Update on Fast Eddie Williams' track bike
Mon, January 21, 2019 
Ever since the untimely passing in August 2016, of New York’s Legendary Bike Messenger, Fast Eddie Williams, I had wondered what had happened to his bike. Not having direct contact with Eddie’s family, I had no way of knowing.
So imagine my delight when David Perry, one of Eddie’s mechanics since the late 1990s, emailed me to say the bike was in his keeping, being safely held until Eddie’s immediate family decided what to do with it.
Last fall, a curator for the Museum of the City of New York came by inquiring about objects to loan for an upcoming exhibition: “Cycling in the City—A 200-Year History,” from March 14 to October 6, 2019. The museum has chosen to exhibit Eddie’s bike.
Since David Perry is not the bike’s owner, he had to get written approval from Eddie’s family to loan the bike to the museum. That happened this weekend, and David was kind enough to pass the news on to me.
I hope this bike will remain safe in the future, never refinished but left as is, a working bike. Possibly find a permanent museum home, where all can see it as a memorial to Fast Eddie.
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Reader Comments (6)
This is fantastic news !
Amen
Awesome news and a fitting tribute to a NYC cycling legend. Hopefully the bike remains as-is, blemishes and road character all.
It is too bad the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park, NY, could not continue. My family visited it in the early 2001 with our two young boys, my wife’s family being a part of Buffalo’s cycling history. Buffalo and the surrounding area were a hotbed of cycling. Marshall “Major” Taylor raced on the Buffalo Athletic Field, the finest track ever built, and six-day races were held on indoor “Saucer” tracks.
The museum closed in 2009, and its vast inventory of historical bicycles and artifacts dispersed. It couldn’t afford to continue, and the landlord wanted to get a higher-paying client into the building.
If a young person saw one of your frames today, would they know what they are looking at? Would a museum be the place to learn the history of bicycles? Would a Google search give an accurate accounting? Or are these bicycles reduced to steampunk décor?
If people really cared about preserving some sense of bicycle history, the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum would not have closed. But then again, history seems subject to revision, as seen from today’s perspective.
Compare the fate of Brazil’s National Museum.
What happened to Fast Eddie?
just dropped in after some time off, nice coda to the story, apt.