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.

2003 Klein Palomino Race

2003 Klein Palomino Race

2003 Klein Palomino Race

2003 Klein Palomino Race

Wild horses couldn’t restrain the forces involved in the development of this bike.

The suspension was designed by Paul Turner, the founder of Rock Shox. Gary Klein lent his signature aluminum tubes and deep sparkly paint to the project. Bicycle behemoth Trek, enjoying the publicity surrounding Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France dominance, made everything come together.

The Klein Palomino featured Paul Turner’s Monolink design. The idea was to get rid of the standard four bar linkage found in most suspension designs without resorting to the old unified rear triangle design. Klein’s big aluminum tubes mated with the rear linkage perfectly, providing wide and stable mounting points for the long Fox shock unit. Trek marketed the bike as a full suspension bike for people (roadies) who didn’t like the looks or added weight of a full suspension design.

Palomino

Turner's design

Turner’s monolink design

Deore XT equipment

Deore XT equipment

The Palomino was not much of a success given the horsepower driving it. Mountain bikers were probably more interested in industrial-looking designs. Klein paint jobs were too pretty to get dirty. Trek, a midwestern company, lacked a bit of credibility for the “mountain” part of mountain biking. Without a suspension lockout, the bike would give up a bit of rider power on uphill trail sections, and the forward ‘90’s style cockpit position lacked some of the high-speed stability mountain bikers were looking for when tackling knarly downhills.

By paul|2019-06-16T15:12:11+00:00April 9th, 2017|Museum Bikes 2001 to the Present|Comments Off