Hercules. My First Folder

[classic33]

I got a pair of cotters (anyone else think of Rab C Nesbitt?) from the local Raleigh dealer today. He said he went to the factory once and that the workers fire the cotters into place with a sort of gun! Compressed air if anything I would think. That one took so much force and it laughed at me. It didn't laugh at the cobalt drill bits I used on it though!

Panic not, that is just a catalogue. I recently purchased a few (more!!) books including the Irish Mayflies one. I am into tying Irish style flies at the moment. I really need to tie some more daddy long legs though.

Bloody Butcher works well on The Moy. Should you ever go over.

 

[classic33]

[QUOTE 4953035, member: 45"]There are two sizes of cotter pin.

Having struggled with cotter pins too many times, I've ordered a press from the USA. There appears to be only one bloke who still makes them. I should get it tomorrow.[/QUOTE]
They, cotterpins, increase in size(metric) by half mm, from 8.0 to 9.5, in the UK.

 

[tyred]

British bikes used 3/8" cotter pins. Both my German bikes seem to use them as well.

On French and a lot of other Continental bikes they used 9mm. You may find your Hercules is something Continental-made re-badged as a Hercules. I believe they did that towards the end.

The secret is to drive or press them in fully, I've seen people just tighten the nut but the thread isn't strong enough to pull them into place as the nut's only real purpose is to keep them in place. Do that and they will come loose, making clicking noises and probably damage the crank over time.

Some replacement ones come with a very steep angle on the taper part. It is best to file them (accurately, both need to be identical) so the go in further and make better connection with the slot on the bottom bracket axle.