Soul Riders

[island schwinn]

my grandfather and his brother raced for harley back in the teens and 20's and when asked for stories mentioned a "colored fella" that was tearing up the track in the midwest.wonder if one of the guys was the one mentioned.cool stuff.

 

[hoofhearted]

 

[widpanic02]

Jackie Robinson

The reason Jackie Robinson is mention so much is because Jackie did it in the harshest of conditions in the whitest game on the planet. I'm sure major Taylor had obstacles himself but Jackie Robinson was the epitomy of breaking the color barrier in sport. He did it right in the middle of segregation , he traveled to southern cities that would rather piss on him than look at him, he did it in a sport that still to this day has only about 6 percent African American players , and the biggest thing of all is for the most part he did it with class.

 

[widpanic02]

I'm curious

Turn of the century bikes are not really my thing but I was wondering what are those plates on the military bikes ? They look like signs for a cycle truck but where they used to stop bullets or something?

 

[cyclingday]

Back in the mid 70s, We had a local bike shop called, Recycled Cycles, and it was there that you often would find one of this hobbies most prominent and influential figures.
Leon Dixon.
At the time, it didn't seem strange at all that Leon is a black man, because there were so few people interested in classic and antique bicycles. But, looking back now, it does seem very unusual, that one of the biggest pushes this hobby got in the beginning, was from a black man.

 

[Iverider]

Turn of the century bikes are not really my thing but I was wondering what are those plates on the military bikes ? They look like signs for a cycle truck but where they used to stop bullets or something?

If they were anything like the swiss army bikes it was probably a case for carrying parts, food, water, etc.

Photo stolen from http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/buffalo-soldiers-were-mountain-bikers

Great information. Major Taylor has a big following at IU during Little 500 and when I was in school there, a friend of mine was on "Team Major Taylor" an all black cycling team who had a great shot at winning the race. My friend ended up being involved in a pretty nasty crash mid way through ending the teams chance for victory. The Velodrome in Indy is named for Taylor.

 

[fordsnake]

Back in the mid 70s, We had a local bike shop called, Recycled Cycles, and it was there that you often would find one of this hobbies most prominent and influential figures.
Leon Dixon.
At the time, it didn't seem strange at all that Leon is a black man, because there were so few people interested in classic and antique bicycles. But, looking back now, it does seem very unusual, that one of the biggest pushes this hobby got in the beginning, was from a black man.

You are so right! When I first joined the CABE I was a Leon Dixon advocate and stood in his corner, since I knew him personally and purchased several bikes from his collection.

In the 70's- 80's, he was a prolific bicycle collector and one of the most knowledgeable bicycle historians ever. He gave us names like “The World’s Fair”, "HEXTUBE", and "WINGBAR” these were not factory names, but names coined by Leon.

He also produced a monthly newsletter that was filled with a chockfull of reference material, which I still use today. The name "Classic Bicycle" was also copy-written by him, and he would sue anyone who'd used the word without his permission. And that's where the brawl and the hatred for him began.

I avoided mentioning Leon in this thread because any discussion about him is polarizing and I didn’t want this thread to digress and turn into a subject about "Bikestabbing”.

 

[Hermanator3]

When I saw your avatar, I though that's cool. I loved that cartoon & was really disappointed when it ended. It was brilliant. Didn't occur to me that you were black.

 

[Obi-Wan Schwinnobi]

When I saw your avatar, I though that's cool. I loved that cartoon & was really disappointed when it ended. It was brilliant. Didn't occur to me that you were black.

Don't feel bad, I just learned Leon Dixon is black twenty minutes ago!... Cool thing about this hobby is that nobody cares what color you are. Everybody is more concerned about what color your phantom is lol . Fordsnake has some of the best custom bikes ive ever seen hands down!!

 

[fordsnake]

Turn of the century bikes are not really my thing but I was wondering what are those plates on the military bikes ? They look like signs for a cycle truck but where they used to stop bullets or something?

They were leather pouches designed to carry supplies; packed with rations, eating utensils and a liberal supply of spare bicycle parts. Besides the leather cases there were also three metal cases similar in design. When the metal cases were disassembled the contents formed 6 cooking pans.

Attached is a PBS documentary on the 25th Infantry: http://watch.montanapbs.org/video/1499356776/