A friend gave me this very nice ladies Hercules. He bought it at a garage sale for his wife. She is used to riding a rather large 27 inch wheeled Huffy 3 speed with a low stepover frame and found the Hercules too small in comparison. I was very happy to have it since I had recently acquired my first Hercules,a racing model with a flip/flop rear hub.

As can be seen in the photo below of the rather strange chainguard, this Raleigh made bike was marketed in the U.S. by AMF, (American Machine and Foundry). The small triangle and enclosed text is the AMF logo. Raleigh had acquired Hercules, renowned for their participation in racing in about 1960. The bike is in good condition throughout having good paint, decals, and an exceptionaly attractive Raleigh badged seat. Bright and shiny, near perfect, chromed steel wheels really add to the bikes appeal. The bikes mechanical condition was excellent with one exception; the shifter indicator shaft was loose and could not be re-threaded. During the following summer I partially disassembled the hub and found that the sliding axle key was broken in two probably due to over tightening of the indicator shaft in the low gear position. Fortunately my favorite bike shop owner has a cache of 3 speed hub parts. Once a new key was installed everything worked as it should.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this Raleigh made vintage Hercules. I welcome your comments.

NEXT RALEIGH MADE BIKE

RETURN TO RALEIGH MADE BIKE GALLERY

RETURN TO BIKE COLLECTION DIRECTORY