A strange coincidence while out riding an old bicycle.

[bobcycles]

Is the hill a massive housing tract now? or still undeveloped?

 

[cyclingday]

Is the hill a massive housing tract now? or still undeveloped?

They removed the base of the hill when they graded the way for the Interstate 5 corridor.
And the top was leveled for a housing tract.

The red line is approximately where “Motorcycle Hill” was.

1917 California must have been glorious.
Especially if you had a Excelsior Autocycle.

 

[RUDY CONTRATTI]

Quantum Entanglement...Marty !! as always,,Love these stories!!!!

 

[mrg]

In the 70's a high school friend moved to SJC ( we called it Capo ) to a big house in the hills so after surfing ( salt creek ) we'd ride dirt bikes from a his house along the RR tracks & arroyo Trabuco to the San Juan hill ( and a few other hill/trails in the area, we'd ride part up but it was overgrown with scrubs & brush was thick and if we got to far up we were spotted by OC sheriff or CHP and had to run ( never got caught! ) there was some development on top of the hills but nothing like now!

 

[dnc1]

Wonderful serendipitous stuff!

 

[Bikerider007]

Cool story and such a clean looking ride you got there.

 

[cyclingday]

1917 Schwinn, Excelsior.

 

[cyclingday]

I just came across this account of Capistrano Hillclimb in 1922.

The Schwinn Excelsior was still,
Making Good!
“X”

 

[bud poe]

An odd coincidence occurred today without any forethought.
We had planned on riding our old pre 33 bicycles to the annual Model A Ford pancake breakfast gathering in Old Towne Orange, California.
But due to inclement weather, the event was postponed.
So we decided to meet up for a ride in San Juan Capistrano.
While riding down the bike path, I realized that we were in view of the site where the famed old motorcycle hillclimb had taken place over a century before.
I mentioned to the group, that there was a neat old photograph of the event, in a restaurant back in town.
So after we had lunch, we went to view the photograph of the famed Capistrano Hillclimb.
Well, what I didn’t realize, was that the photograph was taken on March 18th 1917, and the event was won by a guy riding a Schwinn built Excelsior.
Yesterday was March 18th, and the bike I was riding today, was a 1917 Schwinn built, Excelsior.

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“The Return of the Excelsiors.”

Maybe the start of a new tradition for old town, San Juan Capistrano?

Cool story! Are those original singletubes on your bike?!

 

[cyclingday]

Thanks,
Those tires are G&J type clinchers, made by a company in the Czech Republic called, Rubena.
They are mounted on original G&J clincher rims.