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.

Used Trek 2100

By |2024-09-23T19:53:44+00:00September 29th, 2023|road, used bikes|

Used Trek 2100 Trek 2100 flat bar The Trek 2100zx was a popular and affordable road racing bike from Trek about [...]

Read More
Comments Off on Used Trek 2100

Fuji Gran Fondo carbon road bikes

By |2023-04-06T15:46:18+00:00March 10th, 2023|Fuji, road|

Fuji Gran Fondo endurance road bikes 2023 Gran Fondo 1.3 Endurance-geometry road bikes are racing bikes for the rest of us. [...]

Read More
Comments Off on Fuji Gran Fondo carbon road bikes

Colnago C68

By |2023-05-19T05:27:35+00:00August 19th, 2022|Colnago, road|

Colnago C68 Colnago C68 The best bike. O.K.  I know we said that the Colnago C64 (and the C50 & C59) [...]

Read More
 0

Marin Nicasio

By |2023-05-20T15:01:26+00:00August 12th, 2022|cyclocross, Marin, road|

Marin Nicasio Marin Nicasio Steel is real. That's what everybody says, steel is real. Really comfortable, really affordable, really smooth riding [...]

Read More
Comments Off on Marin Nicasio

Marin Gestalt

By |2023-02-19T16:29:03+00:00January 23rd, 2022|cyclocross, Marin, road|

Marin Gestalt Marin Gestalt In case you're not familiar with the term, Gestalt is a whole that is more than the [...]

Read More
Comments Off on Marin Gestalt
 
1-206-842-9191 | TUE-SAT 10-5 | SUN 12-4 | CLOSED MONDAYS
© 2024 Classic Cycle Bainbridge Island Kitsap County
Go to Top