Cycling down memory lane

Grant Jahr, President of Sun City CyclePaths Bike Club, takes his passion for bicycles with him everywhere.

“I am finishing up my second term as president and have been a member of the Bike Club for 11 years,” he said.

During a European river tour with his wife in August, Jahr found some biking opportunities.

“The ship had little bikes available for us to go for a bike ride,” he said. “In Trier, Germany we got to see the Deutschland Tour 2018. It lasted about 20 seconds. It was a complete surprise. We did not know that it was going on.”

The biggest surprise?

Jahr did not expect to find a little bit of Huntley, Illinois in the Netherlands.

He explains, “One of our stops was Nijmegen, Netherlands. While there, I learned that the Dutch National Bicycle Museum was in that city and only a short walk from our ship. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see it. On the third floor of the museum, I came across a display of five bikes that had been manufactured in the United States during the 1890s. When I got to the fifth bike, I was amazed to see that it had been manufactured in Huntley by the Latimer Brothers. Although at first glance it looked very much like a bicycle of today, I saw that it also had some very unique and unusual differences.”

Jahr continued to think about his findings.

“When we got home, I did some internet research to see what I could find about the bike and the Latimer Brothers. With the assistance of the Huntley Historical Society and the Huntley Library, I have gathered information to share with our Bike Club and the Sun City community,” he said.

Through Jahr’s own research, he found some information published by the Huntley Historical Society in 2012 a Latimer bicycle was purchased by a resident. He found the buyer, Tom Conley, right here in Sun City.

Jahr also found a wealth of information at the Huntley Library.
“Nancy Bacheller, the library historian was able to find me some more background on the history of the bike. I found that the Latimer brothers had a Buggy tire business here in Huntley. Frank Latimer filed an application to the U.S. for a patent on August 14, 1896, for a new bicycle design,” he said.

The U.S. Patent filed by Frank Latimer can be found online.

“It states, ‘My invention relates particularly to velocipedes of the safety rear-driven type, and especially to the frame portion and mechanism for driving or propelling the vehicle.’”

The patent was granted on August 10, 1897.

Jahr explains the uniqueness of this bike.

“The Latimer bike had two chains on both sides of the wheel and 2 sprockets. The motion of the pedals did not complete a revolution but an up and down motion, (similar to a Stairmaster) There was a pulley system that was connected the pedals. The seat was very small and not soft. The spoke wheels had a wooden rim. The tires were pneumatic, air-filled, unusual for that time,” he said.

The Latimer brothers then had a prototype built.

Jahr informs, “They went to COLLINS & BURGIE in Marengo to manufacture their bikes. On November 25, 1898, they hoped for investors to contribute $5000 to build and locate their new bicycle manufacturing plant along with their buggy tire business. Their building was located on Mill and Church in Huntley. It is the site of a parking lot now.”

However, the Latimers did not prosper.

Jahr explains, “There is speculation that a National Tire Company had wanted to purchase the process for the pneumatic tires from the Latimer brothers for $25000. They would not sell. It was rumored that the company sent men over to work for the Latimers, who then gave the tire company enough information to manufacture the pneumatic tires themselves.”

What happened to the Latimers?

“There is no documentation but the building was eventually sold to Victor Mey and the structure was called the Mey Building for a long time. It is believed that one of the Latimer Brother got sick and they moved to California for health reasons. It is believed that they died bankrupt,” Jahr said.

Jahr encourages Sun City residents who like to bike to try the CyclePaths Bike Club.

“We meet 2 or 3 times a week to bike around here. We also take group trips. We have adopted a section of Kreutzer road that we do some clean-up. We also collect for the Grafton Food Pantry and have provided safety training for school children. We have picnics and weather permitting we bike on New Year’s Day for 10 miles and then end with some partying,” he said.

Anyone interested in joining the club can contact Jahr at cyclepathsprez@gmail.com.

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