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This bicycle was ridden in the 1955 Tour de France by Fred Krebs
of the Hercules team. Also on the Hercules team at that time was
Brian Robinson who won the first
Tour De France stage for the British. The pictures at the top of the page
show Krebs in his team jersey and also in the 1954 Tour of Britain. This
bicycle was crashed by Krebs in Paris-Roubaix resulting in the original fork being replaced
along with one of the rims.
After the 1955 season, the bike was purchased by Bill Hodgson(top right photo) who rode
it thousands of miles as a semi-pro in England. Although studying for an
engineering degree, Bill had his own success on the Hercules once leading the Tour of
Ireland untill the last day. He ended up finishing second without any
team support. Bill sold the bike to me after receiving a new Cinelli as
a birthday gift.
This bike was custom built with a real mix of
components including a Louison Bobet Huret rear derailleur with two
levers on one down tube braze-on. One lever did the shifting and the
other controlled pulley tension. It has a rod operated Simplex front
derailleur and steel cottered cranks.
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