Amazing. This reminds us how thoroughly the track dominated American cycle racing from the late 19th century until after WWII. Can you imagine any builder producing 6 different levels of track frames today? I'd be surprised if any European or British builder ever produced quite that many.
Interesting to speculate why it was track racing that dominated in America. Of course, it the late 19th century, track racing seems to have dominated worldwide, but in the early 20th century road racing gained dominance in Europe and time trialing in UK. One might guess that the roads in Europe were better than in America, although in some TdF photos from the early 20th centiry the roads certainly look primitive by modern standards. Plus the quality of American roads doesn't seem to have inhibited the explosion in automobile ownership in America, although those machines too continued the be raced in America mosty of closed oval tracks.
I'd be interested to hear what the history of Australian cycling is in this regard. Australia, even more than America, remained something of a frontier well into the 20th century, so I'd guess the quality of roads there was perhaps even worse, and the Australian interior, like parts of the American West, was/is sparsely populated which probably discourages road racing, at least if one likes a lot of spectators. Can any of the Australian members comment on how long track racing remained the principal form there?
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, in still sparsely populated West Texas, USA
> From: Edward Albert <eaert01@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [CR] "Red Devil" track bike history
> To: "shop@cyclart.com" <shop@cyclart.com>
> Cc: "RICHARD HOWARD" <rehoward1@verizon.net>, "classicrendezvous@bikelist.org" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Date: Monday, January 12, 2009, 2:36 PM
> I believe that the White Flyer and the Drysdale Special were
> both more
> expensive. Below the Red Devil were the Alvin, Ace, and
> Velox.
> Edward Albert
> Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A.
>
> On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 3:29 PM, CyclArt Shop
> <shop@cyclart.com> wrote:
>
> > I thought that the "Red Devil" was Alvin
> Drysdale's top-of-the line track m
> > odel.
> >
> > I think most were made in the '30s and '40s.
> We painted one such last year.
> >
> > Greg Reiche
> > CyclArt
> > Vista, CA USA
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org
> > [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org]On
> Behalf Of RICHARD
> > HOWARD
> > Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 12:09 PM
> > To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > Subject: [CR] "Red Devil" track bike history
> >
> >
> > I purchased most of one in the early 70's. It had
> been dismantled and was i
> > n terrible condition. I literally took it home in a
> bushel basket. But it D
> > ID have wooden rims which, when build up, were true
> and beautiful. Does any
> > one have any knowledge of this marque?
> >
> > Dick Howard
> > Salem, Va. USA
> >
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