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.

1984 Lotus Legend Compe

1984 Lotus Legend Compe

1984 Lotus Legend Compe

Lotus bikes were made by people who obviously loved bicycles and wanted to provide high quality options for different types of riders.

The Legend Compe was a great beginner’s racing bike from Lotus, a classy option with no cheesy parts and timeless style.

This model showcases the lengths Lotus designers traveled to outfit their bikes with the best parts and materials.

On the Legend Compe we have Columbus SL frame tubing, made in Italy and shipped to Japan for construction. The frame is built with nice detail work all around like the Lotus emblem cast into the fork crown, and seat stay ends that wrap up and over the top tube.

SR bars and stem

Awesome Fork Crown

Italian tubing

For parts there is the Campagnolo Nuovo Record and Gran Sport mixture of components, again, great stuff from Italy, assembled in Japan and delivered to the North American rider. Japanese SR handlebars and stem, and a custom Lotus saddle were made nearby.

Hutchinson Tempo tires

Super Champion Rims

French Super Champion Competition rims and Hutchinson tires laced to Campagnolo Gran Sport hubs prove that the Lotus guys were serious about sourcing the best stuff at reasonable prices. Araya and Ukai made decent tubular rims at the time, but Japanese Panaracer sew-ups didn’t have the ride quality to match this Tempo-Super Champion combination.

Campy Gran Sport pedals

Campy on an '80's bike from Japan

Campagnolo Nuovo Record derailleurs

The Lotus label inspired rider loyalty for obvious reasons, but unfortunately that loyalty wasn’t enough to counter the cold hard mathematics of rising production costs and currency exchange rates that made bikes like this Lotus disappear from the American market in the 1990’s.

By paul|2013-01-11T19:45:23+00:00January 1st, 2013|Museum bikes 1966 to 1985|0 Comments

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