Originally Posted by
David Newton
I'm thinking that this is one of the rare Japanese Hercs.<g>
The real question will be, was this a Raleigh-Hercules, or before the take-over. The "H" bracket, the "fifty year frame guarantee" says before, the thimble forks and plain cut-out chain ring say after.
The head badge is a wild card, can't find anything about a Popular with a King Frame
The tubing question was dumb, sorry, this is a "Popular" a run-of-the-mill-roadster. I can weigh it in comparison to my Sport, but I'm not expecting any difference. The earlier Hercules catalogs make quite a bit of their high quality tubes, however.
Well, I'm speculating here, but WTH.
This bike has to be pre-Raleigh. Once upon a time, Hercules made bikes that they sold under their own name and other names if someone wanted to buy in bulk. King was probably a brand name for one of the latter, some store or distributor, but the bike was
made by Hercules. I don't know why they put the H lamp bracket on it, but it doesn't have a Hercules crank because it wasn't Hercules branded.
After the takeover, Hercules existed in name only; they no longer made anything. Traditional Hercules dealers and distributors (such as AMF) were still able to get Hercules bikes, but now they were Raleigh bikes with the Hercules name.
Similarly, Pre-Raleigh Philips bikes have Philips cranks unless they're branded for a different distributor, such as Indian; and Norman bikes have Norman cranks unless they're branded with a distributor's name, such as Western Flyer. Philips Indian Scouts, and Norman Western Flyers, are Pre-Raleigh; and they have plain cranks. After Raleigh took over Philips, Hercules, Norman, &c., the Phillips, Hercules, Norman &c factories closed, and the bikes with these names were nothing more than Raleighs, with plain cranks.
As for the tubing... well, my Norman three speed too is a run of the mill tourist model bike, nothing special; but the frame tubing
is better than what you'd find on a Raleigh. Same as your Hercules? I don't know. How 'about this: as a personal favor to me, please measure your seat post. I'm just curious, that's all!