquired by Pacific Brands some time around 2010 and they made a short-lived series of “Oppy” carbon racing bikes in the years around 2014. They were mass produced Chinese frames that often suffered from unfortunate ‘death wobbles’, resulting in a poor reputation and product recalls. Despite this, original steel bikes with the original markings are still sought after by serious collectors, although the high-end road and track racing bikes are worth the most. The more ‘stars’ on the head tube, the more valuable.
Your bike is not a racing bike; it’s a utilitarian town bike for getting around on. But it has much of the livery (and all of the prestige) of a high-end racing bike made by Malvern Star.
To my eye it’s probably a bit earlier than 1968, but I’m basing that on frame elements like the fork crown and the seatstay clamp as well as the decals which seem to be quite a bit earlier than 1968.
Can I suggest that you look for the serial number which should be stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket. There should be numbers followed by a letter then some more numbers.
The left most number should be the year of manufacture. The letter will be either an M, P, A or S, denoting where it was built – Melbourne Perth Adelaide or Sydney. (I would expect to see an M). On the right hand side side of the number will be the actual frame number. So your bike should have something like “68 M 1234” indicating it was the 1,234th frame made in Melbourne in 1968.
If for some reason there isn’t a serial number stamped under the bottom bracket then it’s a strong indicator that the frame is older than you think. Have a look all over the frame for some more numbers – possibly stamped into or near the rear dropout or into the seat lug. Come back to me with these numbers and we can investigate further.
I am particularly interested in your bike because it could be really helpful in my restoration of a 1968 Malvern Star Five Star. I’ve never seen another Malvern Star from 1968 and if your bike genuinely is a ’68 then I want to know a lot more about it. Would love to get some good photos of all the decals and get them professionally replicated.
There is a lot of great stuff I love about this bike – Original steel rims with the original Woods Valve on the back, great condition chrome on the components, lovely original cottered cranks, brake levers that look like they could be from the 1950s. I could go on… I would try to maintain this bike’s integrity. It’s old but it’s a beauty and worth considerably more kept as original as possible. It’s definitely no ersatz Raleigh. That’s why it’s worth doing a bit of homework to determine if it’s a ’68 frame or an earlier one that has been updated in the late 60s.
3 Comments
Hi all,This is my (what i assume to be based on the stampings) 1968 malvern star *something* that I recently bought for AUD$50. I know next to nothing about vintage bikes but bought it because I thought it looked cool. The Sturmey Archer hub came to me only being able to get into two of the three gears, so I took it apart, gave everything a nice clean and oil and put it back together with the help of a very clear youtube video and now it shifts between all three perfectly.
As I said, I don’t know anything about vintage bikes or Malvern Star. I would love to hear what kind of bike this would have been in its day/how high end or low end it might have been. Or to identify the bike beyond just malvern star at all!. The only other information I have about the bike is that it is quite heavy, significantly heavier than any modern bike I’ve ridden. Excited to hear what everyone has to say.If any more images are needed to ID let me know and i’ll take some more
[https://imgur.com/a/NPLbStC](https://imgur.com/a/NPLbStC)
Decent mid level Raleigh Sports knock-off. The 3 speed hub will date it with a year or two.
Does the Dyno work? It’s the front hub. Not a ton of power, but it will light up a few modern led lights, or you can convert vintage lights to led.
If it doesn’t work, don’t open it. Unlike the IGH you cleaned up, it’s near impossible to fix and reassemble.
It’s a great, comfortable cruiser. Short of racing, it’ll likely take whatever else you can throw at it.
As always, though more Raleigh specfic, jump down th Sheldon Brown rabbit hole.
If you’re planning on updating, there are two standard ones for vintage 3 speeds, aluminum wheel rims, and replacing the 18 tooth chain ring on the IGH to a 20. Modern Shimano IGH rings work and are cheap. You might need a new chain or add a couple links, often dont need to, but it’s a crap shoot.
Hey OP. Congratulations on a fantastic find and a great bargain.
As you know nothing about vintage bikes let me tell you that Malvern Star was a household brand from the 1920s to the 1960s, and probably still is the most prestigious cycling brand Australia has ever had. It started in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern and was made famous by the great Sir Hubert “Oppy” Opperman who rode on a Malvern Stars throughout his career. Suggest you read his [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Opperman) page where every photo of him shows him sitting atop a Malvern Star.
The name ‘Malvern Star’ was acquired by Pacific Brands some time around 2010 and they made a short-lived series of “Oppy” carbon racing bikes in the years around 2014. They were mass produced Chinese frames that often suffered from unfortunate ‘death wobbles’, resulting in a poor reputation and product recalls. Despite this, original steel bikes with the original markings are still sought after by serious collectors, although the high-end road and track racing bikes are worth the most. The more ‘stars’ on the head tube, the more valuable.
Your bike is not a racing bike; it’s a utilitarian town bike for getting around on. But it has much of the livery (and all of the prestige) of a high-end racing bike made by Malvern Star.
To my eye it’s probably a bit earlier than 1968, but I’m basing that on frame elements like the fork crown and the seatstay clamp as well as the decals which seem to be quite a bit earlier than 1968.
Can I suggest that you look for the serial number which should be stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket. There should be numbers followed by a letter then some more numbers.
The left most number should be the year of manufacture. The letter will be either an M, P, A or S, denoting where it was built – Melbourne Perth Adelaide or Sydney. (I would expect to see an M). On the right hand side side of the number will be the actual frame number. So your bike should have something like “68 M 1234” indicating it was the 1,234th frame made in Melbourne in 1968.
If for some reason there isn’t a serial number stamped under the bottom bracket then it’s a strong indicator that the frame is older than you think. Have a look all over the frame for some more numbers – possibly stamped into or near the rear dropout or into the seat lug. Come back to me with these numbers and we can investigate further.
I am particularly interested in your bike because it could be really helpful in my restoration of a 1968 Malvern Star Five Star. I’ve never seen another Malvern Star from 1968 and if your bike genuinely is a ’68 then I want to know a lot more about it. Would love to get some good photos of all the decals and get them professionally replicated.
There is a lot of great stuff I love about this bike – Original steel rims with the original Woods Valve on the back, great condition chrome on the components, lovely original cottered cranks, brake levers that look like they could be from the 1950s. I could go on… I would try to maintain this bike’s integrity. It’s old but it’s a beauty and worth considerably more kept as original as possible. It’s definitely no ersatz Raleigh. That’s why it’s worth doing a bit of homework to determine if it’s a ’68 frame or an earlier one that has been updated in the late 60s.