Motor Pace Bicycle Racing

I am often asked the question:

“Why does bike designed for Motor Pace Racing have the fork turneded backwards. Is it to increase trail?”

The Stayer bike as it is called, has a smaller front wheel, a steeper head angle, and reverse fork; all designed to get the rider closer to the motorcycle that is pacing him. There is a roller mounted behind the pace machine, set at a regulation distance. It is up to the rider to get as close to that roller as he can for maximum drafting effect.

If you look at the drawing on the left, you can visualize that a smaller wheel means less trail, a steeper head angle also means less trail, but the reverse fork increases trail to compensate. A stayer bike may have a little more trail than the average track bike, but not an excessive amount.

Another reason to have the fork reversed is that occasionally the rider will bump the roller on the back of the motorcycle. If he does the roller will spin and the fork will flex easier in the direction it is raked or bent, thus absorbing these slight bumps.

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1976 Track Frame

When I was building frames in England back in the mid-1970s I recorded frame numbers in a little hardcover note book. I still have that book.

It contains little information, just a customer name and a number. It is a miracle the book has survived to this day. The only reason for keeping it in the first place was to keep track of how many frames I built, and to make sure the serial numbers stayed in sequence and I didn’t miss any.

At the time as I stamped a number on a newly built frame and wrote it down in my little book, probably the last thought in my mind was that I would be corresponding with people about these very same frames 43 years later. I don’t think anyone living at that time could have envisioned the Internet and email.

 

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Rob Rix who lives in Lancashire, England. He wrote about a frame I built for him back in 1976. He gave me the frame number M6110, I opened up my numbers book and sure enough there is Rob’s last name, Rix.

In his email Rob wrote:

“Many years ago you built a frame for me and I still have it in my possession. The serial number is M6110. Back then we had to rely on letters and telephone calls to place the order. This bike has been all I ever wanted from a track iron - stiff and ultra-responsive.

The best place I had on it during my racing career was Nation Silver medal for the 1000m sprint. Well done Dave you did a great job for me and the proof is in the length of time I have had the bike, I really would not part with it.  

The front forks were bare tub clearance and originally undrilled however the fork crown was drilled some years later when I used the bike in Hill Climb events.

The only slight damage on the frame is from the inevitable track crash where the handlebars hit the top tube and put a fair dent in it. The frame was originally finished in bright yellow with red head and seat tube contrast panels.

After a couple of seasons racing I had it chromed for durability and it has remained chrome ever since. I have always been satisfied with the bike and you did a first class job for me.  Many thanks for such a good product.”

Rob Rix.

The frames I built in the UK were racing bikes that were used for racing. They did not have the finish and aesthetics of those I would later build in the USA. It is nice to hear a story of a frame that was used for the purpose it was built, and has served its owner well.

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Track Bike

The Fuso track bike above was built 30 years ago in 1988. It is still owned by the original owner, Dave Watring, and is pictured at the Los Angeles Velo Sports Center where it is still being ridden three times a week.

I built only a few of these specialist track frames over the years, there was little call for them at the time. They were not yet a fashion fad to be used on the streets. They were only ordered by someone who actually had access to a track or velodrome.

The track bike is as simple and as basic as one can get, which is part of their appeal. A single fixed sprocket screwed directly to the rear hub, and no brakes. What, no brakes? The uninitiated will ask. Isn’t that dangerous?

No, actually when used as intended, on a banked velodrome, brakes would be more dangerous than “No Brakes.” Everyone is riding counter-clockwise around the track, there is no need to stop, and the last thing one needs would be someone slamming on their brakes when riding only inches from the rider in front.

If someone falls, and it happens, the riders are so close and going so fast that there would be no time to stop even with brakes. The best defense is to steer around the fallen rider. For this reason, track bikes are designed with a steeper head angle to steer quickly.

On a road bike, to go around a corner, the rider leans in the direction he is turning and the bike steers itself around the bend. On a banked velodrome, when the bike and rider are traveling at speed, the bike is leaning, and in theory is at 90 degrees to the track surface at all times. It is as if they were traveling in a straight line.

The time to deviate from that straight line, is to go around an opponent, or a fallen rider. The track rider learns a whole different skill set. He steers the bike by turning the handlebars. Something a road rider rarely does.

Watching a track meet, one can always pick out the inexperienced road riders. In the event of a crash, the first thing they do is try to stop pedaling, and reach for brake levers that aren’t there.

Track bikes I built had a 74 degree head angle, and 1 1/8 inch (30 mm.) fork rake. Less trail than my road bikes which were 73 head angle, 1 3/8 in. (35 mm.) More trail for self-steering qualities, less trail for track bikes meant to be physically steered.

Footnote:

I am late with my blog posting this week partly because I am preparing to attend the Classic Rendezvous Weekend event in Greensboro, North Carolina, May 18-20. I will probably be late next week for the same reason. I hope to meet up with a few of you there.

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Rescue Bike

Maintaining this blog is not always easy, but I will say there are times when it is highly rewarding. On the last piece I wrote, Andy commented “You might find this interesting.” There was a link to Retro Bike Forum, in the UK.

Over there a poster calling himself Marty P, wrote about a 1975 ‘dave moulton’ track bike, he found at his local dump. The bike missing its tubular tires is otherwise complete, and in reasonable condition for its age. I posted my own comments on the forum and asked for the frame serial number.

Marty then emailed me with the following story:

I run a smallish bicycle 'recycling' business on the side, in Hampshire, England and frequently come across rare, unusual and interesting vintage machines in the process...

So yesterday, at my local tip (Dump.) and found two 'racers' put aside for me. The first a nice complete 60's Claud Butler which is nice enough I guess, but behind it was poking out a rear track end which obviously caught my eye and my eye followed up the dusty gold tubing to reveal the words 'dave moulton' in a sober black lower-case type-face... Amazing what people will throw away.

£40 (British Pounds, about $62 US Dollars) for the pair changed hands and, back at work I could see what I had. A smallish un-drilled track frame and forks in gold with black lug lining, Cinelli stem, Cinelli Giro Bars, Campy 2-bolt Record Post, Selle Italia Condor Suede saddle, Campy Pista Crankset, Spanish Pista Pedals (inc a leather strap from an old LBS 'Jim Guard' cycles) and a pair of 27" Track Wheels with large flange Campy Record track hubs and 'Daisy' Tub Rims... 

Another contributor to the Retro Bike Forum mentioned an article I wrote in 1976 and published in the British “Cycling” weekly. By coincidence I had just posted a link to a PDF copy of this very same article on this blog. There was even a picture in the article of a similar looking track bike.

I started to get a little excited, “Could this be the same bike?” When Marty sent the serial number, and I looked it up in my record book, it was indeed the same bike.

It was built for a top British female rider, Margaret (Maggie) Gordon Smith. At that time a member of the Evesham Wheelers, a club in Worcestershire.

Margaret Gordon Smith’s specialty on the track was the Pursuit, over 3000m. She won the British National Championship in 1977 and again in 1978 beating big names such as Beryl Burton and her daughter Denise, Brenda Atkinson and Catherine Swinnerton.

Outside the UK, she rode in 1971, 1977 and 1978 track and road World Championships and gained third place overall in the 3-day Tour Feminine based at Le Havre, France in 1978.

Maggie was one of several local top amateur riders I supported. It was a two-way-street, these top riders being seen on my bikes was very good for business. It brought in a lot of orders, especially if a picture appeared in Cycling magazine. It is the reason the ‘dave moulton’ name is on both the down tube and seat tube of this bike. It was done for maximum exposure.

It was also the original reason I chose the bold all lower case lettering for my decals. Easy to read, and showed up well in photos. I got the idea from British road signs that were in a similar font style. Even my four “m” logo was easily recognizable and showed up in a head on shot photo.

There were strict rules in the 1970s regarding amateur status, and I could not publish the names top amateur riders using my frames, or even show a picture of them linked to an article like the one afore mentioned. They would have lost their amateur status even though I only gave them a frame, and never paid them any money. It is the reason Maggie’s head is cut off in the article. (Picture above.)

It saddens me that that the average Joe cannot see beyond two wheels and pedals. They casually toss a rare item like this on the scrap heap, to be buried in a land fill, or melted down for scrap. Thank goodness there are others like Marty who look out for these bikes and rescue them.

This bike has a past, and now a documented history. With a top female athalete as its engine, this bike won important races. Track bikes I built are rare, they were built to be raced on the track. I didn’t build that many.

Also track bikes are not like road bikes. Lugged steel is still used on velodromes. This being a very small frame would fit some up and coming youngster. Someone aspiring follow in the tread marks of a former champion like Margaret Gordon Smith.

Footnote: Here is a picture that showed up after I posted this piece. Margaret winning the 1977 British Pursuit Title on this very same bike.

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A Million Bucks? What a Crock*

This is a bike that Koga has developed for Dutch Olympic hopeful Theo Bos. Koga claims they have spent a million US dollars developing this special one off bike.

I’m sorry I don’t buy it, all I see is just another carbon fiber bike. If this was new technology I might be convinced, but CF bikes have been around for twenty years or more, they were built for the Olympics in the 1980s.

It’s a bicycle fer Cri-sakes, not a Formula One race car; where do you get a million bucks. Give us a breakdown of where the million dollars went.

What about truth in advertising? Because this is what it is. You build a one off bike, and then you think of a number. Okay, a million dollars is a nice round figure.

Next, put out a press release saying you’ve spent a million developing this special bike that is so light a fart would blow it away.

The press and the general media, knowing sod all about bikes goes with the story.

When it comes to bicycle racing it is the strongest rider that will win every time. If Theo Bos is the best rider he would still win on a stock bike that anyone can buy.

Can’t Koga see that? If Bos were to win on one of their stock bikes, it would in the end sell more bikes. Because what they are saying is, our stock bikes are not good enough for the Olympics we have to spend a million dollars.

The smart thing to do would be to pay Theo Bos a million dollars if he wins the gold on a stock bike.



* UK translation: What a Crock = What a Load of Bollocks!

Footnote from Dave: Ooops! Koga not Kona, mistake edited. See first comment. Thanks Darren