Wanted to share with you my 1971 Hercules. Got it off Craigslist from a student who was going overseas, and it was pretty much as basket case when I got it. He was asking too much, and as I walked away, he said 20 dollars, so I took it. Took some time contemplating what to do with this mess of a bike, and finally decided to fix it up. First cleaned off the multiple layers of grime and then rebuilt the bottom bracket, new crank cotters, new tires, tubes, rim strips. As I progressed along, I was getting pleased with the look. The rear fender (mudguard for us purists) posed a challenge as it left a huge gap between the tire and fender. Played around with the fender stays, but was convinced they were not original, so I ground them down and re-drilled the mounting holes. Found a NOS box of rear fender clips on eBay, and this solved the problem. Do not know why, but I flipped the North Road bars for a sleeker look and found some vintage looking grips. Needed a new fulcrum and fulcrum clip to make it shift correctly. All in all, spent too much, more than the thing is worth, but it was fun!!!
I only attached a couple of pictures of the finished product, but at John's flickr page there are multiple photos of the bike in it's original condition and through the tear-down and rebuild process. Worth a trip over to see them all.
1 comment:
It is a beauty, worth all your hard work. These are very nice bikes, I have a '62 Hercules 3spd, I love it.
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