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.

Vintage helmets

Vintage Helmets

leather hairnet helmet

Spanish tanker helmet repurposed for motorpacing on the track

Leather helmet from the 1930s adjusts with ties in the back

1920s Motorpace helmet

Jimmy Stillmakers hairnet from the ’70s

1960s Brancale leather helmet

Bicycle helmets have only been around since the 1930s, when Bill Honeman led the charge to get effective head protection for himself and his professional bike racing colleagues. Originally head protection meant a leather bowl or several leather straps going over your head with cotton, leather scraps or wool usually used as padding inside the leather. Sometime in the 1970’s or early ‘80’s hardshell helmets with styrofoam padding became the norm, and we have been working with this same basic technology ever since.

This old touring helmet weighs over three pounds

The Giro Prolight ushered in modern lightweight head protection

Skid Lids from the ’80s were known to exacerbate head injuries

1991 Specialized Sub 6 helmet. Under 6 ounces

The Bell V1 Pro, one of the first popular hardshell helmets

Troxel “golf ball” aero helmet, 1997-2000 Nat’l team issue

Clearly, since the early introduction of the leather hairnet, bike helmets have changed a bit.

We have a bunch on display in the bike shop, some more effective, and some more attractive than others…

By paul|2025-02-13T16:31:31+00:00July 18th, 2011|museum memorabilia|Comments Off