clubman 

Went for a beautiful 40 km ride on turkey day. Here's a few pics of rural NS. We have so much to be thankful for.

stardognine

Happy Thanksgiving, to allayouse crazy Canucks!!! 🦃🦃🦃

I oughta find & watch "Canadian Bacon", yet again. 😁😉

randyjawa 

Had a house full of kids, grand kids and great grand kids over for supper. Mrs. Me, a wonderful cook, prepared the traditional turkey meal, topped off with pumpkin pie and whipped cream. I spent a bit of time puttering with a Velo Sport Prestige that I got the day before but no riding time was permitted. Too many kids wanting to do this and that, kept me pretty busy.

Needless to say, the 62cm frame is way to big for me but I am planning to harvest the complete Shimano 600 Arabesque group for a future project or sale. I plan on keeping the saddle as I find them to be very comfortable. If anyone is looking for a quality big frame/fork set -let me know and I will put it for sale in the For Sale forum (cheap)...

Oldairhead 

I will be among the first to admit that I did not know that Canadians celebrated this holiday. Happy Turkey Day, Aye!

clubman 

In addition to Thanksgiving and farm equipment, Vincent Massey's family also produced some world championship bikes. Major Taylor at work, or posing more likely.

Pompiere

My son was in Alberta last week for work. He mentioned that they were trying to finish everything before the end of the week. It makes more sense now.

T-Mar

Yes, I've read that story too and probably repeated it several times in the past. Unfortunately, my personal research indcates it isn't true. While he did win a World Championship, it wasn't on a Massey.

Taylor's World Championship was in the 1 Mile Sprint event in 1899. Period articles state that Taylor was contracted to ride a Stearns bicycle for the 1899 season and after the World Championships, the company placed advertisements proclaiming Taylor's World Championship, though it was secondary to the slightly earlier World Record that he had set. In the 19th century, absolute World Records carried more weight than a Worlds Championship. The other factor that diminished the status of the World Championship for Stearns (which was a USA company) was that it was not nationally recognized in the USA, where there were two rival cycling organizations, one of which members were ineligible to participate in the World Championships.


The pictured bicycle is actually a Stearns. It is a chainless (i.e. shaft drive) model and Massey did not market a chainless model in 1899, based on the extant catalogue. On the other hand, Stearns was heavily promoting their chainless Sager drive. Also, Massey models of the era used a triple plate crown and the subject bicycle only has a double plate crown, which was used by Stearns.

There are three lighter coloured marks on the lower head tube that look like they could be the Massey's wrap-around Silver Ribbon badge. However, the oval badge above them would be an anomaly. Stearns of this era had head tube markings consisting of an oval Stearns badge/decal with some horizontal decals below it. So, those do appear to be Stearns' markings.



I believe the story of Taylor winning the Worlds' Championship on a Massey is an inadvertent amalgamation of two different events. In 1902, Taylor entered races held in Ottawa but his bicycle was lost or detained in transit. Consequently, he competed on a bicycle borrowed from fellow competitor. That bicycle was reportedly a Massey Silver Ribbon and the owner was a William Morton from Toronto (yes, the same "Doc" Morton that would figure so prominently in interwar Canadian racing and be closely entwined with CCM).

Taylor liked the Massey and CCM pounced on the opportunity to sponsor Taylor for his upcoming schedule of events in Australia. Prior to joining CCM in 1899, Massey had established sales offices in Australia and New Zealand where they found considerable success. CCM had retained those offices and continued to market the Massey brand 'Down Under', so putting the world's most famous bicycle racer on a Massey for an Australian tour was a no-brainer. CCM would capitalize on their triumph by issuing advertising showing the Word Champion on a Massey. Yes, he was World Champion but not a reigning one and he hadn't won it on a Massey. It wasn't false advertising but it was misleading.



The other Canadian connection for his World Championship in 1899, is that it took place in Montreal. It's not too much of stretch to see someone confusing his use of a Massey in Ottawa with his use of one in the World Championships in Montreal, especially given CCM's misleading advertising showing the World Champion on a Massey

clubman 

I knew about the Aussie connection and I figured the pic was definitely not a Silver Ribbon but it was a quick easy (& wrong) one
to post.
Thanks for the complete background, as usual. Hey, wasn't Doc Morton a world champ on a Massey/CCM?
I'm baiting you but I think the internet says it's true so...

My Silver Ribbon, horrible pic.

stardognine

My head is vibrating. 😁😉 That's a lot of info.

dweenk 

Yes, it appears to be posed unless Taylor rode barefoot.

T-Mar

You've seen the fishing gear collection, so could I not take the bait? I've seen it reported that Morton won the 1 Mile amateur event held in association the 1901 Pan-American exhibition. However, contemporary accounts state that he finished 4th. His most prestigious result that I've been able to corroborate is his bronze medal in Team Pursuit event of the 1908 Olympic Games.


The interesting thing about the Stearns connection, is that they became part of the American Bicycle Company, which moved into Canada as the National Cycle & Automobile Company. CCM bought them out, acquiring the Canadian rights to all their brands. Had CCM wished to, they could have marketed Stearns bicycles and would have been entitled to (eventually) adorn them with the rainbow stripes.

T-Mar

Try composing something like it after a big Thanksgiving dinner. My eyelids were drooping and all I wanted to do was take a nap.

T-Mar

Yes, it's almost certainly a staged, studio photo but he's not barefoot. Look closely and you'll see leather cycling shoes typical of the era.