Micky Franciose’s 1931 Brennan
Mickey's 1931 Brennan track bike
This is one of Mickey Franciose’s racing bikes, a Brennan from 1931.
Mickey, whose first name was actually Nick (a race announcer got it wrong, and the nickname stuck), was a native of Montclair, New Jersey. He has memorabilia in the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame, as well as in our museum.
Franciose raced on velodromes up and down the eastern seaboard during the summer, and when the weather turned cold, he headed for Australia and raced there during our winter.
Beautiful snowflake pattern chainring
Lobdell wooden rims, still straight after 75 years
As a sprinter, Mickey tallied up an extensive list of wins, including national championships titles in the junior, amateur, and professional levels. Needing reliable handling and fast acceleration, Mickey employed both Appelhans and Brennan racing bikes to do the job for him. This cool green Brennan was ridden to at least a couple of his more prominent wins.
These old saddles turned custom to their rider
Change the stem position for different events
Apparently Mickey was an impressive cyclist. Not only was his racing considered newsworthy, it seems that some sports writers thought his training sessions were interresting as well. The Australian sports press wrote tons of articles about Mickey’s visits in the 1930’s. Check out this excerpt we found from the Sydney Morning Herald, dated February 15, 1939:
On his Brennan, 1936
Mickey Franciose in Sydney! The American Ex-Amateur cyclist, who has raced with success at the Melbourne exhibition track since he came to Australia two or three months ago, arrived in Sydney and had some training at the sports arena yesterday. Franciose is about 20 years of age, and is a splendidly built athlete. He rides in a position similar to that of Francis Faure, the French rider who was in Sydney last summer, but seems to stretch out more to reach his pedals…