Hercules Twin Bar - 1962 / What the.....

[Schwinny]

The faeries brought me news of this bike.
Nearly free so.... I had to get it, being so unusual and all.
Montgomery Wards Hawthorn early import.
Modern experimental frame (for the year) but under the dirt it has a full frame set of box pins
Standard Hercules fitments

• EA3 rims
• 62' SA 3spd hub
• Fairly cool Hercules Chain ring

Similar frame to my current favorite Speedster except this one is a twin top bar.
Pretty damn cool
I am going to pimp this boy out and see where it goes.

These are the pics from the seller....

And Here are the two next interesting Things....
Fully brazed frame, and look at that Headset double-bar head....
Also Strange are the definitely OG NCC (Japanese) center pull brakes.
At least I think that's the same NCC symbol that is on tons of Japanese goods from the 60's

 

[Schwinny]

Fully checked out, its a good thing I like the frame.

Front tire wobble = one side hub bearings completely wiped out. Hub ruined
SA hub is frozen in 3rd gear
Headset is dry and crunchy with a lot of play
BB is dry and crunchy and has lateral movement. The left side pedal hits the chain stay.
The saddle is the same Japanese stuff as the brakes, so I guess this is an example of early Japanese import parts on an export bike.

If I wasn't me, I'd say this is a scrap bike.
I'm not going to even clean it. Just take some parts off for sale and put it away and collect parts for its re-birth. Luckily the frame is straight and un-harmed.
I have a great Chro-Mo fork with swept forward tips that will look really good on it, from about the same year too.
Also I think this will be another 700c wheeled two speed coaster with only a short f/brake cable so-as to keep the clutter off the cool frame.
Pared down to bones its not a bad looking bike as-is.
This is about what it will look like in the end except on steroids.
I had that kickstand laying around and decided to see what's up with it as long as Im in the space.
Eh. Its light, but quite a chunk, and flimsy too... but works

 

[bulldog1935]

Yellow Jersey is your friend. He'll have every part you're looking for, including Whitworth 26 tpi BB and headset

Spares and Accessories for Roadster Bicycles Raleigh Tourist 28" 635mm at Yellow Jersey Westwood Rims is another keyword Rod brakes British spares Whitworth Phillips Tourist.

www.yellowjersey.org

 

[Oilit]

I think TI built those frames in the late '50's, before the merger with Raleigh, and for a couple years after, from maybe 1958 to '61 or '62. There was a version with another tube bracing the front but it must have been dropped pretty quick. The lugs don't have the oval cut-outs that Hercules always used, so I wonder if these were actually built by Phillips, but that's just a guess. It's hard to know what TI was doing sometimes, written records seem to be sparse. This is from a catalog that came with a price sheet dated for 1958, though there's no date in the catalog itself.
Did you get the date on yours from the rear hub?

 

[Mr. Monkeyarms]

Very cool! I have an attraction to twin top tube bikes and picked one of these up a few years ago. It was incomplete and glad to see an ad for reference of what it looked like when new. Mine was stripped of fenders, guard, etc. Just enough parts to make it a rider & badged Hawthorne.

It will be fun to see what you do with this one!

 

[Schwinny]

I think TI built those frames in the late '50's, before the merger with Raleigh, and for a couple years after, from maybe 1958 to '61 or '62. There was a version with another tube bracing the front but it must have been dropped pretty quick. The lugs don't have the oval cut-outs that Hercules always used, so I wonder if these were actually built by Phillips, but that's just a guess. It's hard to know what TI was doing sometimes, written records seem to be sparse. This is from a catalog that came with a price sheet dated for 1958, though there's no date in the catalog itself.
Did you get the date on yours from the rear hub?

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Thanks for the catalog !
Yes, I got the date off of the Rear hub. 62 - 1
And I think you are correct in thinking there are Phillips catalog parts on it. The fork, stem, brake levers and pedals are Phillips for sure.
Also interesting the head badge reads Birmingham. I wonder if any Hawthorn badges were switched to Nottingham?
They moved to Nottingham right there in that time frame to be with Raleigh.

Im pretty sure the Pletscher Kickstand and rack were bought together and perhaps at the bikes purchase.
Even cleaning the downtube, the box pins and writing is all faded and gone. Actually looks like they were cleaned off. I can't tell what model it might have been named. No sign of a chain guard ever being on it. Probably had fenders.

The provenance is known...
I got it from the guy that bought it at an estate sale in Oskaloosa, Iowa. The family said Grandpa bought it in the early 60's and ordered it at the Montgomery Ward department store. If he had anywhere to go in town, he rode the bike. It stayed there in Oskaloosa in a garage its whole life.

This one is lucky, it will re-emerge as a desirable bike that someone will take care of.... some day not too far off.
But it will re-emerge a Hercules... Sorry Montgomery Hawthorn.

 

[bulldog1935]

I think TI built those frames in the late '50's, before the merger with Raleigh, and for a couple years after, from maybe 1958 to '61 or '62. There was a version with another tube bracing the front but it must have been dropped pretty quick. The lugs don't have the oval cut-outs that Hercules always used, so I wonder if these were actually built by Phillips, but that's just a guess. It's hard to know what TI was doing sometimes, written records seem to be sparse. This is from a catalog that came with a price sheet dated for 1958, though there's no date in the catalog itself.
Did you get the date on yours from the rear hub?

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TI owned Hercules from 1935, added Armstrong (allied brands) in 1956 forming British Cycles Corp., and bought Raleigh in 1960.
Noteworthy, TI owned Reynolds tube from 1928.

 

[Schwinny]

I'm about an hour away from finishing this old boy. I've got to go get a couple bolts and nuts for the rack. Other than that, I will need a dry day above 50 degrees to go break it in.

Before I finish it up, has anyone come up on another of these?
When I search the net, all I get is twin top bar models with a single cantilevered swept tube underneath and a version with a single top tube and single swept cantilevered underneath. I've found a couple old bad pics of similar with no narrative in a corner, but other than that, nothing.

Luckily, these are not super desirable bikes. This one has gone a couple steps beyond. It's never going back
Teaser.....

 

[J-wagon]

Cool twin bar hercules Hawthorne.
Here's one on east coast

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334694237254?campid=5335809022

 

[Schwinny]

Nice. Thanks for that.
That's the first one I've seen complete in the wild.
I'm not a big fan of the chain guard.
Other than the 3spd cable routing and color, that's the one.
I'll post pics of mine finished soon.