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 Schwinn Paramount Touring Bike

1976 Schwinn Paramount Touring Bike

1976 Schwinn Paramount touring bike

Let’s say you were an avid cyclist in the 1970’s.

In the summer of ’76, you decided to do some light touring (In those days it would have been “cash touring”, not “credit card touring”) down the coast. Maybe you wanted to cruise from Seattle to Portland, or attempt a ride around Mount St. Helens (before it blew up). Whatever your plan, as an avid cyclist (but not a racer) this would have been your ideal bike.

'76 Schwinn Paramount

Nervex lugs looked good

Reynolds 521 tubing rode great

We’ll start with the frame, which was built in Chicago of Reynolds 531 steel utilizing Nervex lugs. It made for a very light and elegant bike as well as a smooth ride. This Paramount isn’t a full touring bike, but it isn’t really a racer either, it’s somewhere in between.

Campagnolo touring gear

Campy Rally derailleur

Drilled the spoke holes incorrectly? Drill them again!

Not being a racer, you would have wanted some reasonable gears for the hills. This bike has a Campagnolo Rally drivetrain with a triple crankset, really the only high performance low-gear option at the time.

For wheels we have light and sturdy clincher rims and tires which were more practical than touring with sew-up tires, and drilled out Campy high-flange hubs. The hubs, apparently, were drilled wrong initially, so they just re-drilled in between the mistaken holes and presto! Ultralight hubs. Slick. Long-reach Weinmann brakes these speedy wheels to a stop.

All in all, this Paramount was kind of like a modern Lynskey Sportive or a Trek Domane “club racer”. A great American-made road bike that handles long day tours quite well with very little pretense and just a hint of flash.

By paul|2015-03-04T04:05:28+00:00October 1st, 2012|Museum bikes 1966 to 1985, schwinn|0 Comments