Frans Bonduel

Frans Bonduel 1931

   Frans Bonduel (1907-1947) was a Belgium professional bicycle racer from 1928 through 1947. 

   He raced for the Dialect-Wolber team all twenty years of his career. Occasionally he would ghost ride for another team at a few races if his real team wasn't going to participate. 

   Bonduel won forty four professional bicycle races. A few of his major victories are: Tour of Flanders 1930,  Paris-Brussels 1934 & 1939,  Paris Tours 1939.

   Frans Bonduel won three stages of the Tour de France. His first stage win came in 1930 when he won the 17th stage. He won stages 6 & 7 during the 1932 Tour de France.

Rene' Herse, Book Review

Rene' Herse

Written by: Jan Heine

Published by: Bicycle Quarterly Press

2116 Western Avenue

Seattle WA 98121

www.bikequarterly.com

Copyright: 2012 

Printed in Malaysia

424 pages

Rene' Herse (1908-1976) was a constructor of fine bicycles from 1940 till his death. His bikes were most sought after by Cycletourists during the 1940s and 1950s. Herse's shop was in Paris France. He continued to manufacture and sell complete bikes through the German occupation of France during World War II. 

This fine book contains hundreds of photos of Rene' Herse's bicycles, riders and the shop where the bikes were made. Upon first examination of this book I assumed it to be a picture book with a lot of captions. When I sat down and began to read it, instead of flipping through the pages and looking at the photos, I found it to be very good reading. I enjoyed seeing the bikes and riders, but also hearing about their rides and competitions. A glimpse of life in Paris during the war is exposed while reading this book. 

Much of the information and photos contained in the book came from riders of Rene Herse bicycles. His daughter, Lyli Herse, was instrumental in Jan Heine's 10 years of research while writing this book. Lyle Herse rode and raced very successfully on her fathers bicycles and after his death continued in the production of Rene Herse Bicycles. 

This book sells for $85.00 and is a good investment and addition to any cycling library. It is my option that to truly understand bicycles one must study the history of them.  I highly recommend purchasing this book and taking the time to read and absorb it. Rene' Herse is available to purchase at 

Bicycle Quarterly Press.

Rene Vietto

Rene Vietto

 Rene Vietto (1914 - 1988) was a famous French road racing cyclist. He is considered by many as the best pure climber that France has ever produced. Vietto became a legend at the young age of 20 years old for his performances and sacrifices during the 1934 Tour de France.

During the 1934 Tour de France Rene Vietto won 4 stages; stages 7,9,11 and 18. He also won the mountains classification for best climber and finished in 5th place overall in the general classification.

Rene Vietto sits on a rock wall waiting for support while the race passes by.

The 1934 Tour de France was raced by national teams. Vietto was supporting Antonin Magne, the French team captain. During stage 15 Magne crashed and broke his front wheel. Vietto stopped and gave him his front wheel. The next day Vietto was the first racer over the top of the the first two mountains of the 16th stage. He had descended the Portet d' Aspet when a race marshall on a motorcycle rode up to him to inform him that Magne had crashed and broken his bicycle. Magne turned around and rode back up the mountain through the on coming descending racers. Magne had broken his back wheel. Vietto gave Magne his bike and waited again for support to bring him a new bicycle. He always felt that he could have won the 1934 Tour de France if he hadn't lost the time waiting on support during those two stages.

 Rene Vietto  never won the tour. He wore the yellow jersey of the Tour de France race leader for 15 stages of the 1938 Tour de France and for 14 stages during the 1947 Tour de France. He finished second in 1939, fifth in 1934 and 1947 and eighth in 1935. After his second place finish in the 1939 tour World War II broke out and the Tour de France wouldn't be held again until 1947. Rene Vietto is another racer whose career was interrupted by a World War at the height of his abilities. One has to wonder what his Tour de France record would have been if he hadn't lost 6 years of opportunity.

Rene Vietto finishes a rain soaked stage 11 of the 1934 Tour de France, from Nice to Cannes.

Rene Vietto leads Vincente Trueba over the climb of the Col du Tourmalet during stage 18 of the 1934 Tour de France.

Rene Vietto, repairs a flat at the summit of the Galibier during the 1939 Tour de France. Tour director Henri Desgrange keeps an eye on thinks.

During the 18th stage of the 1934 Tour de France Rene Vietto rides away solo over the Tourmalet. He stays away from the field by himself over the Aubisque and crosses the finish line by himself. He finishes 2 minutes and 57 seconds ahead of Roger Lapebie, the second place finisher of that stage.

Rene Vietto is the first rider over the Aubisque during the 1934 Tour de France. Be sure and take note of the rough road conditions that they were racing on. 

Rene Vietto receives a wheel from neutral support during the 1934 Tour de France.

Rene Vietto during the 1937 Tour de France.

Reg Harris

Reg Harris 1947

 Reg Harris (1920 - 1922) was one of the greatest English track racers. He competed mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. During the years 1944 and 1945 Harris won 6 British National Championships on the track. In 1947 he won the Amateur World Sprint Championship. Harris won the two silver medals in the 1948 Olympics and then turned professional. As a professional Reg Harris won the World Professional Sprint Title 4 times; 1949 in Copenhagen, 1950 in Belgium, 1951 in Milan, 1954 in Cologne. In 1974, 20 years later, he came back at the age of 54 and won the British National Sprint Title. 

At the age of 14 Reg Harris left school and became an apprentice as an automobile mechanic. During this time he saved enough money to buy his first bicycle. He entered a roller-race and his ability was obvious. He joined the Lancashire Road Club and won his first race in 1935 on a grass track. He also started to compete in individual time trials.

Harris left his job as an automobile mechanic and went to work at a slipper factory. In 1936 he went to work in a paper mill. The paper mill job would allow him to make enough money during the winter months to race and train during the summer without working. Harris was willing to work seven days a week to save as much money as possible while working at the paper mill. He did this during the years 1936 and 1937. 

In 1936 Harris won his first events in a true velodrome at Fallowfield Stadium in Manchester. In 1938 he was racing well and joined the Manchester Wheeler Club. Harris won a major event in 1939 and was selected for the British World Championship Team. He was preparing for the World Championships in Milan at the Vigorelli Velodrome when World War II broke out and the British team had to return to the UK.

Reg Harris was a tank driver for the 10th Hussars in the North Africa Campaign during World War II. He was injured and found unfit for military service in 1943. Despite his military medical status he won in 1944 the 1,000 yards (910 meters), quarter-mile and five mile (8 kilometers) British National Cycling Championships. He won three more national titles in 1945.

In 1947 Reg Harris won the Amateur World Sprint Championship in Paris. He was working for bicycle manufacturer Claud Butler and had his bicycles and equipment supplied by the company. Harris was barely hanging on to his amateur status so that he could compete in the 1948 Olympics.  At this time an athlete still had to be an amateur to compete in the Olympic games.

Three months before the 1948 Olympics Reg Harris was involved in an accident while riding on the road. He fractured two of his vertebrae, but continued to train hard. Then just three weeks before his olympic events he fell while competing in a 16 kilometer race and broke his elbow. Harris continued training with his elbow in a plaster cast. He raced the Olympic sprint and tandem sprints. The injuries undoubtedly took a toll on his performance, but he still won a silver medal in each event. 

Reg Harris beats Kain (Austria) 1951

Harris turned professional immediately following the 1948 Olympics. This meant that he was not able to compete in anymore Olympics. As a professional he won the World Sprint Championship three years in a row; 1949, 1950 and 1951. He won his fourth World Sprint Championship in 1954. It was 54 years before another British rider, Chris Hoy, won the title again. Reg Harris was a national celebrity and was named Sportsman of the Year twice by the UK Sports Journalists' Association in 1950 and 1951. 

Harris retired in 1957 and was involved in many different business ventures. He managed the Fallowfield Stadium where he won his first bicycle race on a true Velodrome. The stadium was later renamed Harris Stadium. Harris was involved in several different ventures with the Raleigh bicycle company. He started a business in Macclesfield manufacturing bicycles under the Reg Harris label. His bicycle company only lasted for three years. During the 1960s he owned and managed The Reg Harris Petrol & Motor Service Station on Wilmslow Road near Manchester. 

A 1963 Reg Harris Professional Model

Click here for an excerpt from Two Wheels To The Top by Reg Harris. This section is about his time working for Raleigh  Bicycles.

Click here for an excerpt from Two Wheels To The Top describing Reg Harris experience operating his bicycle company.

Harris returned to racing in 1971 and in 1974 at the age of 54 won the British Sprint Title.

Harris continued to ride his bicycle for the rest of his years and in 1992 while riding near his home in Macclesfield he suffered a stroke. Harris died on June 22, 1992. A bronze statue of him in action  was unveiled in 1994 on the third turn of the velodrome at the National Cycling Center in Manchester, England. 

Bronze Statue of Reg Harris at the velodrome in Manchester.

Reg Harris

Victor Lenaers

Victor Lenaers

Victor Lenaers (1893 - 1968) was a Belgian cyclist who race professionally from 1921 to 1926. He finished in 6th place overall in the 1921 Tour de France and 5th place in 1922. Lenaers won the second stage of both the 1921 and 1922 Tour de Frances. 

 In 1921 Victor Lenaers raced for the Delage Team. This team won 11 of the 15 stages of the Tour de France during the 1921 edition. 

Victor Lenaers in the Alps.

Lenaers with Muller and Sellier on his wheel, after their escape in the stage from Strasbourg to Metz, during the Tour de France in 1921.

Felix Sellier

Felix Sellier

Felix Sellier ( 1893 - 1965) was a Belgian professional road cyclist. His professional racing career was during the years 1912 through 1928.

Sellier won the 13th stage of the 1921 Tour de France.  The 1921 Tour de France riders were classified into two categories, sponsored and non-sponsored riders. He was racing as an non-sponsored rider. The non-sponsored riders began the stages two hours before the sponsored riders. Sellier finished the 1921 tour in 8th place of the non-sponsored riders and 16th place overall of all the riders.

At the the 1922 Tour de France Felix Sellier raced as a sponsored rider and started the stages at the same time as the other favorites. He won a stage and finished the tour in 3rd place overall in the general classification.

Sellier won one more stage of the Tour de France in 1926. He won stage 4 that year.

Years 1923 and 1926 were successful years for Felix Sellier in his home land of Belgium. Those years he won the Belgian National Road Race Championships.

Felix Sellier

Felix Sellier

Ole Ritter

Ole Ritter

Ole Ritter, born in Slagelse, Denmark on August 29, 1941, was a professional racing cyclist from 1967 through 1978. The year he turned professional, 1967, he won the individual time trial in the Giro'd Italia besting the time of the top cyclists of the day; Rudi Altig, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil. Jacques Anquetil was impressed by Ritter's time trial and said "If the time trial had been accurately measured, Ritter's 47.3m/km would be good enough to beat the world hour record. 

Ole Ritter 1968 Hour Record

In 1968 Ole Ritter traveled to Mexico City and set a new hour record just before the Olympic Games. His new record of 48.653 km stood for four years until Eddy Meckx beat it with a distance of 49.431 km. During the days leading up to Ritter's hour record ride he also set new world records for 5, 10 and 20 kilometers distances. 

Ole Ritter 1969

Ole Ritter rode the Giro d'Italia 9 times with his best results during the 1973 edition when he finished in 7th place overall and won 3 stages. He only rode the Tour de France once in 1975 and finished in 47th place in the general classification. 

Ole Ritter 1974 Hour record attempt

In 1974 Ritter returned to Mexico City in an attempt to best Eddy Merkx's hour record of 49.431 kilometers. He was not successful in setting a new world hour record but did beat his old record twice with distances of 48.739 kilometers and 48.879 kilometers. 

During the later years of his career Ole Ritter became famous again when he began racing 6-day races. He won a total of three 6-day races during the years 1974, 1975 and 1977. His last 6-day race was in Milan, Italy in 1978.  Ole Ritter retired from professional bicycle racing in 1978.

A Danish documentary was made in Mexico City, in 1974, about Ole Ritter's attempt to break the hour record. The movie was titled "The Impossible Hour".

Below is the film, The Impossible Hour, in 5 parts. 

Life in the Slipstream - The Legend of Bobby Walthour SR.

Life in the Slipstream
The Legend of Bobby Walthour SR.
By Andrew M. Howman
Published by Potomac Books, Inc.
260 pages with 44 black and white photos

Life in the slipstream by Andrew M. Howman tells the story of Bobby Walthour, Sr's life. It focuses on his career as a track racing cyclist in which he is famous for. Walthour became a sports superstar during the late 1800s and early 1900s. At this time bicycle racing was more popular and paid better than professional baseball. While racing in 1904 he won 40 of 44 races.

This is the amazing story of how a teenage bicycle messenger in Atlanta, Ga gained fame and fortune racing his bicycle. Bobby Walthour, Sr began his racing career as a track sprinter. He later switched to mainly motor-paced races. He bought a tandem (two man) motorcycle in the late 1800s and had it shipped to Atlanta to use pacing him on the track. It took two men to pilot these early motorcycles, one to steer and one to operate the motorcycle. According to some accounts, Walthour's tandem motorcycle was the first internal combustion vehicle in the state of Georgia. Imagine the amazement as spectators watched him flying around an indoor wooden track drafting behind a loud and exhaust belching tandem motorcycle. Many of the steeply banked tracks that Walthour raced on were only 8, 10 and 12 laps to a mile in length. 

These book gives the details of many horrific crashes. Many of which were fatal to the cyclists and the motor-pacers. Tires for motorcycles and bicycles were in the early stages of development and not up to the sustained speeds obtained during these events. 

Walthour, Sr. also took part in many six day races. Within this book These events are described in detail along with much history of six day races.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys cycling and/or history.

Click here for more on Bobby Walthour, Sr.

Click here for Andrew M. Homan's website on Bobby Walthour, Sr.

Bobby Walthour, Sr. is referred to as senior so as not to confuse him with his son, Bobby Walthour, Jr., who also was a cycling champion.

Click on the ad to enlarge it

Coca Cola advertisement featuring Bobby Walthour, Sr.

Beryl Burton

For more on the amazing Beryl Burton click here.

Philippe Thys

Philippe Thys

Philippe Thys (October 8, 1889 - January 16, 1971) was a famous Belgian road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de France three times and was the first to have done this. His Tour victories were in the years 1913, 1914 and 1920. Thys would certainly have had more Tour de France wins if his 

career had not been interruped by World War I. The Tour de France was not held for 4 years; 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918. 
   Long distance races suited Philippe Thys. He was the perfect rider for the tough stages of the Tour de France. Steady riding without any abrupt changes in pace was his style of riding. 
    Some of Thys's other victories are:

1. 1910 Belgian Cyclo-Cross Championship
2. 1917 Paris-Tours
3. 1917 Tour of Lombardy
4. 1918 Paris-Tours
5. 1918 Six Days of Brussels
6. 1921 Aces Criterion

After retiring from cycling at the age of 37, Philippe Thys took up another sport - Archery.

Philippe Thys

Louis Heusghem

Louis Heusghem (December 26, 1882 –  August 26, 1939) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He was the brother of cyclists Hector Heusghem andPierre-Joseph Heusghem. His best Tour de France finish was his fifth place in 1911. In 1912, he won a stage in the Tour de France and Paris–Tours.

Gabriel Poulain

Gabriel Poulain

Gabriel Poulain was a French champion cyclist. He was born in St. Helier, France on February 14, 1884. A great sprinter, Poulain was the World Flier Champion in 1905 and second in 1906 and 1908.


On July 9, 1921 Poulain won a prize of 10,000 francs awarded by Peugeot for a self propelled flying machine that traveled over 10 meters at a height of over 1 meter. He flew a distance of 11.98 meters. His flying machine was a bicycle with wings attached. Poulain had to reach a speed of 29mph on his machine to go the distance and obtain a height of 8 feet. 


At the age of 40, in 1924, Gabriel won the Fench Track Sprinting Championship. He tied for second place in 1927 at the age of 43 and then announced his official retirement from cycling.

Gabriel Poulain and his self propelled flying machine.

Lowie and Christiaens

Click on the image to enlarge it

1938 Paris-Nice winner Jules Lowie (left) rides with teammate Georges Christiaens. Lowie is wearing the race leader's jersey. Note the different patterned bands on the seattubes of their "Charles Pélissier" bicycles. Note also the "Reynolds 531" decals, "cafe Sanka" water bottles, lack of any chrome on the frames & forks, and cloth tape on the first two inches of Lowie's brake cable housings, where his hands rub against them.

Coppi's Final Racing Season

Fausto Coppi during his final summer, 1959

Rudi Altig's Broken Fork

Stage 9, 1962 Tour de France. Green Jersey wearer Rudi Altig was preparing to contest the final sprint when, 12 kilometers from the finish, the right fork blade on his Helyett broke at the crown. Reluctant to stop for a bike change and risk losing contact with the peloton, Altig decided to nurse his damaged bike to the finish. It was a risky decision, but Altig and bike made it to the velodrome in Bordeaux, and finished that year's Tour with the Green Jersey

Georges Passerieu

Georges Passerieu

Georges Passerieu (London, November 18 1885–Peray, May 5 1928) was a British-born French professional road bicycle racer, who won seven stages in the Tour de France, and reached the podium twice. He also was the winner of Paris–Roubaix and Paris–Tours.

1906

Tour de France:

Winner stages 6 and 12

2nd place overall classification

1907

Tour de France:

Winner stages 6 and 14

Paris–Roubaix

Paris–Tours

1908

Tour de France:

Winner stages 1, 5 and 13

3rd place overall classification

1909

Paris-Dijon

Georges Passerieu with his 1907 Paris-Roubaix Bike

Sturmey-Archer 1938 World's Most Famous Riders Advertisement

Octave Lapize - 1910 Tour de France - 1908 Olympics

Octave Lapize

Octave Lapize (October 24, 1887 - July 14, 1917) was a French professional road racing cyclist and track cyclist. Most famous for winning the 1910 Tour de France and a bronze medal at the 1908 Olympics in the men's 100 kilometer race. He was a three-time winner of one-day classics, Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Brussels.

In his first Tour de France in 1909, he abandoned early due to wintery conditions during the month of July, but not before he managed a Stage 2 second place behind Tour winner Fracois Faber.  The following year he went head-to-head with Alcyon teammate Faber who led confortably until colliding with a dog at the foot of the Pyrenees. Lapize finally won by just 4 points helped by a number of punctures to Faber's bike on the final stage from Caen to Paris. In a total of six starts in the Tour de France between 1909 and 1914, this victory was the only one he finished.

Octave Lapize is noted for looking at some Tour officials on the climb of the Col du Tourmalet in the 1910 Tour de France and yelling, "Vous estes des assassins! Oui, des assassins ( French for 'You are murderers! Yes, murderers!')" The stage in question was 326 kilometers in length, featured 7 brutal climbs, and was raced on unsealed roads with single-gear bicycles.

World War I ended his cycling career. As a fighter pilot in the French army, Octave Lapize was shot down near Flirey, Meuthe-et- Moselle on July 14, 1917. Severly injured, he died in a hospital in Toul.

Sturmey Archer - 1965 - Dutch Language Poster

click on the image to enlarge it

Julien Vervaecke

Julien Vervaecke (November 3, 1899 - May 1940) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. He won Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Brussels, 2 stages in the Tour de France and finished 3rd in the 1927 Tour de France. 


Julien's younger brother, Felicien Vervaecke, was also a successful cyclist.