Major Taylor Bike

[dnc1]

Do you think the remnant is Johnson?
View attachment 461110 View attachment 461109

Looks very similar to me.

 

[corbettclassics]

That's one of the pics I was going to post as I wan't sure what bike he was on.

Here's the other shot of it with his head down instead of looking at you.

I think it's actually the same photo but with photoshop on his head.

 

[dnc1]

dnc1 you are the man ! Thanks for digging that up.

You're welcome.

 

[dnc1]

That's one of the pics I was going to post as I wan't sure what bike he was on.

Here's the other shot of it with his head down instead of looking at you.

I think it's actually the same photo but with photoshop on his head.

View attachment 462575

They're almost identical, but if you look at the people in the background, particularly the head of the man behind the guy on the rear of the motor-pacer, you can see they were taken from slightly different angles.

 

[filmonger]

Here is some interesting tidbits about Taylor when he first started. This was from the wheel Aug 1898 in an article about the Indianapolis Meet. Being the hometown of Taylor there was some background given to the reporters about how Taylor started. Here it states he used to ride a Hecla juvenal wheel of the old high wheel type as a messenger for Tom Hay. It states that it had backbone made of solid Iron. It also mention's that Taylor was able to break this backbone. It then say's he was a steward of the bachelor quarters presided over by "Birdie" Munger when Munger was the superintendent of the bicycle works in Indianapolis.

Just a little background on Hay....

 

[dnc1]

Here is some interesting tidbits about Taylor when he first started. This was from the wheel Aug 1898 in an article about the Indianapolis Meet. Being the hometown of Taylor there was some background given to the reporters about how Taylor started. Here it states he used to ride a Hecla juvenal wheel of the old high wheel type as a messenger for Tom Hay. It states that it had backbone made of solid Iron. It also mention's that Taylor was able to break this backbone. It then say's he was a steward of the bachelor quarters presided over by "Birdie" Munger when Munger was the superintendent of the bicycle works in Indianapolis.

View attachment 462845

Just a little background on Hay....

View attachment 462854

Some pumpkins indeed!

 

[Underground Bicycle Shop]

I saw an old photo of him on a bike extremely similar to that just recently. Definitely rings a bell

 

[pelletman]

I saw an old photo of him on a bike extremely similar to that just recently. Definitely rings a bell

It would be good if you could post it here if you can remember where it was

 

[Handyman]

The director of the Fitchburg Historical Society has been emailing the Worcester Historical Museum about the Major Taylor bike they have and got this response in an email: "the biographer who wrote about him (Andrew Richie) says that it was a German Durkopp bike: he said that whenever Major Taylor went to Europe, he brought back a European bike. They estimate that the bike dates from between 1900 and 1925".
Pete in Fitchburg

 

[filmonger]