"The King"
 

Anyone have any idea on this one?
Thimble crown forks say Raleigh, but haven't found a link yet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

The "H" headlamp bracket suggests it's a Hercules, but that's just a guess...

Hey thanks Chris, I missed that!

If it indeed is a Herc, would the tubing be inferior to what Raleigh used, or the similar tubes?

From a wonderful vintage bicycle museum, this website about Hercules, which is my new ride, the Popular.

Herc frames were guaranteed for 50 years, I hope that wasn't only to the original owner..

http://herculesmuseum.wordpress.com/

You got the one on ebay? I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest the Shimano coaster brake hub isn't original.


Without data, we can only speculate. You might measure the seat post diameter; Raleighs used 25.4 mm. I have a Norman that's similar to a Raleigh Sports in almost every way, but it turns out to have a 26.4 mm seatpost. That means a higher quality tubing, with thinner walls, and therefore lighter.

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!

I'll measure the seat tube.

As a "out of left field" possibility, the Indian-made Hercules bikes were painted this red color. What if this bike isn't Brit at all?