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I am trying to get an online reference to the exact specs of my second hand bike. What are a) Some good techniques/things to look for? b) Some resources to help the dating process.

E.g I see that https://bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?item=24141 visually exactly matches my bike, however the later models are closer in terms of exact specs, but none are an exact match.

I want to find out for examples which models of tiagra RD were 9 speed (which mine is) but I dont know of any good place to find such information. (This hobby seems to be all about latest/greatest :( )

Alternately I want to find out where to find/locate the model numbers of the various components. Other clues I have is a Truvativ crankset 53/39. FD RD and shifters all tiagra.

Karthik T
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  • BikePedia is a good source for info. Bike models may only differ year to year by paint color. It is not unusual for an overstock frame to be fitted with the next years components. It is also possible that at the end of the model year they installed the next years components on the previous years frame. Unlike automobiles model years don't have fixed year to year cutoff date. – mikes Jul 11 '18 at 10:07
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    A good way to date a bike is by the overall design, and the groupset installed (knowing that sometimes things get changed) That linked Raleigh looks like a ~2000-2010 model. Later aluminium designs tend to be more sloped in top tube as hydroforming became affordable. Earlier ones tend to be overbuilt with chunky tubes, because aluminium was not as well understood as steel. Horizontal top tubes look "right" so that is a Super Nice Bike! – Criggie Jul 11 '18 at 11:26
  • Sadly most of the Raleigh serial number information stops in the mid 80s, your bike would be much newer. Another option is to make contact with Raleigh customer services in your country and quote the serial number, see what they can tell you. Raleigh UK https://www.raleigh.co.uk/contacts/ or Raleigh USA http://community.raleighusa.com/contact-us – Criggie Jul 11 '18 at 11:33
  • The Wikipedia Page for Shimano has tables of road and mountain groupset models ordered by years they were available and includes the number of speeds they offered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano#Road_groupsets – Argenti Apparatus Jul 11 '18 at 11:35
  • @ArgentiApparatus nice! not sure why it didnt strike me to look there – Karthik T Jul 11 '18 at 11:36
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    If you're dating a bike you really need to start seeing other people. – Daniel R Hicks Jul 11 '18 at 11:51
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    @DanielRHicks Maybe he's dating his bicycle exactly because he doesn't want to see other people? Some people are introverted like that. – David Richerby Jul 11 '18 at 13:00
  • @Criggie you should add your comment as an answer to the above wiki question – Karthik T Jul 12 '18 at 08:02
  • @KarthikT They're not really answers to your question, just rules of thumb. – Criggie Jul 12 '18 at 20:12

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I was able to get the Rear Deraileur model number as 4500 and also the brakes were Tektro R350 which both seem to again point towards a late 2000s model. It is possibly the 2007 model which was sold with upgraded components, like what @mikes mentions

Karthik T
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