Doc Morton Track Bicycle c1930s

Description

William “Doc” Morton (1880 – 1952) played a large part in Canadian cycling history. Born in England, for years Morton had a close association with CCM and was a stalwart on the Toronto racing scene. It was, in fact, Doc Morton’s Massey-Harris bike that enabled Major Taylor to win his first world championship in Montreal back in 1899. (1)

A world class racer in his own right, Morton won the amateur cycling championship at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. Then in 1908 he combined with Walt Andrews, William Anderson and Fred McCarthy for a bronze medal in the Men’s Team Pursuit at the London Summer Olympics .

At one time or another the colourful Morton held just about every bicycle racing championship in Canada, despite the fact, it was said, “he absolutely refuses to train – except on cigarettes – and it takes a man with a club to drive him to bed.” (2)

When his his racing days were over, Doc Morton coached the Canadian cycling teams at the 1926 Olympics in Berlin and the 1928 Games in Amsterdam. It was at the 1928 games that he first met Torchy Peden for whom he’d become a lifelong mentor and friend.

During the thirties when the six-day bicycle races were at the height of their popularity at Maple Leaf Gardens, Doc Morton was a familiar figure down at track level. As the “boss of the bicyle repair bench”.

“He can dismantle and reassemble a bicycle faster than any other man in the business, and he has to speed along when these daring riders go tumbling to the track, much to the detriment of wheels, tires and spokes,” wrote well-known Toronto sportswriter Mike Rodden at the time. (3)

Rodden wasn’t the only one to take notice of the gray-haired guy with the grizzled countenance. In the mid-thirties another newspaper reporter declared of Morton:

“This busy little chap does everything but build bicycles right in front of you. He repairs all manner of breaks to the wheels and to him can go a large slice of the credit for the success of the game. He’s none other than “Doc” Morton of Toronto – bicycledom’s surgeon – a doctor of wheels – a chap who in his prime could, and did, outsprint anything on two wheels in Canada.” (4)

Working closely with CCM Morton made the transition from repairing damaged bikes to crafting custom-built frames of his own. Considered to be a work of art, a Morton frame with its hand-filled joints and rider’s initials often set in the upper section of the forks, were highly sought after by the top riders of the day. (In an ironic twist years later one of the most famous works of art by noted Canadian painter Greg Curnoe would be one entitled “The Doc Morton Wheel”).

For many years Morton operated a bicycle shop in the west end of Toronto. At the time, a Doc Morton frame sold for around $150, this at a time when a complete CCM Flyer sold for around $100.

Doc built frames which were in great demand by the top riders of the day. In those days the only race bikes were what we would now call track bikes, as fixed wheel was used both on road and track.

It is understood that Morton had a velodrome built in Toronto’s Christie Pits.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Frame and Fork: Steel with initial M on the fork.  Painted black (repainted in March 2024 in the Mariposa Bicycles – Bicycle Specialties workshop)
• Top Tube: 54.5 Centre to Centre
• Seat Tube: 49.5 Centre to Centre
• CCM Crankset with 23T 1″ Pitch Chainring
• Cog: 8T 1″ Pitch
• Handlebar: Steel, Size 36.5 Centre to Centre
• Stem: Steel, Quill, 8 cm
• Seatpost: Steel
• Pedals: Lyotard
• Saddle: Brooks
• Hubs: CCM, Front 36H, Rear 40H
• Rims: Wood, Tubular
• Tires: Tubular (dry and will be replaced with Continental Giro Tubular 700c x 22mm)

 

Excerpts above taken from rom Mike Barry Sr.’s blog archives, January 12, 1911 and Vintage CCM by John.

References:

1. Quoted in William Humber, Freewheeling: The Story of Bicycling in Canada, Boston Mills Press, p.112
2.“Doc Morton,” Toronto Star, July 15, 1911
3. Mike Rodden, “On the Highway of Sports,” The Globe, May 8, 1935
4. Quoted in Ted Harper, Six Days of Madness, Pacesetter Press, 1992, p.34