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.

1989 Ritchey Ascent Comp

1989 Ritchey Ascent Comp

1989 Ritchey Ascent Comp

1989 Ritchey Ascent Comp

I have always been a Ritchey fan.

Just like the road bike aficionado who fell into Colnago, De Rosa, Pinarello or Eddy Merckx camps, early mountain bikers tended to be Gary Klein, Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher or Salsa (Ross Schafer) boosters. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you rode one of these bikes, it just means that you wanted to.

To be a Ritchey fan meant an appreciation for early West-Coast mountain bike design. Elements like slack head tube angles, forks with a lot of rake, oversized (and force-directional) Japanese steel tubing, wide Bullmoose handlebars and fillet-brazed frame joints are all in fact either Ritchey firsts or ideas that Tom championed.

XT Thumb shifters

XT Thumb shifters

Front end

Deore XT M732

This Ascent Comp is a beautiful example of late ’80’s mountain bike cool. The bike rides smoothly over rough trails thanks to the aforementioned force-directional Tange steel tubing and slack frame angles. There’s no bullmoose-style handlebar, but there is a Ritchey Force stem with an integrated cable hanger and a 22″ wide Force bar. The components are all modern marvels.

Built by Tom

Back end

Deore XT M732

The Shimano Deore XT M732 shifters are indexed (7 speeds in the back!), the brake levers operate with two fingers instead of your whole hand, the rear hub holds a cassette of cogs instead of a screw-on freewheel, and the chainrings are oval Biopace shape (or were. We changed them out for round ones).
This bike is also outfitted with the original Shimano off-road clipless pedal, the M-737. No toe clips? We’re probably more nostalgic about old bikes than anyone, but toe clips and straps were awful, so a vintage SPD pedal for your vintage mountain bike is really the best way to go.

By paul|2019-08-15T20:23:15+00:00September 4th, 2018|Museum Bikes 1986 to 2000|Comments Off