Rangers, were they completely assembled at the factory?

[John Wakefield]

In Tony's post on the Sedbergh event he comments
"Jack? the judge of the concourse, who although working at the factory had never seen a Ranger"
So I wonder is there any evidence that the Ranger was not actually assembled at Thundersley but sent out as CKD (Completely Knocked Down) form as a set of parts & finally assembled in the USA. This would have made somes sense as it would have reduced shipping costs due to parts taking less space than a competed bike. Also there may have been tax advantages by reducing import duty.

[Colin Sparrow]

Never seen any evidence of that. Kenny Sykes might know.

[tony]

Outside the factory

This photograph was taken outside the factory which shows a complete ranger


Apart from the air filter with alloy cover and stripe on the tank.

So it would suggest they were assembled at the factory.

[John Wakefield]

Could be a prototype & for publicity purposes. The factory would almost certainly have made a few complete bikes to test & iron out any assembly problems. Are there any shown on the UK despatch records? As there are 28 shown on the list of UK Road Bikes produced that I recently posted. The one shown does not appear to have the rear light switch mounted on rear number plate bracket suggesting, along with the standard Villiers air filter, it was for UK market.

[Bearingman]

Never seen any evidence of that. Kenny Sykes might know.

Hi Colin!

I never heard of this. Greeves came in crates and were partially assembled with maybe front wheel and bars to be attached. My bride remembers taking the trip with her father to pick them up at the LA Harbor.

I can ask!

Regards,
Kenny

[Colin Sparrow]

Hi Kenny, hope you and Kathy are keeping well. Thanks for responding.

I thought that was probably the case, so pretty clear, John, that they were shipped as complete machines with just a few bits detached to make them easier to crate.

Druid is probably watching this with amusement because he was at the factory at the time...

[John Wakefield]

Did you find any Rangers in the UK despatch records Colin?

[Colin Sparrow]

I'm in the Isle of Man at present, so do not have access to the dispatch records.

[John Wakefield]

I'm in the Isle of Man at present, so do not have access to the dispatch records.

Any luck yet Colin with the Ranger records, I assume you are back from IoM

[Colin Sparrow]

Got back yesterday. Lots of sorting out and clothes washing to do first.