1921 Hercules Popular 26″ Roadster
With Sturmey Archer Model A 3-Speed Hub
This is a wonderfully original 90-year-old Hercules Gentleman’s Roadster, fully serviced and ready to be ridden. An interesting feature is its Sturmey Archer 3-Speed hub, which is a Model A.
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In the good old days when Great Britain still had an empire, ‘Hercules Cycle & Motor Co Ltd’ was the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world.
To visit the Online Hercules Museum
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STURMEY ARCHER ‘MODEL A’ HUB
The gear trigger is a Model K. The rear hub gear is a Sturmey Archer Model A, which is essentially a Tricoaster without the back-pedal brake. This is likely to be a correct combination of trigger and hub for a model of this year:
In The Sturmey-Archer Story, Tony Halland explains that although the ‘K’ hub had been introduced in 1918, the ‘A’ hub was still being advertised in 1921. ‘The launch date of the Type K is often given as 1918; it may have been designed then, but it seems unlikely that this hub reached the market in any numbers until 1922.’
Sturmey-Archer were having trouble coping with demand for the new ‘K’ hub due to a post-war shortage of materials. Outside firms were employed to help meet demand and, for a time, all Tricoasters were made in America. However, these hubs turned out to be unsatisfactory, and it was not until December 1919 that Raleigh gave approval for domestic production to resume.
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A photograph of a futuristic cyclist, taken by Edward Malindine for the Daily Herald newspaper on 29 November, 1933. This photograph was taken at a pageant held at the Dorchester Hotel, London, to celebrate the history of the Hercules Cycle Company. This is a prediction of what the well-dressed cyclist would be wearing in 1940 to ride her ‘wireless cycle’, which came complete with telephone.
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www.Oldbike.eu 
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