Mercury Pacemaker rack differences

[Waterland]

Since a few of us here are working on Pacemaker restorations, myself included, I thought I'd point out some differences in rear racks that have recently come to light as addressed in this thread about Pacemaker chainrings. As you can see in the thread there are two distinct mounting types for racks, and it seems they aren't interchangeable. I'm reposting some pictures from the previous thread as examples.

In the first picture, the mounting tabs for the rack slope sharply upward to join with the seatpost binder bolt. Here is a closeup of the rack mount:

In this picture you can see how the mounting tabs attach, but look closely at the seatpost clamp; it's integral to the frame, and not a separate piece welded on. The bolt is also positioned higher on the tube than the other "standard" style seatpost clamp, as seen in the attached picture in this post: http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...-Pacemaker-Chainring-help&p=206740#post206740

There's a third type of seatpost clamp however. Integral to the frame, but takes the "standard" style rack, as seen in the attachment of this post: http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showth...-Pacemaker-Chainring-help&p=206760#post206760

So as we've seen, there are two types of racks, but three types of seatpost clamp setups. Pacemaker owners, if you wish to post pictures of your rear racks and how they mount, hopefully we can get a better idea of which rack goes with which seatpost mount, and hopefully this will give us clues as to differences in model years.

 

[Nickinator]

I believe my boys model and my ex girls model were both with non built in clamps but were welded on

Nick.

 

[Waterland]

Your girl's model also took the standard style rack without the sloping mounting tabs, which confirms that the standard rack is designed to fit the separate seatpost clamp, although the standard rack may also fit the integral clamp frame, but I have yet to confirm if there are indeed two separate types of integral clamp frames.

 

[Nickinator]

I have a 2 deluxe sloped racks and one rack that has strait tabs Glad the parts worked out for my pacemaker.

Your girl's model also took the standard style rack without the sloping mounting tabs, which confirms that the standard rack is designed to fit the separate seatpost clamp, although the standard rack may also fit the integral clamp frame, but I have yet to confirm if there are indeed two separate types of integral clamp frames.

 

[npence]

I believe the used the same rack on post war mercury and Higgins bikes. Might explain the mounting bracket.

 

[bikewhorder]

So was this same rack used on other bikes or is there an imposter to watch out for if your in the market for one of these. For example is this the correct rack for a pacemaker?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bik...691?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f2204022b

I've seen several racks like these come up on ebay and one was titled as JC Higgins and sold for like $14. The pictures were poor though and I couldn't really tell if the details were identical.

 

[Waterland]

The rack in the ebay auction would be the non standard rack with the sloped mounting tabs. This would presumably fit a Pacemaker frame with an integrated seatpost clamp, but would not fit the standard Pacemaker with the welded seatpost clamp. The parts in the auction look like they all came from the same bike, and that is not a Pacemaker chainguard, so this is not a regular Pacemaker rack. I believe some of the last year Pacemakers (1941) used this style rack, but most of them use the standard style with the non-sloped mounting tabs.

 

[cptnhwdy69]

My 1939 Mercury Pacemaker

I have a 2 deluxe sloped racks and one rack that has strait tabs Glad the parts worked out for my pacemaker.

This is my 1939,Mercury Pacemaker.Mine has a 2 slot skip tooth chainring and the integrated seatpost clamp and looks like a standard rack.I actually just picked this bike up last week.Also has an original 1939,Detroit,metal,bicycle,license plate.Such a cool lookin bike=]=][