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.

1948 Roadmaster Luxury Liner

1948 Roadmaster Luxury Liner

1948 Roadmaster Luxury Liner replica

The Roadmaster Luxury Liner was a pretty popular bike in the late ’40’s and early ’50’s. Built by the Cleveland Welding Company (who happened to make bicycles for a number of different brands), the Luxury Liner was a fine bicycle produced by skilled builders and marketed by some of the greatest minds the advertising world has ever had.

This bike was so iconic that a replica was produced in the late ’90’s (seen here) to capture the imagination (and dollars) of the adults that had wanted one of these bikes as children.

This version with the boys’ frame came with bowed metal struts on each side of the bike. The ads called out these struts and named the Luxury Liner “The bike with bumpers!”. From the ad copy, we’re not sure if these bumpers were meant to protect the bike in the event of a crash, or if they were designing a bike for some sort of demolition-derby type of use.

Roadmaster badge

Side bumpers below the headlight

A horn in the tank

Cleveland Welding Company

Luxury Liner

Another advertising campaign suggested that the Luxury Liner was “The bike for leaders” and that a kid could rise to the top of the neighborhood hierarchy by riding one.
For the girls model, the folks at Roadmaster went straight to the parents. The Luxury Liner ads for the girls version told mom and dad “How to give that young daughter a thrill”. I’m guessing that the girls’ Luxury Liner was thrilling because they omitted the “bumpers” and let the girls out onto the streets with boys who were crashing into everything.

By paul|2024-10-08T01:09:59+00:00September 30th, 2014|museum bikes|Comments Off