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Racycle finds- they are still out there!

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vw00794

Finally riding a big boys bike
No question that I'm dedicated to finding Racycles and building them, but this trip even surprised me.

When I heard that there were not one, or two but 4 Racycles at an estate sale up in San Francisco, I dropped what I was doing and headed up to see and hopefully bid on them in person. My car broke down only 100 miles from my home here in LA, and I ended up creeping it back to Los Angeles on small roads then rented a car. No biggie, except that now it was 1pm and registration closed at 5pm- in San Francisco. 360 miles in 3 hours 55 minutes- not advisable, especially across the Oakland bridge. I arrived at the estate sale house at 4:55p, ran inside, registered, then hustled upstairs to view the Racycles. What I saw I did not expect.

There were 3 of the coveted Racycle Pacemakers and one Roadster- those I knew would be there, what was unexpected was that ALL of the bikes were equally interesting and authentic. The auction was the next morning and I simply could not decide which one to focus my bidding on. One had a rare original Racycle stamped chain, one had an original perfect Racycle stamped seat, one had original lettering/paint and correct fenders, one was a pre-1900 Narrow Tread... I would have been thrilled to win any of them, in fact I was just excited to be able to take photos for reference of all 4 even if I didn't stick around for financial pain the following morning.

I sat with a small dedicated group of @13 mostly white haired, antique collectors/ dealers/ pickers/ storage warriors or whatever the latest Reality Show terminology is, while making friends with my neighbor- an 80+ year old man who snuck out to be able to bid on a tiny antique Indian basket. I was amazed when his basket- bidding went past $2000. "Wampum bucks", he shrieked! He left empty handed but we had fun in the back row while I lost 3 years of my life waiting through 145 auctions for the Racycle roundup. The first one, a very nice pre-1900 Narrow Tread blew past my budget and sold online. The second one I won, thank you, but paid d e a r l y. It was the one with the original Racycle paint and saddle. The third went up, up and up; then the roadster was last. I bid on that until I noticed a cool, dredlocked girl behind me who was bidding against me. I turned and asked if she really wanted the roadster and she said that she did but could never afford one, so I told her I would stop bidding and wished her good luck. IT turned out that nobody was bidding online for it, only she and I; so happily, she won it! We all skipped our way upstairs to tally our treasures, and I spent a good half and hour explaining what a lovely bike she won, and offered to help with a couple tiny non-original details with the bike, if it mattered to her. She always wanted one to ride right there in SF, so I suggested she get a set of reproduction wood wheels instead of the ones that were on it. They were unusually nice to be riding regularly and she could still have the bragging rights that come with wood wheels, just not a set of near mint, 105 year old ones. The saddle was the same, a little too nice and fragile to ride any real distance, so we agreed on a repro Brooks saddle or even a recovered original Troxel, etc. I took some photos her with her minty Racycle prize, then dis-assembled mine to load it into the speedy rental. It was red.

This is when the game shifted.

I had made friends with all the estate sale staff so I was helping load someones artwork when I decided to ask the auctioneer a simple question.


"I am very happy I won the Racycle today, I gushed, " but I have a question for you..." It has taken me years to amass the collection of Racycles I currently own, so I know that whoever owned these probably had other parts or literature or perhaps more bikes, yes???" " OH yes, quite a bit more, THERE -JUST- WASNT- ANY- MORE- ROOM- HERE- AT- THE- ESTATE- SALE- HERE- TODAY" he seemingly shared in slow motion.

As the world stopped rotating for the moment, I barely muttered these ( later-to-find-out) expensive words, "Well then, is it all still available, is it nearby, can I see it, is it all Racycle stuff, did I just wet my pants?"

Later that evening:

The auctioneer's son led me many hours away to the secret, steel bar clad, storage building, aka the "Racycle Vortex", creaked open the door, turned on a handful of bare bulbs and I tripped in afterwords. Good thing my pants were still wet, ( caution: graphic content ahead ) because I now simply poop my pants. There were bicycle parts, no Racycle parts, strewn about, mostly disassembled, all crying out to me for adoption. "I'm here, daddy's here" I proclaimed.

A deal was worked out, but not before having to return twice to complete the booty plunder ( and pay for it ). Once home, I set about building the most thorough Racycles I could using some of the parts I brought back and some I had already been collecting for just such a second coming.

After 2 weeks of dis-assembling, assembling, switching parts to their correct frames, using my secret stash of goodies, sanding and staining wood rims, and of course, cleaning my drawers, I ended up with 9 Racycles, 4 of which are Pacemakers in original paint, and one very rare Racycle Tourist. Oh yes, the sun has shined brightly on my luck.

First 10 photos below:

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Time to start a dealership!!!!

how many complete or near complete racycles are you up to now ?
 
One or two of the bikes that sold online ended up in Oregon, I hope to visit them sometime soon...

Great pics and stories, thanks for sharing!
 
I'm hoping to buy a Pacemaker before I need one for my heart and also before they are as scarce as a Vincent Black Shadow!
Frank Zappa would be writing a song about Racycles if he were still living. :^)
 
Wow! What an unbelievable find…do I detect a Merkel? If so perhaps you can share some close-up pics of it and that blue Racycle? Also, if you have an extra Racycle badge in your booty chest…can you offer it to Ward (Wcben) he’s been patiently looking for one. Again, what an amazing treasure and story!

Carlton
 
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