1920s Hermes Roadster with Gearbox

1920s Hermes Roadster with Gearbox

For Restoration

(Now sold)

 

This Swedish machine is rare and I’ve not been able to find out anything about it.

The gearbox linkage is missing, and it only operates in a single gear.

With it’s fancy lugwork, it must have been a top-of-the-range bicycle in its day.

I sold it in 2009.

THE GEARBOX

 

NYMANS

Uppsala, Sweden

Anders Nyman started out as a surgical instrument maker in Uppsala, branching out into bicycle repairing and manufacture in the 1880s. He dies in 1889, and the company was run first by his widow, and then by his sons from 1893. They first used the Hermes name in 1894. By 1900 they produced around 500 bicycles, increasing to 2500 in 1905. The company became Sweden’s largest cycle manufacturer, with the Hermes as its main brand. Later machines featured a Hermes mascot on the front mudguard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a Swedish film of the Nymans factory in 1927:

http://www.filmarkivet.se/sv/Film/?movieid=274&returnurl=http://www.filmarkivet.se/sv/Sok/?quicksearch%3Dsorted