Hercules "royal Prince" Made In Birmingham.

[Eatontkd]

Looking to restore this Hercules. The chrome looks good from a distance and the paint is worn through to the primer in many spots. I'd like to find it's year of production but the only stamp I can find is "B 1405" on the fork below the headset. The 3-speed hub is made by Hercules not S/A. Any ideas on how to find the date on this one would be appreciated!

 

[Gasbag]

"B type 6" hub is generally thought to be 1956, where the 6 is the year. B hub production began in 1952 and a first year hub would be "B type 2".

Nice bike by the way!

 

[Eatontkd]

Thanks so much for the info "Gasbag"!

 

[bulldog1935]

it's all Raleigh (at least TI) - the tubing fork crown is proof of that. Nice bike, and it looks cozy.

 

[Eatontkd]

Ok, but I was under the understanding that Raleigh didn't purchase Hercules till 1960... Were they "sharing" parts as a lot of other Brit industries did?

 

[Gasbag]

Tubing Investments (TI) was the parent corporation that acquired and consolidated many of the British bicycle brands. The major brand consolidation began in the very late 1950s and continued into the 1960s. It is generally thought that rather than move the inventories of the factories to Raleigh in Nottingham, that the individual brands continued building until inventory had been mostly depleted and the remaining inventory was then moved to the Raleigh plant. There are all kinds of odd combinations in the early sixties bikes as a result. Here is a link to a small wiki about TI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI_Group

 

[bulldog1935]

Ok, but I was under the understanding that Raleigh didn't purchase Hercules till 1960... Were they "sharing" parts as a lot of other Brit industries did?

As I followed the wiki, TI owned Hercules before they merged them with Raleigh in 1960. So while your bike was made in the Midlands, probably after 1960, the manufacturing moved to Nottingham.

Great head badge.

 

[Eatontkd]

Yeah that sounds like what I got out of the article too. I was interested in the bike because of the chain guard and the head badge. The seller also threw in a barn fresh Rudge from 1953. It's rough and I'mnot sure where I am going with it. I can post pics if you're interested.

 

[bulldog1935]

love to see the Rudge photos

 

[Eatontkd]

My $30.00 1953 Rudge:

Seems like so much to do on this one. However, people seem to be more excited about this one then the Hercules.