Cycling UK Forum

I am currently researching the history of Harden hubs (innovative cartridge hubs from the 1940'/50's) for the Veteran Cycle Club. I would be grateful if anyone could provide any information :

1. Experience of using and maintaining the hubs

2. Information on the company

Anything gratefully received

NB any assistance will be credited

Steve

Just a little snippet my father told me.
The bearings Harden fitted weren't known for being long lasting especially in the front, and just after the war the replacements were difficult to come by. A member of his club found that exactly the same size bearing was used in the bus ticket machines where he worked as a fitter. So when he had one of these machines to repair he turned up a couple of bronze bushes for the machine and the bearings he should have fitted were passed on to any cyclist who needed them.

Father told me that Harden Hubs were usually built into sprints (his were) . They were good hubs for time trials or track but the bearings were not very robust and were not as durable as Airlites. This seems to back up the point robbo was making about the bearings.

I remember an article on Harden in C+ a while back, buy their writer on vintage equipment, Hilary Stone. (This man also sells a lot of vintage equipment on Ebay.) Might be worth a Google or search through the C+ archives (I think I've got rid of my old copies).

N

Thanks for this I am aware of the Cycling + article is a very useful starting point.

The issue of the bearings seems to divide cyclists who used Hardens some swore by them others cite failures. At the time the cartridge bearings were not widely available and Harden offered a repair service ( at cost ) according to one account by an ex employee they made more money out of this than selling the hubs .

Maxicar and Mavic both developed hubs using similar bearings for whatever reason they managed to solve the bearing problems