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.

1976 FMF Team Replica

1976 FMF Team Replica

1976 FMF Team Replica

If you know the name FMF, you know they have been making motorcycle stuff for a long time.

This bike is a FMF Team Replica, a collaboration project between FMF and pioneering BMX company Race Inc. Like a lot of great BMX innovations, this bike came from the brain of Race Inc. (and later SE Racing’s) Scot Breithaup.

In 1976 Race Inc. released the RA-7 model which was the first mass-produced aluminum BMX bike. Race Inc. RA-7 frames ended up being sold as FMF Team replicas, Peugeot CXP-500s and Cycle Pro Spoilers and Foilers.
FMF dabbled in the BMX world for only a single year, 1976.

The frame gussets were the magic elements to these bikes. Using lightweight aluminum to make a racing machine that was going to be jumped, crashed and abused was risky at the time (as evidenced by the hundreds of broken steel frames that littered the nation’s BMX tracks). The bottom bracket, head tube and seat stay gussets added all the strength needed for these bikes to survive their hard life.

Head tube gusset

Bottom bracket gusset

Number 14x

Preston Petty grips

Takagi one-piece cranks

Kashimax saddle and fluted post

This FMF has all the cool parts available in 1976. There’s an aluminum FMF handlebar attached to a “double gooseneck” stem. Preston Petty Works GP grips. A Redline fork. There’s a fluted aluminum seat post, a Kashimax saddle, Takagi one-piece cranks and Union pedals. The pads have snaps, not Velcro, to attach them. The Bendix coaster brake hub controls the speed on this bike, and everything rolls on Araya 7B rims.

By paul|2024-10-06T17:57:11+00:00February 17th, 2017|Museum bikes 1966 to 1985|Comments Off