As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been working on refurbishing an old bicycle that was given to me. The bike in question is a old english 3-speed that was made by Hercules. Here in America this brand is not very well known, but over on that side of the pond it was as common as Huffy. When I got the bike it was in pretty decent shape for having been left out in the elements for a good number of years. The old seat was absolute trash and was promptly discarded. I rode it for a few days as it was (after I put a new seat on it) and it rode fairly nice. Since it turned out to be a decent ride I decided to make sure it was all prettied up. First time I went to put air in the back tire she blew up on me. The tire had been hit with dry rot and the inner tube erupted. Funny thing was that whomever had put the tube in had folded it inside the tire and rim. I don’t know how that works but they did it. So the first purchase was new tubes and tires. Also the shifter line was broken and so it was stuck in one of the 3 speeds. I made the mistake of unhooking that and the little chain pulled back into the hub. It is now a freewheeling single speed. Anyways, I rode it for the rest of the summer as it was and enjoyed the heck out of it. Sometime during the winter I decided that I wanted to fix it up nice and get it ready for the next riding season.
If you care to read on how I did that, please come and read some more.
