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.

Breezer Radar Pro

Breezer Radar series

Breezer Radar

If you prize versatility over every other design element, these are the bikes for you.

Joe Breeze, one of the original mountain bike builders, knows how to design a great bike The Radar is no exception.

Call these bikes “Gravel” or “Road”. Call them off-road rigs or urban runabouts. Just call one of them your bike.

The Breezer Radar and Radar X are the bikes we chose for commuters, adventure-bikers and one-bike-that-must-do-it-all people. The steel frames are light, durable and springy. There are dozens of braze-on attachment points for racks, fenders and bottle cages. The chosen components tolerate being left dirty and/or abused, the hydraulic disc brakes stop you easily with a light touch, and the dirt-drop handlebars are comfortable and versatile.

Wide dirt-drop bars

If you had been considering a Surly or a Salsa, you may want to reconsider. There is a Breezer that is probably lighter. Looking at something that has only one chainring in the front? Do yourself a favor and get a broader gear range like on a Breezer.

These Radar models have just as many attachment points for racks as a lot of different gravel bikes, but they feature a more comfortable (and controllable) upright riding position for gravel or dirt trails than a lot of bikes out there, and often come in priced less than something similarly spec’d.

By paul|2024-11-07T07:42:40+00:00August 29th, 2022|Breezer, cyclocross, road, specialty bikes|Comments Off