tessastarr

I found this set a few days ago. A house was for sale up the street and these were at the trash cans. Someone saw them in my driveway and mentioned they could be worth a lot of money and told me not to clean them as it could decrease their value. They seem to be in pretty good shape with all original parts. Aside from the rust and dust that can easily be cleaned. I'm not sure if the tires will hold air but can easily check. I'd at least like to find out the exact name of these bikes- I couldn't find much on google. There are so many that look alike!
I also found this on EBay. It looks identical, but the seller mentions back wheel is locked. Does the asking price sound fair for that one?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Herc...3D361269187504

desconhecido 

Hercules bikes of that age were made by Raleigh -- can't remember when Hercules became a Raleigh brand, but I think it was in the 50s, probably earlier. The bikes you have, based on the steel brakes without swaged cable ends and the style of the three speed shifter on the bars, are probably from the late 60s to mid 70s. Probably made by Raleigh and imported into the US by AMF. The three speed hubs appear to be grooveless which dates them to about 72 or earlier. The three speed hubs, under the typical dirt and grime, will have a date code -- something like "5 69" which indicates month and year of manufacture. Probably the bikes were assembled within a couple months or so of that date. Also, the hubs will have a model engraved/stamped on them. Probably AW which is the most common three speed Sturmey Archer model.

These bikes were basically, as I understand it, variations of the Raleigh Sports bikes. There is a mega thread on the forums dedicated to these bikes, variants, and other older English made three speed bikes. Look through that "for the love of English three speeds," or something, for lots of information.

As for value, they are not rare or particularly valuable. I don't think that preserving them in their present condition makes them more valuable. We have three Raleigh Sports bikes ranging in date from 1951 to 79 and one Superbe from 1972. Condition when purchased was comparable to yours. Lowest purchase price was $30 and most was $70.

Yours seem to be complete and straight with minimal damage, if any, to the fenders and chainguards. The steel rims don't look too rusty and can probably be salvaged. The bars on the one with a good photo of them appear to be in pretty sad shape. Most of the ugly will clean up surprisingly well if you put some effort into it

So, if they were my bikes I'd spend a bit of money and put the effort into making them road worthy. Problem is, you're upside down as soon as you purchase a decent saddle -- or even if you buy some pretty good tires and tubes. If you build wheels with aluminum alloy rims, you're way under water. What I'm trying to say is that if you like the old three speed English utility bikes and have an interest in messing with them, keep them and "restore" them. If not, pass them along/sell them to somebody who is interested in making them road worthy or who can use them for parts.

Just between you and me, I think the person trying to sell one on Ebay is more than a bit optimistic.

desconhecido 

Oh, forgot to mention -- those stems are way too high, probably dangerously too high. Particularly on the horizontal tube bike.

curbtender

You'll need to clean them, they are not coins. If you got them running you might be able to squeeze $100 bucks out of them.

bikerosity57

Clean them!! Don’t put too much money in to them as they aren’t particularly valuable. In perfect brand new condition the gent’s model might fetch 200 dollars on a really good day, but it would cost hundreds of dollars minimum to get either bike into that kind of condition. The lady’s model is much less collectible. I have a ‘68 model of the gent’s that is just like yours but has the original stem (yours is a replacement), it’s in rideable condition and all original, even tires, and I only paid 50 bucks. I think you should clean ‘em as best as you can and flip them, or keep them if you want a good utilitarian life long bike.

curbtender

Hopefully they didn't take 4 years to clean, lol. Yes, nice $50 pickup. Now you can spend another $60 dollars for a new set of tires and still have a good deal.

bikerosity57

I see now how old this post was. Regardless, I polish my bikes with shoe polish. If you clean and lightly polish an older bike like these with very fine polishing compound, and them wax it with colored shoe polish, the results are stunning. Especially a black bike. Get parade gloss black kiwi shoe polish, even if you’re just waxing a clean bike. Buff it well with a chamois and you’ll be shocked how well it works.