Dating a Hercules IGH
 

Well the courtship is actually over, she's tired and needs some TLC but before the wrenchs come out I'm wondering what I have

The rear hub reads:

A Type O
Hercules
3 Speed
Made in England

The shell is scuffed up but does not appear to be chome but the eniter hub is magnetic. I read on-line that the A Type hub pre-dates the Hercamatic and Hercules involvment with Sturmey Archer?

The axle-nut and chainguide has a very large squarish opening, very different in appearance to the S/A pieces I have. The front hub reads "H.R. Pattern" and both hubs have brass flip-cap oilers

Hmmm....... Was hoping to gain some insight on the vintage of the Hub. Web research got me to pre-1945....anyone have any thoughts?

I'm afraid you've run up against the limits of our knowledge. We have some Sturmey Archer gurus here, but no one seems to know much about other IGH's, or even pre-AW Sturmey Archer hubs. I very much doubt your hub is really different from a Sturmey Archer; I'd bet a couple beers it's a clone of some Sturmey Archer model. But which? I'd put my money on the AW, but with no strong confidence. Remember a few months ago when someone posted photos of a bike with a Sturmey Archer "S" model hub, and it turned out none of us had ever heard of it (including Sheldon Brown, may peace be upon him)? We have our limitations.

How about you take the wheel off the bike and photograph both sides of the hub for us?

You might try posting a query on the Yahoo group Geared_Hub_Bikes:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geared_hub_bikes/

Lots of knowledgeable folks on that list, including several who post here, too.

Neal

My first question would be, Why must I be tortured by old IG hubs I can't touch? My second would be whether the hub is in low or hi gear with a slack cable? All that would really prove is that the hub is a BSA or AW clone. Maybe.

Must be time to open it up.

I'm fighting the temptation......The pawls are clicking away, so I'm praying a lube and indicator chain will bring it back to service. I'll check the gear tonight.

Hi