December 1899

Articles in this issue

• Editorial (opens in a new tab)

  Closes the first volume of the Gazette in its new guise and promises better paper, new contributors and prompter posting from January; the December ballot is contested only in Lancashire, Surrey, the Western and Midland grouped English counties, Glamorgan and Edinburgh, with voting papers due by the 15th. Also covers the renewal of subscriptions, Life Membership at five guineas, the new L.A.W. reciprocal membership, a call for restrictive bye-laws, the Crystal Palace and Agricultural Hall shows, and a protest at American papers lifting Gazette articles.
• Official Notices (opens in a new tab)

  Renewal of subscriptions (with French and German notices), a Consular vacancy at Trowbridge in Wiltshire, James T. Lightwood's notice of a proposed North Lancashire District Association, and the Rights and Privileges Committee's list of District Associations and their secretaries. Continues with the Touring Bureau and Library, Customs arrangements with foreign governments (including the Belgian cycle passport deposit), reciprocal foreign touring clubs, Thomas Cook & Son's discounts and the Club costumes.
• Prospective Tours (opens in a new tab)

  Members' small notices seeking touring companions, including a Surrey evening rider, a lady wanting company at Cannes or Nice, and a middle-aged member planning a winter tour of Southern Europe and Algiers; followed by paragraphs on the Aberdeen County Council's cyclist bell clause and a German physician blaming veils for red noses.
• The Annual Election of Representative Councillors, Nominations (opens in a new tab)

  Schedule of nominations for Representative Councillors by county and country, giving membership numbers, seats required, candidates and addresses, with sitting members starred; Middlesex returns R. Rees Jeffreys, and contests are marked in Lancashire, Surrey and the grouped districts. Continues over pages 7 to 9 with each candidate's occupation, proposer and seconder.
• Election Addresses (opens in a new tab)

  Addresses from candidates for Middlesex (W. Rees Jeffreys, whose 'Roads and Railways' policy covers rail carriage of cycles, main-road improvement and tramway powers) and Surrey (Octavius Beatty, Vice-chairman of the Council seeking re-election); with squibs on Richmond Park gates and a Durham County Council bye-law on glass and thorns on the highway, defeated 53 votes to 12.
• The Shipton Testimonial (opens in a new tab)

  A. Graham Murray's report that over 1,100 members have subscribed to the testimonial to the Secretary, E. R. Shipton, for his services and the Club's majority year, with the list kept open (subscriptions limited to 2s. 6d.), followed by the Third List of Subscribers to 15 November, running over pages 9 and 10.
• The Special General Meeting (opens in a new tab)

  Report of the Special General Meeting at the Metropole Hotel, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on 17 November, W. Kendall Burnett presiding, called after the Birmingham meeting was ruled informal; the chair notes membership of nearly 62,000. E. Goold's motion that Danger and Caution boards state the nature of the danger is debated at length (Mr. Pennell, Mr. Beatty, Mr. Lowe and others) and negatived by 36 votes to 19; the Baskerville and Archer M. White motions on Council reorganisation are withdrawn.
• District Associations (opens in a new tab)

  Reports from the Antrim and Down, Cheshire (first general meeting at Chester, 16 December), Dublin (tram-track dangers, proposed Dublin and Wicklow title) and other District Associations, including an Edinburgh and Lothians nomination of A. A. Grainger Stewart and danger-board requests at East Farndon and Bo'ness.
• Novelties at the Shows (opens in a new tab)

  Archibald Sharp's cursory notes on the Stanley and National Cycle Shows covering fork-ends, clamps, ball-bearings, the Wapshare-Dessau detachable tyre, two-speed gears, free-wheel clutches and rim and band brakes, including a Yorkshire County Cycle Co. brake built on his own design. Closes with a tyre section, Dr. Calantarient's Spring Leaf tyre and his own specification of an ideal machine.
• The Ladies' Page (opens in a new tab)

  Constance Everett-Green on the two shows, an obstacle-mounting bicycle tested on the Horse Guards Parade, and a reply to F. T. Bidlake on free wheels, arguing that the loss of back-pedalling costs a rider subtlety of control, after she tried a free wheel herself.
• A Ride by the Rhine (opens in a new tab)

  C. L. Freeston, illustrated by A. R. Quinton, describes the cyclist's journey from Bingen to Cologne by way of Bacharach, Oberwesel, St. Goar, Boppard, Coblenz, Ehrenbreitstein, Andernach, Bonn and the Drachenfels, with Rhine legends, road conditions and the welcome given to cyclists in Germany.
• Currente Calamo (opens in a new tab)

  F. T. Bidlake replies to C. L. Freeston's summary of the free-wheel discussion, answering Dr. Turner's long-crank experiments and giving a schedule of ten ten-mile tests showing how much of each ride was spent freewheeling against wind, from 0 to 76 per cent.
• Itineraries (opens in a new tab)

  A. W. Rumney on the Council's plan for route cards drawn from the Road Book for use in the saddle, with Colonel Magrath's upward-reading form and G. T. McCaw's specimen itinerary for Ireland with a gradient profile; invites members' opinions for the Map and Road Book Committee.
• Mechanical and Practical (opens in a new tab)

  C. W. Brown defers most devices until after the Shows and tests Cole's Safety Saddle Brake from W. E. Brough of Basford, Nottingham, and other inventions submitted to him.
• A Handbook of the Bicycle (opens in a new tab)

  Archibald Sharp's serial chapter on brakes: the retarding force needed on gradients of 1 in 8 and 1 in 5, front against back wheel braking and the risk of a header, rim, band, spoon and drum brakes (including the Bowden), and a closing discussion of coefficients of friction.
• Correspondence (opens in a new tab)

  Members' letters on touring notes, a trip along the Rhine and Frankfurt, J. Lighton's notes on Freeston's Alpine passes (the Stelvio, Lake Como), the free-wheel controversy, a back rim buckled on a Raleigh with Dunlop tyres, a weekly Gazette, the Birmingham general meeting and the L.A.W. and C.T.C. arrangement.
• Answers to Correspondents (opens in a new tab)

  Brief editorial replies to members' queries on the Royal Sunbeam, Singer band brake, Lucas's Acetylator, the Toby front rim brake, fitting a free-wheel clutch to an existing machine, enamel against plating and other equipment questions.
• List of Candidates, December, 1899 (opens in a new tab)

  Candidates for membership by county, with the Club's membership terms (5s. subscription, 1s. entrance) and Articles 6 and 7 on election, covering Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex, Scottish and Irish counties and foreign members in France, India, Italy and the United States.