Path racers are track bikes, nothing else... Road/path bikes or road/track or Path/road bikes were used in the UK by many clubman for general riding combined with time trialling or racing on the local track. The height of their popularity was in the 1930s, 40 and 50s when virtually every short distance (25 and 50 miles - 10 miles was not generally considered a serious distance back then) time triallist used a fixed gear. Of course as now rear facing dropouts were not essential and many used standard clubman's style frames - which were more practical when fitted with mudguards (fenders) - try removing a rear wheel with mudguard and rear facing dropouts... The more stylish riders and those able to afford more than one machine may well have bought a road/path frame specifically for time trialling.The use of gears for longer distance events (100 miles, 12 and 24 hours) increased during the 30s - Sturmey Archer developed closer ratio hub gears specifically for the time triallist and this continued in the 50s. As late as the 60s a few old die-hard long distance TTers continued to use hub gears often combined with a road/path frame...