People

Vincent Seiferd, Sr. 1914-1992

Vincent Seiferd, The Swedish Ace

Vincent Seiferd was our kind of guy.
Vincent raced his bike for a paycheck from 1931 until the start of WWII. As a professional bike racer Vincent wasn’t a superstar but he was always in the mix, tearing up the boards of all the famous east coast velodromes.
Nicknamed the Swedish Ace (even though his parents were actually German and Irish), Vincent entered his first professional race at the New York Coliseum in 1931. Over the years Vincent raced for all of the big east coast clubs including the Gotham Cyclists, the Empire City Wheelmen and the Century Road Club of America.
Well liked by his peers, Vincent was often spotted with other fast men of the era including Jimmy Walthour, Freddie Spencer, Danny Esposito, and Oscar Sellinger.
Like many bike racers in the 1930’s, Vincent’s athletic career ended with the start of WWII. Vincent didn’t race again after returning home from his service, but with the coaxing of his friend Jimmy Walthour who was by then a salesman for Raleigh bicycles, Vincent opened his two “Seiferd’s Cycle” bike shops on the Jersey Shore.

Old bike guys don’t fade away, but they do retire to someplace warm. For the Swedish Ace that place was Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1969.

Vincent’s Brennan

Like many east coast pros, Vincent raced aboard Pop Brennan’s hand-crafted racing bikes. Brennan’s machines were tough, light, and superbly engineered.  Vincent’s family gave us one of his old racing bikes to restore and display. We know bike shop guys pretty well, and Vincent probably owned dozens of bikes over the years, and this one had equipment and modifications that probably spanned 30 years of usage. We decided to restore it to the way it would have been outfitted during his racing days, with BSA drivetrain equipment, an Ideale saddle, wooden rims, a Brennan bar and an adjustable stem. The paint is a nice vaguely Scandinavian color scheme, perfect for the Swedish Ace.

Adjustable stem

Crankset detail

Ideale saddle

By the way, we have an interesting side note for you: If you look carefully at Vincent’s photo you’ll notice that it has been autographed by comedian (and bike racing fan) Lou Costello.

Kiel Reijnen

Kiel at the US Pro Challenge

Knowing the players makes big league sports so much fun…

Kiel Reijnen was a just another kid rolling over to Seward Park for Thursday night races a decade ago.  These days you can see him light up the finishes at some of the biggest races, and it makes us here at Classic Cycle quite proud.

We would like to take all of the credit for Kiel Reijnen’s (pronounced like Keal Rye-nen) success, but we had nothing to do with it.  Besides good genes, killer instinct and a strong work ethic, Kiel has been on some great teams.  After his start on our shop club he went to the Broadmark (Hagens-Bermann) team, then a little club in Colorado sponsored by Waste Management.  As a professional, Kiel rode for the Jelly-Belly sponsored team our friend Danny Van Haute runs, and then went to Team Type 1/Sanofis followed by three years with United Health Care.

King of the Mountain, not just a sprinter

Winning in Rwanda for Team Type 1

Kiel and Francis racing for Classic Cycle

Kiel is now in the big league. As a rider on the Trek Factory Racing team (just renamed Trek – Segafredo), Kiel will be racing more than just a few spring classics.  2016 starts with the Tour Down Under in Australia followed by Ruta del Sol in Spain, Paris-Nice, Milan-San Remo, possibly the Tour of Flanders and then the Ardennes Classics.  Keep your fingers crossed, because Kiel will likely do a grand tour this year and we’re hoping for France instead of Spain.

What kind of steps does a bike racer take to get on a ProTour team you ask?  In Kiel’s case it has been a steady progression over a decade and involves success all over the world.

First of all, we should get his shoes bronzed.  Each year at the U.S. Pro cycling championships Kiel makes the race.  While Kiel has yet to pull on the stars-and-stripes jersey of national champion, he has been able to grab the third step of the podium four times (and I think he was second one year at collegiate nationals).  A little luck and Mr. consistent will take the win.

Over the past decade Kiel has made cycling news with big wins at the US Pro Challenge (the tour of Colorado), the Tour of Utah, the Philadelphia Classic, the Tour of the Gila, the Tour of Rwanda, the Tour of China, Thailand, Korea, Hainan and Qinghai Lake.  Most people know Kiel is a decent sprinter, but would you believe that he won the climbers jersey at the 2015 Tour of Langkawi?

Kiel’s first racing bike, a Torelli

Reijnen’s team Madone

Trek’s time trial machine

With Kiel now calling Bainbridge Island his off-season home base, we get to have some neat bikes, jerseys and trophies to display. If you stop by the shop you can see the Trek/Segafredo team equipment (actually you can buy yourself a team replica if you want) or go old-school and sample some sport beans from his old sponsor, Jelly-Belly.

Eddy Merckx

King Eddy on black velvet

Eddy is the king.

With over 500 wins during his career as a bike racer, Belgian Eddy Merckx definitely earned his status as the best bike racer who ever lived.  “The Cannibal” raced bikes for 18 years, and during that time Eddy essentially won every third race that he entered (and was on the podium about half of the time).  He won five Tours de France (collecting 34 individual stage victories), five Giri d’ Italia, one Vuelta Espana, the World Championship and nearly every classic and minor stage race on the calender.

While racing the 1969 Tour de France Eddy managed to win six individual stages, the climbers’ classification, the sprinters’ jersey, the combination classification, the combativity award and he walked away with the yellow jersey for the final victory.  He did this at the age of 24, so if they awarded the best young rider jersey back then, he would have won that as well.

So, how do you properly honor a king?  We decided to go a popular (and classy!) route.  A portrait painted on black velvet.  In a frame worthy of a velvet Jesus or a velvet Elvis.  Like Elvis Presley, Eddy rocked some impressive sideburns in the 1970’s.

The artist, Ken Sellen, gave us an older and somewhat regal Eddy to watch over the cyclists who make the pilgrimage to Classic Cycle.

By the way, Ken Sellen is an extremely talented and versatile artist.  If you would like to see some other great examples of his work (or commission a painting for yourself) check out kensellenart on Instagram or call the shop and we can put you in contact with him.

Paul (and his time with the U.S. Cycling Team)

Paul with team car

Back in the 1990’s Paul had a fairly unusual job. He was one of the mechanics for the U.S. National cycling team. The National team, based at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, is a dynamic organization that re-shuffles several times a year to support track racers, road, cyclocross and mountain bikers (both professionals and up-an-coming amateurs).
In an Olympic year a subset of the National team becomes the Olympic team, and whenever it’s time to compete in a World Championship, riders are plucked out of the National team racer pool to represent the country.

It all started with a phone call out of the blue (with a job offer for his roommate George). That phone call resulted in a travel-intensive career that spanned two Olympic Games, eight or nine World Championships, dozens of races in dozens of different counties, a hundred different bike racers, and about 200,000 frequent flyer miles.

Mostly assigned to work with the endurance track team and the under 23 (years old) men’s road team, the racers that depended on Paul would often progress onto the pro road circuit.

An easy training day with the national team

At the office

Matt DeCanio

Dave Zabriskie

Some of the riders and their bikes that have depended on Paul are more notable than others. The more famous (and infamous) include Christian Vandevelde (and his sister Marissa), Kirk Obee, Justin Spinelli, Aaron Olson, Tim Johnson, Jonathan Page, Mike McCarthy, Allison Dunlap, Mari Holden, Rebecca Twigg, Phil Zajicek, Danny Pate, Mike Creed, Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong and Dave Zabriskie.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a mechanic on a bike top-level racing team? Here are a couple of day-in-the-life scenarios:

Travel day: Pack up a couple of vans for a trip to the airport, drive there and then personally shepherd twenty pieces of oversized luggage through the departure and destination airport. Pack up two different vans for a 2-hour drive to a strange hotel where the concierge will direct you (in a language that you don’t speak) to a basement room or back parking lot where you can assemble bikes until 2 in the morning.

Aaron Olson at the 1999 Tour L’Avenir

The Coca Cola Tour de France truck

Race caravan, Plouay stage of the 1999 Tour d Avenir.

Race days: Up at 6am. Wash the team car. Air-up tires and touch-up the bikes (usually 6 of them per mechanic). Have breakfast. Load bikes onto the race car, then drive to the race start. Once the race starts you get to nap in the back seat of the car until you hear your team name over the race radio. Sometimes there are wheels to change or bikes to swap out during a race, but the goal is to be able to nap through the entire stage. After the race you get to drive to a new hotel, wash the bikes, replace broken parts and set up a secure place for the equipment to stay overnight. Dinner with the team, drinks with the coach and the soigneurs, and bed by midnight.

Lance Armstrong

One of Lance Armstrong’s 2001 Tour de France Yellow Jerseys

Like it or not, Lance Armstrong is a big part of cycling history.
He was one of the most successful racers to have ever pedaled a bike. He finished first (we’re going to refrain from using the word “won”) in seven Tours de France including dozens of stage victories, he was World Champion, won a handful of semi-classics and a dozen smaller stage races.

Lance was an inspiration to millions following his comeback from cancer.

He dated rock stars and partied with celebrities.

There are some of you out there who practically worshipped the man (admit it, you did).  We all wore the yellow wristbands and asked ourselves “What Would Lance Do?”.
In the end, he fell from grace.  Cheating in sports!  Performance-enhancing drugs!  Lying to Oprah!  The shame!

In the end, we found out that Lance was a bully and a jerk.

Lance’s sporting career is history now.  We’re not, however, going to erase that history here at Classic Cycle.  No destroying old statues or looting museums just because they offend our sensibilities.

We here at Classic Cycle want to see clean sports.  We do.  But like every other human endeavor involving money or pride, we’re aware that there is cheating going on.  Bike racing, like football and baseball, and boxing, and soccer, and hockey, and running, and horse racing, and table tennis, has performance-enhancing drugs.

But to us, history is important.  Sports as entertainment is important.

Don’t feel bad if you want to watch old Tour de France videos.  The Lance years (like the Indurain years, Riis’ win, Landis’ win and Contador’s “Tainted beef” win) had some great action.  Enjoy the racing for what it was.

Just remember, as sports fans we need to be careful who we deify.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee

Washington Governor Jay Inslee and his bike

Not a bike racer or a bike builder, but a real champion for cyclists in our state.

As a private citizen, as a congressman, and now as governor Jay tries to make our roads work for two wheels.  He has voted for projects and funding plans that include an equitable share for all road users in the mix.   Unlike a lot of the folks in politics, Jay understands that bicyclists, ferry riders, and pedestrians all pay their share of taxes and deserve to be considered when designing and funding transportation.

Jay must be one of the first governors to spend his off hours on the bike, and we’re sure that the state patrol is getting in shape riding with him.

The gov is fast.  We’ve ridden around Bainbridge with him, and taken on a couple century rides with him.  Think riding 100 miles with a 60 year old congressman who happens to be on the campaign trail should be easy, right?  Wrong.  Try hanging on to Jay’s wheel while he averages 17mph in between shaking hands and talking with potential voters at the rest stops.

What does he ride?  He switches between a Specialized S-Works carbon road bike and his vintage (beat up) Cinelli.

Audrey McElmury  1943  –  2013

Audrey on the podium

Audrey McElmury was the first American to become the world champion in a road cycling discipline. Audrey won the womens road race in Czechoslovakia in 1969. She also broke a long dry spell, being the first American to win a world championship title since Frank Kramer won the professional sprint race in 1912, and did it eight years before Greg LeMond brought another road world championship medal home to the United States in 1977.

Audrey was an easy pick for the national team, having placed fifth at worlds the previous year.  America being a bit of a cycling backwater in the ’60’s, the U.S. cycling federation did not have the money to pay the way for the three women on the team.  It cost Audrey and her teammates around $10,000 for airfares, lodging and meals for the worlds trip, but their investment paid off.

Her John Berry racing bike from the ’69 Worlds

The championship races had an interesting backdrop in 1969.  Held on the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, tanks were everywhere.  Armed soldiers handled traffic control during the rainy road race, not volunteers or police.  In the crowds, the Czechs cheered the U.S. riders and booed the Russians.  When the Russian women won in the track events, the Czech crowd walked out of the medal ceremonies.

Audrey McElmury U.S.A.

The World Champion’s Jersey

1969 World Championship

Like most American cyclists, Audrey and her racing career got more attention in Europe than it did at home. For the 1970 racing season, Audrey signed onto an Italian team.  That year she won the national pursuit and road championships.  She also set the national hour record, 24.8 miles at the Encino velodrome (a record that stood until 1990).  McElmury retired from cycling in 1976.

Her 1969 Berry racing bike made its way into Jeff’s museum collection about twenty years ago, and hung above the register in the Kingston store.  It is currently on loan to the San Diego Sports Hall of Champions.

Zach McDonald

Zach is known for his impressive bike-handling ability

Zach’s cycling exploits are getting more numerous and more impressive each week.  An obvious cycling talent since he was eleven years old, we have officially entered him into our hall of fame.

Zach was born with a super-human sense of balance, and can stay on his bike and ride cyclocross-course obstacles that the most talented cyclists would consider un-ridable.  He won his first pro race against a stacked field on a slippery, muddy course at the Shimano New England series in Rhode Island , and grabbed a podium spot under similar conditions at a world cup race in Roubaix, France.

Riding for Classic Cycle in 2009

Zach’s custom Focus cyclocross bike

Notice the “Zach Heads” in the crowd

Competing on the national and international levels for seven years now, Zach has been the national champion twice, won the USGP series title a few times, and has raced for the U.S. National team at eight world championships (cyclocross and mountain bike). In 2008 he got on the podium at the Roubaix world cup.   In 2012 he won the national championship in the U23 category, and stunned everyone with a 4th place ride the next day in the pro championship.  In 2013 Zach skipped the U23 national championship and rode to a silver medal in the elite category.  At the world championship a few weeks later he finished as the top American in 11th place.
Facing a scarcity of livable wages on the pro cyclocross circuit, Zach has doubled his efforts at the University of Washington, but he still races when he can.

Charley Bergna

On his Schwinn Paramount

1937 amateur cycling national champion

A champion cyclist, and a champion for cycling.

Charley Bergna dedicated himself to the bicycle for most of his long life.  He was the amateur national champion in 1937, and had a professional cycling career that spanned the war and into the late 1940s.  Charlie won numerous six-day races, including the Montreal event in 1942 with his partner Torchy Peden, the Winnepeg Six in 1948 and the Cleveland Six Day in ’49.

The win at the Cleveland Six in 1949 with partner Cecil Yates was the last time that an American duo won a six-day track event for over fifty years (Marty Nothstein and Ryan Oelkers broke that particular streak by winning the Moscow Six in 2002).

1942 Montreal Six-Day Winner with Torchy Peden

1937 National Champion

Charley’s vast trophy collection recently came into our possession, and there are some beautiful pieces to check out in the shop.

We have the cup from the ’42 Montreal Six-Day with Torchy Peden.  The 1937 National Champion trophy is enormous (and still in good shape).  We have a bunch of medals and trophies from smaller races as well as a curious brass trophy made out of recycled spoons.

Bergna in his Dossche team kit

Charlie’s “Hill Cycle” Urago

That’s Bergna’s likeness in spoons

After his bike racing career had finished, Charley remained close to the sport.  He promoted cycling and sold bicycles, flying the flag for pedal power in a country that had moved on to other pursuits.  He was one of Raleigh bicycle’s first two traveling sales representatives in America, with his vast sales territory including the entire eastern half of the United States.

Mr. Bergna just passed away, nearly making it to 100 years.

Frank Turano

Joe E. Brown and Frank Turano 1934

Frank Turano understood better than anyone that an athlete’s job is to be an entertainer.

During the decades of his cycling career, Frank competed in 55 Six Day events, worked as a stuntman in the movies, sang, clowned around, and played to the crowd when he raced.

As the stunt double for star Joe E. Brown in the 1934 film “The Six Day Bike Race” Frank took the risks, and made it look easy.

In one scene the villain of the film, Harry St. Clair (played by Gordon Westcott), was to come out of the north turn and ride the hero right off the upper railing of the track.
As Turano told it: “The fellows were rather worried about it.  You see, I was to ride right over the top of the track… Crash through the rail and drop into one of the boxes.  Before starting they placed a fat extra in the box and I was told if I could crash through and fall on him it would be all right.”

Frank Turano with his bike

The star and stunt cast of the 1934 film The Six Day Bicycle Race

Frank takes bit of a spill, October 1928

“He was to be a shock absorber.  I circled the track three or four times and then hit the back turn where Westcott was to shove me through the fence.  He did the job perfectly and I headed for the rail.  They had taken all the nails out of the fence and placed matches in the holes just to hold it together.  Well, I hit that rail at an awful clip… Smashed through and started to drop.  I saw the fat man underneath and I hit him head first…  They carried him to the hospital with a broken collerbone.”

Mr. Turano broke quite a few bones in the course of his racing career (including a dozen collarbone fractures), but that portly film extra provided enough padding for Frank to walk away from this particular stunt unscathed.

Alf LeTourneur

Alf LeTourneur and Gerard DeBaets 1934

Alf LeTourneur was an exciting racer to cheer for (and a good bet) during his professional career.  From 1928 to 1942 it was likely that the track event you were watching would be won by a team that included Alf “The Red Devil” LeTourneur.

Born in France, Alf moved to the U.S., and represented us well as the National Champion for four straight years, from 1932 through 1935.  He won a total of twenty-one Six Day races (which is equivelant to twenty-one grand tour and classics victories these days).

A test attempt at the speed record

LeTourneur and DeBaets win the 1934 New York Six Day

A posed shot. Look closely, the tire Alf is checking is flat

In 1938, Frank Bartell’s human-powered speed record of 80.5mph fell to Alf.  The Red Devil then went on to beat his own record again in 1941 when he rode his Schwinn Paramount behind a pace car to the astonishing speed of 108.92 miles per hour!

Erhard “Butch” Neumann

Butch Neumann is the one with the waterbottle on his handlebars

Erhard Neumann's Schwinn Paramount

Erhard M. “Butch” Neumann was a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic Cycling Team, and while we didn’t know the man personally (he died in 2002, of a heart attack while skiing), we have one of his bikes in the museum, and a few bits of memorabilia.

Erhard was born and raised in the Dutchtown area of St. Louis. and he graduated from the University of Missouri in 1956 with a degree in metallurgy.

While in college Butch developed into a world-class bike racer (not sure of the timing, but he also raced on a team for the U.S. Army), focusing on road racing.  He made it onto the U.S. National team, and raced both the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and the 1957 world championships in Waregem, Belgium.

A great booster of cycling, Butch was a member of the St. Louis Cycling Club for over fifty years.

Doris Kopsky Muller  1922 – 1997

Doris Kopsky

Doris's Jersey

Doris visited the old Kingston shop

The National Champions

Doris and her father Joe

Doris Kopsky was a pioneer in womens cycling in America.  In 1937 at the age of 15 she won the first ABL of A – National Womans Championship, held in Buffalo, New York.  She also won numerous Eastern and National dirt track titles and roller races from 1936 to 1941.  She was the New Jersey State Sprint Champion in 1937, 1938 and 1939.

Doris was tough.  Nobody really wanted girls racing those days, including her mother.  Doris’ father Joe pushed Doris into racing partly to relive his own days as a bike racer (as he had no son), and partly to promote his bike business.  Here is an excerpt from a University of Florida  interview with Doris in 1993 :

…you sat there and waited.  If you were lucky and it did not rain and it was a fairly decent day, you were fine.  If it was cold and windy, you sat in the car and waited because there was no shelter.  The starter was a guy with a gun.  It was not a gun like they use for starting races now that are not real guns.  It would be a real gun.  He would shoot a bullet in the air and “hooray” – the race would start.… There was no ambulance or police protection.  The trainers took care of their own people.  They were the ones who came up and brushed you off and put a bandage on if you needed it.  And sympathy was merely a word in the dictionary somewhere in the S’s….

Doris’ bike (a Kopsky Special) is on display in Classic Cycle as well as her national champion jersey and medals.

Doris’ father Joe was a cyclist too.  He was a member of the 1912 Olympic Team, and later went on to build and sell Kopsky brand bicycles.

Tommy Smeriglio

Tommy Smeriglio

with Ernie Landis at a race start

Tommy Smeriglio was such an accomplished bike racer, we may need to get a bigger bike shop.  His trophies cover shelf after shelf in our museum, and we probably don’t even have them all.

A very active amatuer racer on the east coast, Tommy specialized in long distance timed events and road races.  He raced in pretty much every bike race the Unione Sportiva Italiana held between 1938 and 1952, and set numerous records while doing so.  He won the 1938 USI two-hour team time trial, the 1939 Cocce Memorial 25 mile time trial, a 1943 USI 200 mile time trial, the 1946 USI sprint series, and the 1950 Worcester road race.

In the 1940’s Tommy set records racing from New York to Pittsburg and from New York to Detroit: two records that probably still stand (because who, in the last 70 years, would have attempted to break them?).

Tommy's 1950 Dick Power track bike

USI and ABL of A medals

Smeriglio's vast haul of awards

Part of the fun of having our own hall of fame is that we get to document the sporting lives of some inspiring, but somewhat anonymous, individuals.  Cyclists whose racing careers may not have been world-class but were certainly worth celebrating.  Come check out Tommy’s old track bike (no snickering now, the builder’s name really was “Dick Power”).  Take a look at his collection of awards and photos.

If you take nothing else away from our little museum, remember this: listen up the next time your grandfather mentions that he “used to race a bit” when he was younger…

Erv Pesek  1919  –  2012

Wearing the stars and stripes of National Champion

Erv, Bill Jacoby, and the starter (Dagmar)

Erwin Pesek was a tough guy from Chicago who happened to love racing his bicycle.  Erv’s passion for racing spanned the decades, from his start in the 1930’s all the way through his last big race in the 1960’s.  Six-day track events were Erv’s forte, partnering with many greats of the sport over the years.  Fellow racers (including his brother, Fred) admired and enjoyed racing with Erv, as he threw everything he had into each race, always cranking out the miles with a smile on his face.

A friend and fellow Chicago area racer Bill Jacoby noted that whenever Erv crashed, he was quick to get back up, and fast getting back into the action.  In one of Erv’s last Six Day race at Madison Square Garden in 1961, he crashed heavily, breaking his nose, and suffering gashes and bruises.  After getting patched up at the local hospital, Erv returned to the Garden to relieve his partner and finish the race, and he received a standing ovation for his efforts.

Looking a bit beat up, during a break in the action

Raboldi and Pesek at the 1947 Chicago Six Day

During World War II, Erv was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne division, and he parachuted in behind enemy lines during the D-Day invasion, and saw heavy combat for the following year.  The funny thing is, most of the scars and aches and pains that Erv suffered from in his later years were from bike racing, not war wounds.

When track racing dried up in this country in the early ’60’s, Erv began a second career with Schwinn in Chicago, where he worked as a sales manager and warehouse manager until his retirement in 1982.

You can see some great racing footage and a fun interview of Erv in Jeff’s documentary The Six Day Bicycle Races.

Vic Hopkins

Cycling Legend Victor Hopkins, in 1924

Vic was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1904.  His mother, a single woman, gave him up when he was only a year old and the Hopkins family adopted him.  At age nine, both of his adoptive parents died, and he ended up in a Davenport orphanage. 

While delivering newspapers by bicycle, Vic came across the Davenport Cycling Club, and joined the team for a ride.  Vic, a natural talent, and strong from delivering papers in stiff Iowa headwinds, crushed most of the club on his newspaper bike!  Worthington Mitten, the club coach and a famous cyclist from an earlier era, asked Vic to join the team. In less than a year, Hopkins went on to set a new Amateur World Record for the five mile time trial (11:22).

1922 Worth Mitten bicycle, like those built for Vic

Worth Mitten head badge

Every great athlete has friends and family behind them.

The chance to compete in the 1924 Paris Olympics inspired Victor.  He trained by riding across the country to the qualifying races.  For the preliminary Olympic road trials, Vic pedaled his single-speed bicycle from Davenport, Iowa, to Milwaukee, where he raced the 116-mile time trial and qualified for the final three weeks later.  Hopkins then rode back home to Davenport, packed again, and proceded to pedal the 1,000 miles (over mostly dirt roads) to reach the Olympic trials final in New Jersey.  He won the race by 20 seconds.

1924 U.S. Olympic Cycling Team

In late June of that year, Hopkins and his six teammates set out for the Paris Olympics aboard the U.S.S. America.

The 1924 Olympic games were romanticized in the film Chariots of Fire, but the U.S. cycling team experience was a little different.  They slept on the floor of a horse barn during their stay in Paris.

The Olympic road races of the era were long (117 mile) individual time trials.  Hopkins had the third-fastest time at an intermediate checkpoint, but he crashed into a down railroad crossing gate on a descent, breaking his wheel.  After a slow wheel repair Vic continued, but could only manage 59th at the finish, with the win going to Armand Blanchonnet of France.

In 1932, Vic returned to Paris, with the intention of racing the Tour De France, which would have made him the first American to do so. While Victor did get a racing license, he isn’t on the official Tour roster, and there is no hard evidence that he participated. We speculate that Vic abandoned the race early, or that he changed his mind and competed in other French races that were going on that summer.

Nicholas “Mickey” Franciose

Mickey on the track

Mickey's 1931 Brennan track bike

In his National Champion jersey, 1936

Mickey, a native of Montclair, New Jersey, was considered one of the greatest amateur cyclists in the world in the late 1930s.  As a sprinter, he tallied up a long list of wins, including national sprint championships in the junior and amateur levels in 1936, 37, 38, and 39, and the professional title in 1940.  He broke 30 year old U.S. records in the one, two, and three mile sprint events. 

Expert coaching by his father James, a former racer, and some great natural ability helped Mickey dominate the track as a teenager.  He raced on the boards up and down the eastern seaboard, as well as abroad.  Franciose traveled to Australia in the wintertime to race, and dominated in match sprints down under (winning at the Melbourne and Sydney Gran Prix).

During the war, Franciose saw action in North Africa and Europe with the army.  At the battle of Anzio he suffered leg wounds that kept him in the hospital for 18 months.  Discharged in 1945, he resumed cycling as part of his recovery. He improved enough to enter the 1948 New York six-day race with partner Bill Johann.

Jimmy Stillmaker 1947 – 2010

Washington state champion, 1965

Jimmy was a great bike rider, an interesting local character, and a good friend.

Jimmy achieved most of his success as a bike racer on the local level, and in the mid 6o’s, he won a lot.  Jimmy was the state champion on the track and on the road, and he won as both a junior and as a senior level rider.

Jeff ended up with many of the mementos from Jimmy’s bike racing career, and the museum has numerous trophies, bikes, and even his helmet on display.

As a soldier during the Viet Nam war, Jimmy actually spent his tours of duty on guard duty in Korea.  He had many great stories from his time in Seoul, fighting North Korean border incursions, boredom, and the weather.

A night race on the velodrome

Opening season at the Marymore Velodrome

Jimmy's 1930 Kopsky Special handed down from his dad

Jimmy Stillmaker, a local cycling character, is missed.

In recent years, Jimmy could be seen riding his bike all around the island.  Regardless of the temperature, Jimmy wore shorts and flip-flops.  He was usually shirtless, and had a striking look with his white beard, bike racer legs and big belly. 

Local cyclists would be confused and slightly humiliated, as they swore that Santa Claus had just dropped them going up Erickson Avenue…

Gavin O’Grady

His hometown named a street after him…

Sonoma Stage win, 1988 Coors Classic

Gavin was a mechanic at our shop and an interactive museum exhibit for a long time.  His bikes, pictures and trophies adorned our walls, and his stories filled many a slow afternoon.  Since his racing career spanned from the mid ’80s to the early ’90s, Gavin had raced with such notables as Alexi and Rishi Grewal, Davis Phinney, Andy Hampsten,  Greg LeMond, Bob Roll, Todd Gogulski, and a young Lance Armstrong.  Gavin was part of the National team for years, rode for American professional teams, and was even part of the short lived National Cycling League (remember it?).  He had dozens of anecdotes from those days, and was more than willing to share them.

Old School O’Grady

Mountain Leader Jersey, 1988 Coors Classic

1987 Cyclops by Mike Mulholland

Gavin’s strength was his time trialing ability, and crazy solo attacks from miles out.  Roy Knickman was interviewed by ABC Sports back in ’88, and as an answer to possible race tactics open to Roy’s team, he responded “Well, we’re not going to do any Hammerhead O’Grady moves.”

Gavin’s notable performances include a stage of the Coors Classic and a stint in the climbers jersey.  He won the time trial stage and consequently the overall victories at the Chico stage race and the Tour of the Gila.  There were podium placings at the National Championships and a win at the ’88 Olympic Trials.

Jimmy Lauf

Jimmy Lauf's 1949 National Champion

Jimmy Lauf's jersey from the 1952 Olympics

Jimmy with his brother Arthur, and Paul Luders

The Willie Honeman Sprint Championship

Jimmy's publicity photo, 1947

The cover of Bicycling, July 1945

Maryland championship road race

Jimmy Lauf was a talented American bike racer in the 1940s and 1950s.   We have some great memorabilia from his racing career hanging in the store.

After winning the National Championship in 1949,  Jimmy was offered bicycles from Schwinn  if he would come to Chicago and race.  Like many amateur athletes at the time, Jimmy had trouble with this offer.  He had to tell Schwinn no, since American Bicycle League officials said that the deal would give Lauf professional status if he took the bikes.

About the same time, a European system for American amateur cyclists to earn prize money was created that kept their cash in Canadian bank accounts. American Bicycle League officials had told Jimmy that if he were to spend this money in the United States he would be considered a professional, making him ineligible to ride at the Olympic games. At the end of the 1949 season, Jimmy withdrew his money from his Canadian account and flew to Europe to race. In Belgium he was given contracts to ride in track events as the reigning US National Champion.  He didn’t spend a dime of his earnings in the U.S., and thus remained an “amateur”.

 Jimmy rode the 4000 meter team pursuit in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics along with Tom Monemage, Steve Hromjak, and Don Sheldon.

Bill Jacoby

Bill Jacoby a winner on and off the track

Bill Jacoby, a Chicago native, is a former six- day track racer and road racer who competed as an amatuer in the late ’30’s and as a pro in the 1940s and into the 1950s.

Like his father Otto, Bill raced for Chicago area teams and local sponsors (first T.J. Boler and then for Frank Barrett), and competed in every major bike race held in the U.S.

On the track, Bill frequently partnered with riders like Cecil Yates or Alf Letourner at the Six Day Races in Chicago and New York.

Bill was just a youngster when he got into bike racing in the thirties, and like many of his contemporaries, Bill took a few years off from cycling in order to focus on fighting a World War.  During the war, Bill’s marine recon unit photographed the Japanese fleet at Truk Island in the Caroline Islands.

Bill was a bicycle designer for both the Schwinn and Roadmaster bicycle companies after his retirement from racing. While working for AMF, Bill supplied Indiana University with the bikes they used at the annual Little 500 race, including the bikes used in the movie Breaking Away.

Bill on the boards with teammate Ed Carafagnini

Chicago’s local stars Charle Yaccino and Bill Jacoby

On the right, with the Pesek brothers and John Fitzpatrick

With his motor pacer

Wait, whoa! Who’s that with the starter’s pistol?

Bill and “Pop” Brennan

It is our honor to be a cycling hall of fame of sorts, and as such, the museum collection includes many fantastic photos of Bill.  We have some great action photos, fun glimpses of bike racing from this era, and lots of memorabilia.  We have his beautiful Kennis racing bike, a “steher”, trophies, a sketch of the Six Point Arrow cycling club tattoo, and much more.

Don Hester

1946 National Champion

Don’s publicity photo

Don Hester was a fabulously talented bike racer and a good friend.

Fellow racing star Bob Bergen regarded Don as the best bike rider he had ever known.

District championships, national races and even international events rolled under Don’s wheels.  He competed on the track and on the road.  In 1953 he competed as an American team member in the U.S. – Japan amateur cycling competition.

Don’s most successful year for racing was 1946.

National Champion Medal

Late 1950’s Frejus road bike

Don won a lot of races…

In the spring he left the Brooklyn Naval Yards where he had been serving during the war years.  Don came home, and proceeded to win every race he entered including the National Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

At the ’46 championship road race Don survived a terrible crash in which a rider named Ted Brill was killed.

Rolling Bay Wheelmen (The Classic Club)

We have had a cycling club for long enough now that pictures and exploits of past and present team members are now documented on the walls of the museum.

Kiel's first publicity photo

Devin leads the Boat Street Criterium

Kiel wins at Seward Park, 2002

Wow, these guys were serious...

Justin "Lumpy" Morgan, 2001 time trial

Chad Weldy making a break at Seward Park

Team bikes, 2003

The cycling club in 2003

Francis & Kiel

These Bainbridge Island teenagers are now well into their twenties.  Kiel Reijnen now makes a living as a professional bike racer (watch for him at the Tour de France).  Devin is married, and works as an inventor and craftsman (he built a bottling machine that would make Rube Goldberg proud.  Justin, Peter, and Chad have all graduated from college and have real careers… They all still ride bikes, some of them do it really fast.

Bill “Willie” Honeman

Bill "Willie" Honeman

Racing in his stars and stripes jersey, with prototype helmet

Willie Honeman is a heavily featured rider in our museum, and for good reason.  He was the junior national champion in 1924, and national champion as a professional in 1934, 1935, and 1936. 

Bill 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 Honeman's Bay View Wheelmen Jersey

Bill's Brennan, in original condition

Bill's 1929 bike racing license, number 67

Bill achieved an interesting little bit of immortality in bronze.  Look closely at some of the awards in the shop, as his likeness is found on the top of all of the ABL and NCA racing trophies. 

Willy Honeman was the model for trophy tops like this.

Willie was inducted into the Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1994.

Our museum collection includes Willie’s red 1932 Brennan track bike, his Bay View Wheelmen jersey (Jeff donated Willie’s national champion jersey to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis, California), and a few of his many trophies.

Willy Appelhans

Willy Appelhans

Willy Appelhans is in our museum  mainly for his accomplishments as a bicycle builder, but before becoming a frame builder, Willy Appelhans was an accomplished racer himself.  Born in Germany in 1889, Willy came of age during the racing boom of the early 20th century.   Appelhans raced proffesionally from 1911 until 1923 for his native Germany,  for France with six-day track partner Alcide Rousseau, and for the U.S. after he emigrated to New York.  Appelhans raced quite a few six-day races , and was considered “sprinter” to partner Rousseau’s “stayer”.

Motor-pacing

1925 Copper-plated Appelhans

Appelhans set up shop in New York building bikes, and is considered one of the greats of the era.  Lance Claudel apprenticed with Appelhans, and the two of them built some of the coolest bikes.

John “Pop” Brennan

Always a sharp dresser, at work in 1959

Pop holds Alf Goullet at the start of a six-day race

John “Pop” Brennan was a master mechanic and framebuilder.  He worked at Madison Square Garden and other venues during the six-day races, and built bicycles out of his Newark, NJ workshop for many of the best racers of the day, including Bill Honeman, Frank Kramer, Tino Reboli, Micky Franciose, Charlie Logan, and Alf Goullet. 

Early Schwinn Ad featuring Pop

Charlie Logan's 1932 Brennan

The bands around the head tube mark this as a Brennan

At Madison Square Garden, 1934

Pop sat here and built many a wheel.

Pop began his metal working career as a chandelier maker. He learned the fine art of tube bending and joinery while fabricating exquisite chandeliers for theaters in New York and other major cities. Later he used this skill to bend steel for handlebars and frames.  He understood the mechanics of the machine and the needs of the rider.  Bikes were built for their intended use, whether it was for road events, track sprint events, or six-day racing.  Brennan frequently built multiple forks for riders to change the handling of the bike by simply changing the fork.   Pop built bicycles from 1920 through the late 1950’s.

We have many fine examples of Pop’s work in the classic bike museum, including Frank Turano’s and Bill Honeman’s bikes.  We also have his workshop vice, wheelbuilding stool, handlebar-shaping forms, and his chandelier-making tools.