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.

Tour de France Fantasy League

7/18

Tour de France fantasy league Final

Tour trophy

Tour trophy

The results for our Tour de France Fantasy League! So here’s how it all ended up after twenty-one exciting stages:

First of all, here’s the ideal team if you had picked the best rider in each of our categories: Tour winner Geraint Thomas along with Tom Dumoulin, Peter Sagan, Julian Alaphilippe, Rafal Majka, Pierre LaTour, Primoz Roglic, Greg van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert and John Degenkolb you would have crushed us all with over 1300 points. As it turned out, Simon was able to beat us all with his choices at 960 points.
Simon’s Skymon team takes the (really close) win over Keith, Ellen and the rest of us. By the way, the top three all get prizes, and our friend Dave Ellison claims the Lantern Rouge prize (a red blinky light).
Special adoration for George, who managed to claim 4th place without Peter Sagan’s help.

The final standings:
Skymon: 960
Keithstep: 958
UAEllen: 913
Bora-HansGeorge: 854
Kielefredo: 840
Paulrain-Merida: 822
Kid Sebefredo: 754
Mulier-Triestina: 753
MacInstar: 708
LottO’Grady: 704
CannonDon: 698
CoPhildis: 673
Kelly Benefits: 638
Lotto Nakata: 622
Lantern Mike: 604
Jittery Joe: 579
FDJaime: 537
Team SunGlenn: 479
Dimension Dave: 429
Catusha: 152

By paul|2018-07-30T04:33:00+00:00July 21st, 2018|news|Comments Off