Hercules carries on commuting

A good old fashioned bike logo for you today, from Hercules bike co. One of the local second hand bike shops brought their stock onto the Nottingham campus the other day, and this old 'commuter' stood out as the oldest... and most interesting!

Tatty but rad logo on the headtube.

Declaring its commuter intentions.

A nice old piece of steel. That should serve someone well for many a year yet.

Ride old bikes forever!

This is my new bike.

Although when I say new, what I really mean is, new to me... obviously.

Old bikes get a lot of love here at the Bicycle Safari, sometimes for the awesome bike logos and graphics, other times because they're some vintage masterpiece but equally often because they're a rusting pile of steel tubes. Regardless of these reasons though, I think there is something inherently good about riding old bikes. You're certainly not over whelmed with features, as perhaps the best boasting point on my new Hercules is the logo'd lamp bracket on the front.

But what you get has pretty much stood the test of time. Not to say that all old bikes were made well, carefully thought out or looked after since! But they are at least tough enough to still be rolling today which is a good sign.

Practical considerations aside though, the feeling of riding an old bike is definitely different, I think you remain very aware of the history involved in your bike and that you're extending the life span of a manufactured product into a new century. Or maybe old bike are just rad, either way, may this Hercules ride on for many years to come.

Hercules from Nottingham with retro bicycle logos

Hercules is another old British bicycle brand that started off well, allegedly producing bicycles strong enough to deserve to bear the name!

With the dominance of Raleigh in the 20th century though, the brand eventually got bought out and it became one of the many brands being made in Raleigh's enormous Nottingham factory, which at the time was the largest bicycle factory in the world.

With the decline of the British bicycle industry though, came the end of Hercules for a while. But through the brand has now been revived by an Indian manufacturer who seem to have applied it to a highly customizable mountain bike.

So to round off these photos of a nice vintage Hercules with some rad old logos. Here is the opposite.

Taken from: http://www.bsahercules.com/cycle-customiser.asp