Normally I'd just ignore a wrench like this but this one has a special history to me. When my mother was a girl she got an English racer and this was in the tool pouch. No idea how old she was at the time or what happened to the bike or why she had the wrench but that's just part of the charm I guess. I doubt this was ever used and honestly it probably wouldn't stand up to much. Six different size openings and only marking is Made in England. Being it was an English made English racer my guess it was a Raleigh with the Sturmey Archer three speed hub.
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Western Auto in my home town had these in the bike area for the "English racers". We were too interested in stingrays to even slow down in that section.
Brings back a lot of good memories as a kid spending a summer with relatives in Germany at the time. Got a German Victoria men's bicycle with a Sachs 3-speed that had a leather tool pouch attached to the rear of the seat (aka saddle), and it included a similar dogbone wrench, inner tube repair kit, a flat blade screwdriver, and a replacement rubber head for the electrical dynamo that was driven by the sidewall of the front tire to power the lights at night.
I think it was standard kit on many European bicycles.
I too had a Raleigh ER with the Sturmey Archer three speed hub when I was a teen. I didn't have the fancy seat with the tool pouch or the dynamo for the lights. I rode the life out of that bike until I got my DL.
The German government used to mandate tool kits in new cars (maybe they still do) (although most of the tools are pretty much useless for anything you could do roadside - or maybe just useless anywhere) so maybe it was the same for bicycles? The tools in a BMW or Mercedes look more like suggestions than actual tools.
is the doggie wrench whitworth?
Quote from: snapmom on Apr 18, 2025, 09:40 AMis the doggie wrench whitworth?
There are no size markings on the openings or other indications. But as a guess it likely would be since it was prior to 1965.