Early '50s Hercules Aston Club restoration
- Thread starter nonowt
- Start date
Happy to report that I’ve finally got the Aston Club down from the top of my mother-inlaw's cupboard and into my cramped cellar 
. Whilst it was still in Glasgow I gave the frame a fairly good clean, removed the chain, chain-ring, wheels, handlebars before somehow managing to squeeze it into the back of the car without destroying anyone’s xmas presents. I’m now slowly starting to clean the surface rust off various chromed parts and mostly it’s coming up a treat.
Also, a few interesting things have revealed themselves:
The single remaining pedal had a misshapen Strata toe-clip attached that's cleaned up ok (making me even more disappointed not to have the other pedal):
At bit of elbow grease and WD40 revealed the Dunlop Special Lightweight 26 X 1 1/4 mark on the now shiny front rim (back wheel awaits cleaning):
I’ve cleaned up the front hub and it looks very like a Harden but frustratingly there are no maker’s marks on it:
Classic Lightweights states that “having seen quite a few of these is that some have stamped trade-marks and some don't.” Did anyone else use one-piece cast hub shells? I’ve only seen Harden hubs with that lovely unbroken transition from barrel to side wall. Is it a Harden Flywate maybe?https://www.flickr.com/photos/woodstock531/6950443065/in/album-72157629140939220/
The John Bull “Light Speed” tyres are rather lovely too. I’m guessing the must be close to 60 years old? They feel remarkably supple but I imagine it would be risky to ride them (plus they might be collectable?). As yet I can’t seem to find any modern gumwalled replacements :x :
I’ve fitted a GB Spearpoint stem but annoyingly the diameter of the Hercules drops are too narrow and the 22.2 to 25.4 shim I guessed would do the job doesn’t (bars must be wider than 22.2). A beer can shim also proved useless so I’m going to have to think of another idea (or reinstall the rusty original stem)…
. Whilst it was still in Glasgow I gave the frame a fairly good clean, removed the chain, chain-ring, wheels, handlebars before somehow managing to squeeze it into the back of the car without destroying anyone’s xmas presents. I’m now slowly starting to clean the surface rust off various chromed parts and mostly it’s coming up a treat.Also, a few interesting things have revealed themselves:
The single remaining pedal had a misshapen Strata toe-clip attached that's cleaned up ok (making me even more disappointed not to have the other pedal):
At bit of elbow grease and WD40 revealed the Dunlop Special Lightweight 26 X 1 1/4 mark on the now shiny front rim (back wheel awaits cleaning):
I’ve cleaned up the front hub and it looks very like a Harden but frustratingly there are no maker’s marks on it:
Classic Lightweights states that “having seen quite a few of these is that some have stamped trade-marks and some don't.” Did anyone else use one-piece cast hub shells? I’ve only seen Harden hubs with that lovely unbroken transition from barrel to side wall. Is it a Harden Flywate maybe?https://www.flickr.com/photos/woodstock531/6950443065/in/album-72157629140939220/
The John Bull “Light Speed” tyres are rather lovely too. I’m guessing the must be close to 60 years old? They feel remarkably supple but I imagine it would be risky to ride them (plus they might be collectable?). As yet I can’t seem to find any modern gumwalled replacements :x :
I’ve fitted a GB Spearpoint stem but annoyingly the diameter of the Hercules drops are too narrow and the 22.2 to 25.4 shim I guessed would do the job doesn’t (bars must be wider than 22.2). A beer can shim also proved useless so I’m going to have to think of another idea (or reinstall the rusty original stem)…
Attachments
Land_Raver
Dirt Disciple
nonowt":looqmlyg said:
Hi nonowt,
Glad to see the latest progress of your restoration. Apologies for taking a long time to upload the pictures.....
Attached are pictures of mine when I received it.
I have started to clean up the bike and have done the following....
1. Straightened and cleaned & polished the original alloy Bluemels mudguards
2. Cleaned and polished the chrome handlebars, stem, headset, brake calipers & Hercumatic 3 speed trigger.
3. I have had the Hercules rat trap pedals straightened.
4. Cleaned and polished the frame & forks.
5. Removed the later addition rear rack.
6. Reversed the North Road Handlebars to a dropped position.
7. Saved the original black Shockstop rubber handlebar grips.
8. Removed the Lights and Smiths speedo drive.
Both 26X1 1/4 EA1 wheel rims are shot so will rebuild the wheels with good 1950's rim replacements (I have a mint front rim 32 hole but need a rear 40 hole rim). I have sourced some DT stainless steel spokes that I will use for the wheel builds.
Could do with a Hercules Saddle if you know where one is?
My project is on hold as I'm currently working on my 1939 Raleigh Sports Model 31 at the moment.
All the best with yours and apologies for hi-jacking your thread.
Nick
Attachments
Re:
76jimmy:
Thanks for the tip - I'd not heard of those before.
Land Raver:
Thanks for posting the pictures of your Aston Club. I’m happy to have the thread hi-jacked as it’s nice to see another Aston Club - I wonder how the frame numbers compare? It’s surprising how few of these seem to have surfaced on as even a short lived model must’ve have numbered in at least the 10’s of thousands?
Sadly, there was no way I could save the original “beige sleeve grips” on mine, so I have some brown cotton tape waiting to take their place. Black (or even green to match the head badge) would have been my choice but the brown saddle brown seemed to make more sense – we’ll see. I did manage to cleaned up the original levers the cable outers and have re-instated them. But I’ve put some semi-complete slightly bodged GB Coureur Plus calipers on as they were cheaper and easier to source than replacement double ended cables (and look nice!). I had to pad them out a bit to stop the blocks catching on the frame so they’re not quite as neat as I’d have liked.
After a fair few false starts and a bit of frustration I managed to shim the handlebars to fit the GB stem with a double strip on 0.9mm brass.
The rims have come up nice with just a few spots of chrome loss on the rear. They are way out of true though, so I’ve taken it to the LBS who are also going to try and re-tap the RH crank arm as the pedal thread is crossed (probably why that pedal went missing).
Anyway, here it is mocked up before heading off to the LBS:
76jimmy:
Thanks for the tip - I'd not heard of those before.
Land Raver:
Thanks for posting the pictures of your Aston Club. I’m happy to have the thread hi-jacked as it’s nice to see another Aston Club - I wonder how the frame numbers compare? It’s surprising how few of these seem to have surfaced on as even a short lived model must’ve have numbered in at least the 10’s of thousands?
Sadly, there was no way I could save the original “beige sleeve grips” on mine, so I have some brown cotton tape waiting to take their place. Black (or even green to match the head badge) would have been my choice but the brown saddle brown seemed to make more sense – we’ll see. I did manage to cleaned up the original levers the cable outers and have re-instated them. But I’ve put some semi-complete slightly bodged GB Coureur Plus calipers on as they were cheaper and easier to source than replacement double ended cables (and look nice!). I had to pad them out a bit to stop the blocks catching on the frame so they’re not quite as neat as I’d have liked.
After a fair few false starts and a bit of frustration I managed to shim the handlebars to fit the GB stem with a double strip on 0.9mm brass.
The rims have come up nice with just a few spots of chrome loss on the rear. They are way out of true though, so I’ve taken it to the LBS who are also going to try and re-tap the RH crank arm as the pedal thread is crossed (probably why that pedal went missing).
Anyway, here it is mocked up before heading off to the LBS:
Attachments
Ralph_the_Rohan
Retro Guru
nonowt,
I love everything about this....Top Job!
I love everything about this....Top Job!
Re:
thanks for the compliments!
It's now pretty much finished - I just need to sand some of the deeper scratches out of the seat post.
I went with black tape in the end - the brown was too pale - and finished them off with cork as the diameter of the bars was too small for the velox bar ends I'd bought. I managed to source some reasonably priced Bluemels from ebay (always worth searching for "blumels" if you want to get a better deal ). The wheels have been trued (ish LBS didn't want to risk over tightening them) and the Harden hubs serviced (a bit of pitting in the rear hub but nothing terrible).
I waxed the frame and took it for a 10 minute run out at the weekend. It's very comfortable ride - helped by the max. 70psi 60 year old John Bull tyres. I've not ridden fixed before which will take some getting used to. I found it impossible to get my feet in the clips whilst the crank continued turning - especially difficult without a flip on the pedals - so I've taken the clips off for now.
enough rambling - here's some more pictures:
thanks for the compliments!
It's now pretty much finished - I just need to sand some of the deeper scratches out of the seat post.
I went with black tape in the end - the brown was too pale - and finished them off with cork as the diameter of the bars was too small for the velox bar ends I'd bought. I managed to source some reasonably priced Bluemels from ebay (always worth searching for "blumels" if you want to get a better deal
). The wheels have been trued (ish LBS didn't want to risk over tightening them) and the Harden hubs serviced (a bit of pitting in the rear hub but nothing terrible).I waxed the frame and took it for a 10 minute run out at the weekend. It's very comfortable ride - helped by the max. 70psi 60 year old John Bull tyres. I've not ridden fixed before which will take some getting used to. I found it impossible to get my feet in the clips whilst the crank continued turning
- especially difficult without a flip on the pedals - so I've taken the clips off for now.enough rambling - here's some more pictures:
Attachments
Re:
Nice job!
The wheels are not the originals with those lovely Harden hubs fitted. These hubs were expensive and were top quality and most had cartridge bearings (still readily available). The Flyweight had normal cup and cone bearings. The thread on the left side is not for a multi-speed freewheel (too long) but is for a single speed freewheel. Those Dunlop Special Lightweight rims were used by many club riders - very few used alloys.
Nice job!
The wheels are not the originals with those lovely Harden hubs fitted. These hubs were expensive and were top quality and most had cartridge bearings (still readily available). The Flyweight had normal cup and cone bearings. The thread on the left side is not for a multi-speed freewheel (too long) but is for a single speed freewheel. Those Dunlop Special Lightweight rims were used by many club riders - very few used alloys.
