Harry Nettleton’s 1907 RaCycle Pace Maker

1907 RaCycle

There are a lot of names here so lets see… This is the Pace Maker model RaCycle, and RaCycles were made by the Miami Cycle and Manufacturing company of Middleton, Ohio.

Bikes like this one followed high-wheelers onto the cobbled streets of early 1900’s America. With newly invented roller chain and pneumatic tires, this would have been a luxuriously smooth ride compared to a Penny-Farthing.

One of the selling points of the Pace Maker was the massive front chainring (equivalent to a modern 84-tooth ring) that was meant to attract attention and suggest higher speed (but the big ring was actually offset by a big back cog that ended up producing a comfortable gear ratio).

The new air-filled tires were mounted (using shellac as glue) to wooden rims (maple, I think).

Head badge

Adjustable handlebar

Oversized drivetrain

Fork pegs

42 skip-tooth chainring

A RaSaddle?

The handlebars on the Pace Maker are really cool. They pivot at the stem, and can be adjusted in width and height, depending on a rider’s desire.

Foot pegs on the front fork allowed the rider to enjoy speeding downhill on his fixed-gear bike. Sure, without your feet on the pedals to control the speed there would be no brakes, but brakes are overrated.

Racycle advertisement

Check out the old ad that we found for RaCycle bikes. The copy in old advertising and press releases like this one was so earnest. According to the manufacturer, a 1904 Worlds Fair jury “consisting of the ablest consulting and manufacturing engineers in Europe and America, were unanimous in their decision that the Racycle was the most perfectly constructed, easiest running bicycle in the world.”

However they were judged, early “safety” bicycles like this one really brought inexpensive personal transportation to the masses. They connected people with jobs and schools, connected rural areas of the country with cities, connected extended families (and liberated family members from one another).

This bike was originally owned by Harry Nettleton of Red Wing, Minnesota. Harry raised the original $16.50 purchase price by collecting clam shells from the Minnesota river and selling them to a local button factory.

By the way, if you take a look at the Iver Johnson Truss-bridge bike from the same era, you’ll note that the RaCycle was about a third of the price of the Iver Johnson.

1939 Malvern Star 2 star

1939 Malvern Star

1939 Malvern Star

1939 Malvern Star

A great bike from the land down under.
This is a Malvern Star.
To be specific, it’s a Two-Star model from the Australian bicycle company Malvern Star.
The bike is a mid-level model that was meant to be fast and tough but not as pretty or as light as the flagship Five-Star model.
I don’t know, this one looks pretty spectacular to us.
Like the ’48 Malvern Star and the 1920’s Arrow Racer that we have in the collection, this one sports an impressive finish. The beautifully painted frame details appear to be the handiwork of Ken Dickie. Ken was an artist who lived in Melbourne and applied his brushwork to some of the coolest bicycles we have ever seen anywhere. Ken worked with a steady hand, a great eye for details and a tremendous amount of patience.

Adjustable stem, road bars.

Adjustable stem, road bars.

Cyclo Twin Wire shifter

Cyclo Twin Wire shifter

Good lookin' bike

Good lookin’ bike

Despite the lack of brakes (Jeff was still working on it when we took the photos), this is a road bike. It had three or four gears to help even out hilly terrain and frame geometry that smoothed out rough roads and handled high speeds.

Cyclo twin wire derailleur

Cyclo twin wire derailleur

3 speeds: All fast

3 speeds: All fast

Modern shifting, pre war

Modern shifting, pre war

The shifting system is cutting edge technology from 1938. A Cyclo “Oppy” twin wire.
Using two cables, the top-tube mounted lever would pull the derailleur, which dragged the chain sideways across the multiple freewheel cogs that were fitted to the rear wheel. The Oppy, which was named after Hubert Opperman, was an improvement over the popular Cyclo standard derailleur of a few years earlier. The Oppy replaced the standard’s long chain tension spring with a coiled spring around the derailleur piston. It looks like we have a 3-speed freewheel mounted on the Malvern, so with a 15 to 17 tooth spread you would have had it easy compared to your single-speed riding partners…

By paul|2015-05-12T04:06:02+00:00May 12th, 2015|Museum Bikes Pre WWII|Comments Off