A few years ago, I acquired this old English 3-speed from Brian Chasm. I think I gave him some homebrew for it. He’d picked it up at a yard sale, but for whatever reason he and Hercules didn’t ultimately get along. He said he’d just as soon as I had Hercules so long as I did something totally awesome with it.
I will. I will ride the everloving crap out of this bike and enjoy every minute of it!
The first adult bike I ever rode was an old Sears lady’s three speed. It was yellow with the little pointy pool-cue decals on the seattube.
Kind of like this, only yellow, 3-speed, a step-thru frame, and in yellow. I dug it plenty. Following hot on the heels of my years with the little stingray-knockoff, the option of a high and a low, as well as a “regular” gear was quite a revelation. The Sears bike bike belonged to a neighbor-lady, but I rode it every opportunity I got. I thought I’d really like to have one, but I never was able to turn one up and eventually settled on the Huffy, proudly purchased with a summer’s worth of babysitting money. (Speaking of the Huffy, the old slagheap is about to re-debut as a ski-bike tomorrow….watch out! It should be top quality Big Stupid Fun.)
TBA (A=added) one generator-powered, LED-retrofitted headlight, courtesy of local electrical genius Pete Barth. (also, one shifter cable…)
It looks old-school…
But it is chock-full of new-school bright-flashy goodness!
Hercules has a rather elegant (and proprietary) chromed package rack. Also a really reflecty reflector on that rear fender.
HEEEE! Glittery grips! The original grips were white, but when I got Herk, one of them was missing. But fortuitously I had an extra set of red glittery grips on hand, and they came in handy. Yes, I know I have a problem…or several.
I really dig the bullet-tip on the front fender. It’s a sweet sight from the cockpit.
So, Hercules is nearly ready to roll out, thanks to Joel, who spoils me dreadfully.
He really is the best, and not just because he keeps my outlandish fleet of awful old bikes running beautifully. Just because he is, that’s all!
Everything about this post is beautiful! What a fantastic ride.
Thank you! I’m already pretty stuck on this goofy old bike.
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