# Help identifying my Hercules



## gwaelizb (May 20, 2013)

I picked up a 3 speed Hercules ladies bike for $20. I think it is in pretty bad shape. I ride a 1-speed Schwinn to work and all over the place, but I don't know anything about bikes in a technical sense (yet!). I'm a newb here, so thanks for your collective wisdom.
I love the idea of riding this bike around town, but can I get it to work (or find someone who can without spending lots of $$)?

I don't know how old it is, but I think it is before Hercules became Raleigh. Any opinions? It has 26" wheels. I found the serial number on the hub, but I don't know how to decipher it to determine age. The number is 14199KW. The saddle is Wrights, the gear is Sturmey Archer. The back brakes say "John Bull" on them.

It doesn't appear that anything is working (brakes, gears) right now...

So, my questions.
1. How old is this bike?
2. Is it worth repairing? (I would ride it if it could be functional)
3. It's not worth much, is it? (that's fine, just wondering)
4. How much might it cost to get someone to fix it up for me?

Pics attached. 
















Thanks!


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## OldRider (May 20, 2013)

Welcome to the CABE! On your Sturmey Archer hub in the rear wheel clean off any grease or dirt that is on it and you will see a two digit number stamped on the shell, that number signifies the last two digits of the year the hub was built, above that will be another number from one to twelve, that will be the month it was built. You have a Wrights saddle which was the secondary line for Brooks saddles, from Birmingham England. I've owned many of these British 3 speeds, they are well built dependable bikes. Taking your bike into a shop will be a bit costly........why not take it on yourself? We're always happy to help people out if they need advice.Value wise after it is fixed up it being a ladies bike it won't command much value, its a 100-125 dollar bike where I'm at. Good luck with it, it looks great.


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## gwaelizb (May 21, 2013)

*1961*

So it is newer than I realized. It says 61 on the hub. So there it is! I'd love to work on it myself but Ive never worked on a bike before. It sounds like you guys would give lots of encouragement and help though, so that would be great. 

Thanks!


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## SirMike1983 (May 21, 2013)

It looks like a mixture of Birmingham and Nottingham elements. 1961 would seem right to me. If you had this completely gone over at a shop, you'd be in for far more than the bike is worth. It seems like time to learn to repair it.


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## gwaelizb (May 21, 2013)

A mixture of Birmingham and Nottingham - is that common? It definitely says Birmingham on the H on the front.
The bike is at my dad's place in Atlanta, and I'm in ATL once a month, but I live in NYC the rest of the time...
So maybe someone knows someone in Atlanta that would like to help me start working on this?


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## OldRider (May 21, 2013)

We have a few members in "Jawja", maybe they'll see this.


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## 1959firearrow (May 22, 2013)

Put some new tires and tubes on it and ride it. All the adjustments to make everything work can be done with simple tools by you! That will make a super nice riding bike when you're done.


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## gwaelizb (May 23, 2013)

*The estimate from the bike shop*

So I took it in to a local shop that got good reviews on Yelp here in Atlanta to see what they thought about it.
Here's what they said - any thoughts?
The tires and tubes need to be replaced. This is obvious. He said there was uneven wear on the rear wheel which means it could be bent a little (?)
The front brakes work, but not the back brakes.
The gears did shift when he got it into the rack to look it over which is good, but he was concerned they might not work well when riding, which you can't tell before doing the other stuff, so I could potentially sink some money in only to find out that the bike still wouldn't be rideable.
So, to work on the basics (not the gear hub) here is what he quoted me - - -

2 new tires: $40.
2 tubes: $13
The labor for these: $16
2 pads: $20
1 cable (for rear brakes $5
Housing: $10
The labor for this part: $35
Plus a tune up: $65
TOTAL: $204 plus tax
Yikes.
He said that in really good working order a '61 Hercules ladies bike would maybe be worth $150. So as you see, the math doesn't work out.
I guess I could get him to just do the wheels and see what happens. Is that a good move?
I just don't have experience or tools to work on this bike myself (and the guy at the bike shop said this bike would be a hard one to learn on since Hercules can be "finicky", so unless someone comes along that could do the labor for free and I just pay for parts, I'm not sure the math on this is going to work.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Any response to what he quoted me on parts and labor?
Thanks!


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## fat tire trader (May 24, 2013)

If you like the bike, and you are going to ride it, I think that it is worth paying a shop to do the work. The problem with the estimate above is it does not mention greasing the bearings. The bottom bracket, headset, front hub, and pedals should be disassembled, cleaned, inspected, greased and reassembled. The rear hub, if it is in good working shape can be oiled without being taken apart. Some pedals are not designed to be taken apart, if that is the case, they can be oiled. If you do not clean and grease the bearings, and you ride the bike, you will probably damage parts that are hard to find.


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## Andrew Gorman (May 24, 2013)

It's nice bike and worth keeping.  To save some money and learn some bike mechanics, try this bike co-op in Atlanta:
http://sopobikes.org/
Or a couple of others:
http://www.atlantabike.org/community

I'm a big fan of bike co-ops- they usually have a stash of used parts, have all the tools you need and will teach you anything you want to learn!


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## gwaelizb (May 24, 2013)

*thanks*

Good word on making sure about the bearings etc.

And i like the bike co-op idea. I will need to explore it.


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