Bill Honeman’s 1932 Brennan
Bill Honeman’s 1932 Brennan racing bike
Tough old racing steel.
This racing bike saw hard mile after mile in its years of service. Raced, crashed, trained on and played with by a cyclist named Bill Honeman, it served with distinction.
John “Pop” Brennan built bikes like this one in his Newark, NJ workshop for many of the best racers of the day.
Bill “Willie” Honeman raced sucessfully for years and was the junior national champion in 1924, and national champion as a professional in 1934, 1935, and 1936.
Racing in his stars and stripes jersey, with prototype helmet
Original blueprint for one of Honeman’s Brennans
Willie broke a lot of ground for other cyclists to follow. He was the first American to wear a stars-and-stripes jersey as the national champion (before Willie they just draped a flag over the riders shoulders at the podium ceremony). Willie also lobbied for head protection for his fellow professional riders (ineffective as the available helmets were at the time), and was the first to regularly wear a helmet outside of motorpaced events.
Willie achieved an interesting little bit of immortality in bronze. He was the model used in making many early racing awards. Look closely at some of the trophies on display at Classic Cycle and you’ll find Willie’s likeness on the top of all of the ABL and NCA racing trophies.
Brennan created custom handlebars for his racers
Check out the wire toe clips
These rims are still straight.
Throughout his career, Honeman exclusively rode bikes built by Pop Brennan.
This track bike is from the middle of Willie’s professional racing career, and is in original condition with little to no restoration work.
Willie Honeman and Pop Brennan are both honored at the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.