M/42 Swedish military bike Restoration, Hermes by Nymans

29th September 2012

M/42 Swedish Military Hermes bicycles by Nymans

I made a trip to a scrap yard here in Finland last week to look at some old military bicycles that had been left out to survive the elements. I'm not sure how many Finnish winters they had been left there but they were not in a very pretty state.

I got a couple of them home thinking I would be able to get one working bicycle out of the two of them but on closer examination, they were not as bad as I had first expected. I sold one and started on the restoration job.

Hermes Nymans Verstäder badge

Initial research revealed these were M/42. These were produced by a number of famous Swedish manufacturers with the maximum number of interchangeable parts. This particular one has a Hermes frame manufactured by Nymans Verkstäder between 1942 and some time in the 50's and a front drum brake and these bikes were produced by Husqvarna. Nymans Verkstäder changed its name to Nymanbolagen AB in 1947 so the badge indicates it is older than this. The badge was screwed in and upon removal, the Hermes logo was revealed. Further research later on made it possible to narrow down this five year window.

Hermes logo under the badge

Three Crowns and date of 1956 on inner tube

I had also picked up an extra front wheel that had been floating around in the yard. Luckily this gave me two good inner tubes, dated 1956 and still perfectly sound. The only thing I needed to  replace were the tyres.

The inner tubes bore the Swedish Army Three Crowns mark and the name Varnamo. Värnamo is a municipality in Sweden and there is a Varnamo Rubber UK but I haven't been able to find anything about Varnamo and inner tubes from 1956.

Original 1956 inner tube with working valve

Varnamo brand on innertube

A later replacement inner tube was totally disintegrated.

Of particular interest on these bikes is a front drum brake operated by a lever and chain that goes inside the right front fork. The lever is integrated into the handle and is an ingenious mechanism.

Front wheel with drum brake 

Drum brake removed

Cleaned drum brake in lock position

Drum brake in free position

The bottle dynamo was manufactured by ASEA, a Swedish general electric company founded in the late 19th century. The dynamo is contemporary, although I have it on good account that the front lamp is probably a later replacement. The original wires and bulbs are all in working order and with a simple re-connection and a little work on the rear light, all is now good.

6 Volt 0.5 amp bottle dynamo

Dynamo manufactured by ASEA (Swedish general electric)

The finished bike had taken little over 7 hours to dismantle, clean and reconstruct. All that really needed doing was to replace the tyres, reconnect the wires for the dynamo, repair the rear light fitting, and free up the brake drum and lever mechanism.

A closer inspection of the rear hub reveled it was a one speed NOVO coaster brake hub manufactured by Husqvarna although Nymans usually installed a torpedo hub.

With the Nymans badge putting the bike pre '47 and the rear hub post '45, the bike was probably manufactured between those years. However, my source in Sweden informs me that the frame number suggests a date of 1944, making it 68 years old when I found it. And all the parts it came with are still in perfect working order.

These were manufactured at a time before mass consumerism was the norm. Things were built to last, unlike in our modern throw-away society. I wonder what the average age is, in the west, for objects like refrigerators, TV's and washing machines? Five to ten years, perhaps? A refrigerator made in the old USSR from the 30's still works today, and yes, light bulbs can be made to last a lifetime.

I think the bikes probably saw active service from around 1944 until 1956, when the inner tubes and tyres, which were also dated 1956, were changed. I imagine they were then taken out of active service, covered in green paint over the original grey and auctioned off whereupon they ended up in Finland. 

I shall have to remake the saddle which had totally disintegrated but initial rides have proved this to be the most comfortable and solid-feeling bicycle I have ever ridden. Yes, at over 26 kg it is a heavy bike, but like an old Rolls Royce it wafts along with no rattles or squeaks. When you ride over a bump on one of these, you glide over it.

Finished and all in working order.

The Swedish bicycle company Kronan founded in 1997 has its roots in this very bicycle. In the '90s two Swedish university students supplemented their income by buying and restoring M/42 army bikes. When they ran out of stock, they applied for the rights of the original design and had them manufactured in Taiwan and assembled in Poland.

Perhaps I have stumbled upon the last of the remaining stock of original M/42s or could there be more out there in the many scrapyards dotted around Finland?

Frame number stamped under the crank
indicating a 1944 date of  manufacture

Swedish Army three crowns stamped on top of the handle bars

Front lamp manufactured by Bosch in Sweden SP L1,
probably from the 60's or even 70's

Indigenous tree species in Finland

I shall be adding links and pictures to this list and notes concerning uses and fruits.

Softwoods: 
Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
Spruce (Picea abies)
Common juniper (Juniperus communis)
Common or european or english yew (Taxus baccata)
Hardwoods:
Silver birch (Betula pendula)
Downy birch (Betula pubescens)
Common or european alder (Alnus glutinosa)
Grey alder (Alnus incana)
Aspen (Populus tremula)
Rowan, european mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
Oaklef mountain ash (Sorbus hybrida)
Swedish whitebeam (Sorbus intermedia )
Teodori rowan (Sorbys teodori)
European bird cherry (Prunus padus)
Littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata)
Norway maple(Acer platanoides)
Common or english or pedunculate oak (Quercus robur)
Common or european ash (Fraxinus excelsior)saarni
Wych elm (Ulmus glabra)
European white elm (Ulmus laevis)
Crab apple (Malus sylvestris) 
Common buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus)
Alder or glossy buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula)
Hawnthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Goat willow (Salix caprea)
Bay or laurel willow (Salix pentandra)
Black maul. almond or almond-leaved willow (Salix triandra)
Dark-leaved willow (Salix myrsinifolia)

No known English name:
Crataegus rhipidophylla
Salix borealis

At the lake

15th September 2012

Twenty-two minutes to get to the lake over six kilometres away on a mono-speed bicycle.

I get that down to 17 minutes on the return journey. It was getting dark and cold. I was in a hurry and the thought of getting into my hot sauna seemed to provide the impetus necessary to add some extra rotational force to my pedalling legs.

...

Chris unchains the oars and little rowing boat, we load up our rods and paddle off around the lake skimming the banks with its reeds and marshy edges. We fish with rubber lures which are lead-weighted at the heads. They cast beautifully.

Halfway round Chris hooks and lands a pike. It's not big but would make a decent meal. Chris says the white flesh is difficult for him to distinguish from cod which I find difficult to believe - I imagined pike or most lake fish to be muddy tasting. The water is very brown here but translucent brown in the shallows. Chris says its from the peat.

The pike makes a disturbing croaking sound and before I know it, Chris has unhooked it and put it gently back into the water. It swims off.

My dinner swims off.

I am having more luck hooking the lilies than any fish and on the way back I volunteer to row. We've been on the water for one and a half hours so it's a good distance back.

...

The dark lake, like a gypsy's crystal ball reflects another world. Autumn is just starting here but in the upside down world it is easy to imagine the arrival of spring in New Zealand, the land of my birth.

First signs of Autumn

15th September 2012

A solitary nettle protrudes above the wild raspberries in the chill autumnal air. The green leaves of the fruit bushes are interspersed with rusty weeds lacking the suppleness they once enjoyed, like stiff and wizened old folk. The trees in front of my window still harness the green naivety of summer but strangely it is the interior branches that host the older leaves. Now yellow and as if punctured by a dirty nail dappled with brown spots which will soon spread like the veins in a blue cheese.

Beyond, a sliver birch still stands tall and green. One neighbour is a patchwork of green and yellow while yet another is almost completely transformed and will soon wear its full autumn cloak.

Low clouds puff along to the north as a heart-shaped hole of turquoise opens up like a beacon of hope. Through the hole, cumulo clouds form with bright tops touched by the sun.

The wind rustles through the leaves.

Perhaps this afternoon it will be sunny.

Back in Finland after my visit home

15th September 2012

It's been a while since I last posted anything.

I've been back in the UK visiting family.

The kids are great and I miss them deeply. My older boy Jun did brilliantly in his 'A' level exams and got into the university of his choice, Sheffield, to read economics.

I've got a great family and I am always thinking of them; Jun, Sean, Eli, Mum, Dad, Katie, Al, Soph. All of them.

...

My father was diagnosed with cancer and had been receiving treatment since March. He was hospitalised due to an infection following chaemotherapy. It really took it out of him and he was greatly weakened.

I managed to get back a couple of days before he returned home. As he was pushed up the path in a wheel chair, my heart stopped. He looked so thin and frail and there was concern about his faculties - we needn't have worried about that though.

Over the course of three weeks or so, we managed to get him back on his feet and exercising a little to get the strength back into his atrophied legs. After three weeks in hospital, the muscle had just slipped off his body. He graduated from a Zimmer frame to a walking stick and was venturing about without any aid when he tripped over and hurt himself.

His confidence took a big knock and he gave up for a while. It must be frustrating being mentally alert and having been previously so active in the garden and in his pottery studio but not being able to get about - the mind being strong but the body being unable.

He got back up but is more down than up.

It's a big shock for all of us but especially mum to see the big strong man who played such a leading role in our lives reduced to thin legs in baggy pyjamas.

I love you dad. We all do and our thoughts are with you always.