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Hercules!

Old 02-20-07, 09:15 PM
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braingel
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Hercules!

EDIT: PICTURES ADDED IN POST #16.

Alright, so I bought this old Hercules, and besides the fact that it's awesome, I know nothing about it. My flash is broken, so I can't take pictures at night(even inside), but here's one I took of the chainring with my bike light on it:



and here's one from the CL ad:



Anyway, even though it's probably useless without pictures, I'll go ahead and describe it because I'm excited and my wife doesn't want to talk about it.

The non-drive side dropout is stamped "6305", and that's the only number I can find on the bike.

There is a set of eyelets on the rear dropouts, a set on the fork ends, and one single eyelet on the drive-side seat stay, about 1/3 of the way up from the dropout. There are also 2 attachments for a frame pump on the seat tube.

The seat is destroyed, but it is a leather Persons.

Someone in the CL thread said it was a Sturmey-Archer hub, but all it says is "Made in England", and it's a flip flop, with both a fixed cog and a freewheel. I haven't counted teeth, but the gearing is way steeper than anything I'd ride on the street. It is not skip-tooth.

The rims are say "DUNLOP 26 X 1 1/4 E.A.1.M. MAD IN ENGLAND. U.K. PAT.182604

There are grease ports with little flip caps on both hubs, and the top of the BB shell on the drive side.

There are no markings on the underside of the BB shell.

The lugs all have oval cutouts.

The fork crown has a metal (chrome?) cover.

The handlebars and cranks have no identifying markings, and all the stem says is "Made in England", on the front/top of the clamp area.

The rubber grips are in good shape, and say "JOHN BULL CLUB GRIP"

The brakes are unmarked, and are comprised of very thin metal plates. The rear one is screwed in through the eat stay bridg (normal), but the front fork is not drilled for a brake, so it is clamped on the fork with clamps that attach near the brake pads

The brake levers do not match, and they are both unmarked. The one on the right is hooked up to the front brake, and the cable housing is extremely thick. The other one has normal sized housing.

The paint is black all over, except for the head tube which is gold. It looks like that was possibly done by hand at one point, but I'm not sure.

The headbadge has a big HC in the center, on the top it says "HERCULES CYCLE & MOTOR Co Ltd" and on the bottom "BRITANIA WKs BIRMINGHAM"

The decal on the top of the seat tube says "Guaranteed Chromium Plated"

And the fabulous chainring says HERCULES, as in the picture.

And there is a rear, steel fender with 3 things on it: A Hercules/England decal similar to the one in the middle of the seat tube, a triangle at the end of the fender with a word on each side: "can't make it out", "Strength" and "Hercules"(on the base), and a metal plate with the word HERCULES cut out, which is held on by the screws that attach the fender stays.

Alright, that's all for now. I'm not touching anything yet, and tomorrow there will be plenty of pictures. Any ideas so far?

Last edited by braingel; 02-21-07 at 01:31 PM.
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Old 02-20-07, 09:38 PM
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Hercules, as you'll discover after you visit Sheldon Brown's web site and Compendium of All Things Useful About Cycling, was one of many British cycle manufacturers right up until their parent company bought Raleigh and moved the works from Birmingham to Nottingham in 1960.

Made in Birmingham means pre-1960, I believe.

I had a mid-50's Hercules Tourist for a while. In a moment of stupidity I sold it to a friend who'd had one as a kid. At least he rides and enjoys it. Neat bike.
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Old 02-20-07, 10:04 PM
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You did it! Very cool! I'm glad somebody who will appreciate it got it!
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Old 02-20-07, 10:14 PM
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Sounds cool. I'd guess that rear hub is a Brampton. That single eyelet on the rear stay is for a rear lamp. In terms of age, the EA1 rims, oiler holes, those bars, and rear hub indicate late 40s-early 50s vintage, probably on the early side of that range. Sorry not to be more precise than that.

Neal
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Old 02-20-07, 10:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Blue Order
You did it! Very cool! I'm glad somebody who will appreciate it got it!
Me too, although I was right about it being too small....but I think a longer seatpost should make it workable.
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Old 02-20-07, 10:24 PM
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Originally Posted by braingel
Me too, although I was right about it being too small....but I think a longer seatpost should make it workable.
Well, just remember, it fits me.

Very cool crankset, by the way! Congratulations!
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Old 02-20-07, 10:29 PM
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How tall are you? Didn't you say 32" standover was right? Because I'm 5'11, and a 30-31" inch standover is about right for me, but this bike's standover is something more along the lines of a 28". It's upstairs though, so I haven't measured yet.
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Old 02-20-07, 10:33 PM
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I'm 5'8" but by vintage bike sizing, I take a 32" standover height (they fit us to larger bikes back then.).
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Old 02-20-07, 10:44 PM
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Well, if it ends up not working for me you can have first shot at it, but I wouldn't get excited
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Old 02-20-07, 10:55 PM
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I agree with nlerner, I would think it's a forties bike, but I'm no expert. I couldn't resist putting up some pictures of the 1959 Hercules I finished a couple of months ago. It doesn't have that cool chainwheel, but it does represent one of the last "real" Hercules made. It's also too small for me, and I haven't ridden it yet because it's too darn cold here! This was a fun project because, although these bikes were heavy, they are of very high quality for this type.

David L.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
Hercules Finished small.jpg (90.3 KB, 108 views)
File Type: jpg
Hercules Left Side small.jpg (91.6 KB, 83 views)
File Type: jpg
Hercules Seat Tube small.jpg (70.4 KB, 77 views)
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Old 02-20-07, 11:02 PM
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Originally Posted by tenordl
I agree with nlerner, I would think it's a forties bike, but I'm no expert. I couldn't resist putting up some pictures of the 1959 Hercules I finished a couple of months ago. It doesn't have that cool chainwheel, but it does represent one of the last "real" Hercules made. It's also too small for me, and I haven't ridden it yet because it's too darn cold here! This was a fun project because, although these bikes were heavy, they are of very high quality for this type.

David L.
Nice! Your decals are in much better shape than mine.......mswantak?

Also, anyone know what's up with the gearing on this thing? It's got track gearing and the geometry is anything but.

EDIT: nevermind about the track gearing, I hadn't counted teeth, just guessed

Last edited by braingel; 02-21-07 at 02:08 PM.
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Old 02-21-07, 04:13 AM
  #12  
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I will buy into it being from the 40's. The hub may actually be a Herc hub. I have the Herc that Pastor Bob found in his magical town dump. Ours is a ladies frame single speed freewheel with rod brakes One thing I have discovered in my reading is that Hercules was one of the largest manufacturers of cycles in England next to Raleigh and made many of their own parts. They are difficult to date accurately. What does the Headbadge look like?

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Old 02-21-07, 04:38 AM
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I'm loving that chainring a lot. You should just clean it up and ride it like it is - as a kind of scorcher. Sweeeeet. Hey - no taking it off sweet ramps though.
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Old 02-21-07, 06:58 AM
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Originally Posted by Sammyboy
I'm loving that chainring a lot. You should just clean it up and ride it like it is - as a kind of scorcher. Sweeeeet. Hey - no taking it off sweet ramps though.
+1
The unique chain rings of the old bikes is one thing that really draws me to them. I love the old Herc, Triumph, Royal Enfield and Raleigh Heron rings. You can tell what something is from 50 yards away Today all the bikes look pretty much the same. I have considered having a buddy of mine CNC me an alloy Raleigh crank for my club racer I would have the nice Heron design but in a much lighter crank

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Old 02-21-07, 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted by Sammyboy
I'm loving that chainring a lot. You should just clean it up and ride it like it is - as a kind of scorcher. Sweeeeet. Hey - no taking it off sweet ramps though.
What does "scorcher" mean?
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Old 02-21-07, 01:29 PM
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Ok...here are some pictures:











clamp on front brake:


grease port on bb shell:


persons saddle:








And, even though the top tube is the right length for me, the standover is super low. My first thought was to get a new seatpost, but when I took it out just now it is much longer than any that come on 70's bikes, and should do just fine. It's a good thing too, because it's weird and probably not very replacable...it's shaped like this : "7", with the seat clamping onto the horizontal extension. Oh, actually, if I replace the seat the new one will have a different clamp style, so I guess I am going to have to replace the seatpost.
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Old 02-21-07, 01:35 PM
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Thanks for sharing, that is a sweet find!

Bizarre to clamp the brakes on, though....

If I could make a suggestion, I'll bet you could have new leather custom-made for that saddle. Somebody does it, it's just a matter of finding them.
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Old 02-21-07, 01:36 PM
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Pretty cool find, whats the gearing? Doesn't look that bad to me, maybe 50X18? Thats pretty normal for that time period. Single speed bikes were typically geared a little higher in those days since the '60s on
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Old 02-21-07, 01:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Blue Order
Thanks for sharing, that is a sweet find!

Bizarre to clamp the brakes on, though....

If I could make a suggestion, I'll bet you could have new leather custom-made for that saddle. Somebody does it, it's just a matter of finding them.

Nice idea...I was thinking about getting a sprung Brooks for it, but getting the leather redone would be really cool unless the price was up in the stratosphere. I just kiiled my bike budget until I sell another one anyway, though, so no matter what happens it'll be a little while.

Originally Posted by divineAndbright
Pretty cool find, whats the gearing? Doesn't look that bad to me, maybe 50X18? Thats pretty normal for that time period. Single speed bikes were typically geared a little higher in those days since the '60s on
50/14. That's crazy to ride on the street, no matter who you are. 50/18 is resonable, but my fixed gear is geared 39/15, which I like, so I'll just get a 20-tooth cog for it.
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Old 02-21-07, 01:55 PM
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Interesting to note that the rear fender doesn't have the ubiquitous white end on it. That may help with the dating.Thanks for the pictures! That is the same head badge that I have on mine. IIRC what I was told correctly that was in use from the mid 30's until around 1950.

Aaron
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Old 02-21-07, 01:59 PM
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Really? I counted 48 tooth from the sprocket picture, The cog the chain is currently on looks 16, the other looks bigger. I had a single speed I geared 50X16 and it did just fine.. lil slow up the hills but hey! Took that thing on quite a few 100+km rides too.
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Old 02-21-07, 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by divineAndbright
Really? I counted 48 tooth from the sprocket picture, The cog the chain is currently on looks 16, the other looks bigger. I had a single speed I geared 50X16 and it did just fine.. lil slow up the hills but hey! Took that thing on quite a few 100+km rides too.
You're right...48 on the chainring, but the cog is 14. The freewheel is 18. 48/16 is still too high though, I used to ride 48/16, and then 46/16, and they both killed my knees.
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Old 02-21-07, 02:08 PM
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That is looking very 1940s to me or maybe earlier given that seriously raked fork. Fwiw, my two 1930s Raleighs have Terry saddles, still in decent shape. Cool find!

Neal
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Old 02-21-07, 05:02 PM
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So I take it there's no way to date it by the serial #?
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Old 02-21-07, 05:06 PM
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The chainring is amazing.
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