Harden Hub - Whats all the fuss? Are they worth anything?

cycling_simon

Hi

I picked up a nice old bike yesterday for my girlfriend and when cleaning the nice large flange front hub, noticed it was a Harden.

I remember seing harden hubs on wheels for quite a bit of money and wondering what are so good about them?

If they are indeed any good, is it worth anything on its own?

The bike has a Hercules Cycles hub gear hub on the rear, something I have never seen before and wondered if this is worth anything either?

The front rim is a dunlop and the rear a rigida, so I presume 1 or both of them are not orrigional to the bike.

I have plenty of replacement wheels, so if any of these are any good to anyone It would be good to get rid of them.

Any thoughts or comments would be great

Simon

Anonymous

Did you do a good job of cleaning your girlfriend's flange? Any pics?

Gavin Gilbert

The Dunlop rim could well be original, is it steel or alloy?

Harden hubs were the best you could get in their day. However that day was between 1946 to the mid 50's and most equipment available then was grim compared with modern stuff.

The silly money days for classic equipment is over, but depending on the model the hub would still probably go for a reasonable price on eBay.

cycling_simon

how do I find the model no? would a pic tell?

What do you call "reasonable price"

Simon

Gavin Gilbert

try here: http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/harden.html

price will be variable and will depend on condition. Some ebay sellers appear to have a fanclub and can command higher final values than others...