July 1902
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CTC Gazette (July 1902). cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/magazines/ctc-gazette/vol1902-07/
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Articles in this issue
- Welcomes the family membership concession, under which second and later members of a household pay three shillings a year, and the new commutation of the five-shilling subscription at a guinea for five years or two guineas for ten. Reports the work on the Tyneside tube and the motion to recommit that Bill so that promoters must carry cycles at reasonable rates. Answers a press claim that an 1835 Highways Act made the rule of the road law, which the courts have always treated as custom, and appeals for subscriptions to the J. K. Starley Memorial Fund, whose committee is printed.
- Reports the campaign on the Licensing Bill. The Rights and Privileges Committee's letter of 22 April 1902 asked Home Secretary Ritchie for a fine of up to 40s on a licensee who refused a traveller reasonable non-alcoholic refreshment, and his reply of 30 April declined to amend the Bill. Broadhurst's clause was then beaten 154 to 173 on the report stage, a majority of 19, after the Committee had defeated it 8 to 18. The debate is quoted (Goulding, Burns, Gretton, Labouchere, Seely), with press comment from the Daily Chronicle and Daily News.
- Grenville A. J. Cole on the Maklen and Ivan passes of Bosnia-Hercegovina, on the advice of the British Consul at Sarajevo, E. B. Freeman. From Gornji Vakuf the Maklen climbs to its 1,123-metre summit, drops into Hercegovina past Jablanica and Prozor, and runs down the Rama gorge. The Narenta valley then leads by Konjica to the Ivan Sattel at 3,200 feet and down to Ilidze and Sarajevo, 550 miles from Vienna.
- Archibald Sharp reports an extended trial of the Hygienic Cushion Frame bicycle, made by the Fleet Cycle Co. It has spring-insulated rear and front ends, and he praises the Crabbe brakes, the free wheel, the closed spring-needle oilers and the single spanner. The frame is much easier on rough roads, though handlebar vibration remains. Uphill it matches the best he has ridden, and it is slightly slower freewheeling than a rigid roadster. He recommends it to comfort-seeking riders rather than hard, fast ones.
- Constance Everett-Green on London riding: cyclists may use Hyde Park at all hours from 1 July, and she advises avoiding the afternoon drives. On thirst she advises drinking little and slowly, through a straw if possible, and carrying a biscuit or chocolate. She favours soda water with lemon, and recommends a coat carried on the handlebar and a wrap worn over the blouse. She tried Dr Mansell-Jones's spring-frame bicycle over 25 miles, and the Isis satchel. She asks members for open-air swimming places, mentioning the bath at Shere, Surrey.
- F. T. Bidlake tests a James roadster, praising its Hyde ball-race free wheel and its two brakes: a leather-lined front rim brake with its connections hidden inside the steering socket, and a rear back-pedalling band brake on a gravity clutch. He then describes a new Humber handlebar, with revolving grips and an inverted lever at each end, so either brake can be worked by twist or lever. The column closes with a case for riding for its own sake, and with advice to tourists to eat little and often, as long-distance trial riders do.
- Douglas Leechman, Chapter IV: a trial of the Ormonde motor-bicycle with its Kelecom motor of about 1.5 h.p. at 1,500 rpm, set nearly upright behind the seat tube. The float-feed carburettor, two-gallon tank (about 200 miles), lubrication drawn from the motor's own oil cup, electric ignition worked by Bowden cords, three-ply leather belt and two hand-applied rim brakes are described. At about 100 lb it is light and comfortable, and he rates its speed and hill-climbing well against other motor-bicycles. He notes a low front mudguard end, and that he broke the central wire of a sparking point while touching it up, though the machine ran as well with the gap doubled.
- Douglas Leechman's notes from Coventry: William Starley's India-rubber pedal and his 6d biography of his father J. K. Starley; the Lenton tyre, whose interlocking tabs Mrs Lenton devised; and Henry Sturmey's lecture to the Cycle Engineers' Institute on variable gears, covering the Collier, Whippet, Garrard, Gradient and Paradox gears and his own epicyclic three-speed (25 per cent below normal and 33 1/3 per cent above). The writer describes his Garrard two-speed hub, which screws onto a C.E.I. thread, and recommends the Old Bowling Green hotel at Warwick.
- C. Edwardes's tour of the north-east Staffordshire moorlands, starting from Ashbourne and Uttoxeter. The route climbs the hard pulls to Wootton, Caldon Low and Ramsor, and then Waterfall, Alstonefield (with Thor's Cave and the Ecton copper mine) and Wetton, Butterton and Longnor. It closes on Morridge and Axe Edge to Flash, with side trips to Ludchurch, the Roaches and Leek, and a descent to Upper Hulme.
- F. H. Leeds, F.I.C., on cycle lamps. A lamp fails through its burner, its oil or its wick, and most trouble comes from dirty lamps and poor wicks. Smoke needs gasification or forced draught, and a wick lifts oil by capillarity, so it must suit the lift and the oil's viscosity. He comments on Mr Shipton's analysis of lamp complaints, then turns to the musical estimate of speed and a speed-counting method attributed to Mr Banks, which the free wheel has weakened.
- John W. Porter, author of Around Nice by Carriage or Bicycle, on the Durance valley between Briançon, Gap and Sisteron. Grenoble to Briançon is by rail through Veynes, or some 70 miles by road over the Col de Lautaret at 6,790 feet; Gap is a centre for excursions. Down the river the road passes Embrun (2,855 feet), whose cathedral door carries two old horseshoes, and Savines to Prunières, where the choice is by the river to Sisteron, by Chorges to Gap, or by diligence to Barcelonnette. It closes at Sisteron, with its citadel and Notre Dame, as the portal of Provence.
- Haydon Perry's Manx routes from Vol. III of the Road Book. Route 448 runs from Ramsey to the Point of Ayre, through Kirk Bride, to a lighthouse seen above a sea of fog, with Kirk Michael as the base. Route 449 runs from Ramsey to Andreas, its church, Runic cross and legends of fairies and witches. The reversed route from Jurby to Ramsey, by Ballaugh and Sandygate, closes the instalment.
- T. H. Holding on cooking apparatus for the camping cyclist. The essentials are a round vessel that packs in one section, is light, tinned or plated, with no seams or square corners, and burns little spirit. He recommends the Mersey cuisine, designed by an architect of the Mersey Canoe Club, which he has used for seventeen years. He suggests a size of about 5 1/2 by 3 inches for two riders, and a 2 lb stove that fits a coat pocket, and gives the instructions the makers did not print.
- C. W. Brown on gears and gearing. He explains the inch measure from the high bicycle, and how the craze for very high gears shortened rides. He notes the revival of two-speed gears and the move from 6 1/2 in to 7 in cranks, and urges a moderate gear with normal cranks. A two-speed gear is worth having only if it is used to ease the work on hills, though most riders will still do best with one medium gear.
- Two motor books reviewed. R. J. Mecredy's The De Dion Voiturette, 1s 6d, covers the 1902 front-engined model, with advice on starting, side-slip and tyres. A. J. Wilson's Motor Cycles, 2s 6d net from Iliffe, is in its fifth edition and is mainly about the Minerva motor-bicycle, with chapters on motor-cycle law and belt against chain drive.
- Brief replies on toe-clips, which encourage digging and are not needed by a rider who knows how to use his ankles, on cleaning plated parts (a cloth with Price's Rangoon Jelly), and on a member's choice of machine, saddles and two-speed gear. It also declines to print hotel recommendations for lack of space, and says a fee for Touring Bureau advice would not be approved by the Council.
- Fourteen pages of members' letters: the fall in membership (from Huddersfield, the West Riding and Leeds, the last blaming the N.C.U.'s publicity), hotel charges for a single meal and Consuls' duties, Bowden brake breakages, Leechman's motor-bicycle articles, the drinking debate (Platt, Colonel Wilson), lamps (Lucas Holophote, Dietz, acetylene), the Hub two-speed gear, Paddington cloak-room labels, Normandy customs, hot rims on the St Gotthard, long cranks, the Dursley-Pedersen, Centaur and Perfect Featherweight, the rule of the road, the Club colours, the Riviera, the Morrow coaster brake, slinging bicycles and folding maps, the Clipper tyre guarantee, the Farm House list and hotel appointments.
- Minutes of the Edinburgh meeting of 14 June 1902 under W. Kendall Burnett: the resignations of E. H. Atchley, J. White and H. H. A. Errington-Josse accepted, and D. J. Wintle declared an honorary life member after four late votes. The July Council is set for Moffat. The Cressage Bridge toll case is a Club win, so the toll stays at a penny. The Rights and Privileges Committee reports on the Dublin and Sheffield lights by-laws, the Hendon footpath summons, the Shields tube Bill petitions (dismissed, with a recommitment campaign), the Licensing Bill, and the Hyde Park restrictions lifted from 1 July. The Foreign and Colonial Committee reports routine business, and the General Purposes Committee recommends that the January Council always be held on the first Saturday and amends Rules 5 and 7 for District Associations. The Bartholomew map revision is also reported.
- Committee and run notices from the district associations. Glasgow reports a May run to Helensburgh and sets July and August runs. Liverpool's 3 June committee looks at Frodsham storage charges, Liverpool road repairs and a nominations rule, and fixes a run to Newburgh. Edinburgh lists its West Linton, Gullane and other runs. Manchester (3 June) takes up tram carriage, railway tour tickets and a rule excluding the Hon. Auditor from the committee. Newcastle reports on the Shields Tube Bill and elects a secretary. Nottingham (27 May) deals with a sign-post and an accident settlement. Birmingham sets runs for 16 and 26 July, and Leicester lists its July runs. The West Riding calls a general meeting at Leeds on 9 July and a run to Ripon on 26 July.
- A notice to canvassing members and prospective candidates: the pamphlet The C.T.C. At Home and Abroad, sent free, sets out the benefits of membership and the Rights and Privileges Committee's rule for taking up members' grievances, through a District Association first where one exists. The list of District Associations with their secretaries follows. Then the Touring Bureau and Library, the British Road Book volumes (3s to 6s each, 21s the set), the Bartholomew map revision, the British and Irish Road Book, the Farm House list and the Year Book and Diary, then the Continental Road Book and the Paris itineraries. The notices close with the Club badge, name-plates for cycles, customs arrangements and tickets, reciprocal arrangements with foreign clubs, Thomas Cook's organised tours, steamship concessions and the Club costumes.
- Candidates for membership listed by name and address, English names by county and overseas names, mostly American, by town. The notice sets the terms: five shillings a year, a one-shilling entrance fee, commutation at a guinea for five years or two guineas for ten, and three shillings for second and later family members. It prints the Council's rules for the election of candidates.
- Notices from members seeking companions for tours. A lady wants a fortnight in Cornwall in mid-July, a walker wants company in Switzerland or the Tyrol in August, a party to the Dolomites is sought, and a clergyman's son wants Lower Brittany from the end of July. A young man asks for a Normandy tour, an amateur photographer for Wales or Switzerland, and another member for a ride from Dieppe or Boulogne to Geneva. Others seek companions for France in September, Switzerland and the Engadine, the Pyrenees, the Loire, the Rhine valley, South Wales, Holland and the Rhine, and a Swiss tour over the Fluela, Stelvio and St Gotthard passes.