October 1902
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CTC Gazette (October 1902). cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/magazines/ctc-gazette/vol1902-10/
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Articles in this issue
- Membership 1902 against 1901: renewals 36,903 (41,137), total 44,931 (51,056), a surplus of about £1,000 expected. Danger and Caution boards: 4,320 erected, replies on 3,025 boards; £300 allocated, faded enamel plates to be replaced by stamped steel. 'A Black List' of 103 press-reported cycling accidents, 25 August to 25 September. The Land's End fatality (E. W. T. Richmond, Trereen Hill, 24 August) and the Penzance Consul's report clearing the C.T.C. 'Mistaken Vocations' answers a road surveyor's claim that cycles raise 90 per cent of road dust and Rev. E. M. Gibson's £1,056 motor-damage estimate. The M.D.A. has gone idle. The 10 October meeting will consider cutting the Council from 158 to 68. A note on the Greenwich Tunnel closes the piece.
- By the Editor, on machines tried this season. Binks's 26 lb 'Perfect' featherweight is judged no improvement on the Centaur and no tourist's machine; a member reports the forks of his Binks 'Perfect Featherweight' collapsing on loose stones. The 28 lb Dursley-Pedersen: good hill climber, rigid in the drive, poor luggage carrier; Rev. Sidney Swann (Carlisle to London in a day) praises it, and No. 2007 lists breakages, rattle and saddle trouble, a Welsh tour cut short, 1,100 miles in all. Also the Rudge-Whitworth, the New Rapid '8 and 8½' crank, the Triumph, and the 36 lb B.S.A. spring frame, which he prefers to rigid frames; the Hygienic cushion frame (35 lb) is rated below it. It ends with a 500-600 mile trial of an unnamed chain-driven motor cycle, judged undependable.
- By Haydon Perry, Vol. II, Route 290, Chester to Bangor via Rhuddlan, continued at Conway. Telford's suspension bridge (1826) and Stephenson's tubular bridges (begun 1846; first tube floated 17 April 1848). The castle: Richard II's rendezvous, his betrayal and handover to Bolingbroke at Flint; the charter of 1284; dismantled by the Earl of Conway in 1665. Church monuments (Nicholas Hookes), Bishop John Williams, the sculptor John Gibson, and the Royal Cambrian Academy in Plas Mawr. Llewelyn the Great is said to have been born there. The route leaves by the Upper Gate for the Sychnant Pass, where the writer meets volunteers singing and three schoolgirls who explain 'Moel Lys' as 'bilberries'. It then runs by Dwygyfylchi, Llanfairfechan and Aber to Bangor.
- By C. W. Brown, the first of a series on tyres for the road (racing patterns left out). The Dunlop-Welch wired-on tyre: an inextensible wire in each bead sits on ledges of the rim; removal is by pushing one wire into the central channel and working it over the rim, with the valve body withdrawn. The Welch patent expires 16 October 1904 and the Bartlett 21 October 1904. The 'Woods' valve is described, and the 'One Minute' tyre removers (three to a set) are recommended. Tyres should be pumped hard, since a soft tyre side-slips and punctures. The Dunlop-Bartlett has beaded edges under rolled hooks on the rim. The Palmer tyre has rubber between the diagonal threads of its fabric, with a Lucas pin valve.
- Part III, by F. H. Leeds, F.I.C., a rejoinder to correspondents including 'J. W.' (July) and Mr Bidlake. Warming a pint of 50° F water costs the body about 235 feet of lift, so cold drinks are physiologically wrong, especially after a meal. He defends drinking largely on the road, and advises breathing through the nose: the mouth on a dusty road, or with a cold, is harmful. Two meal plans: a large breakfast and dinner with a picnic of biscuits, chocolate and milk all day, or a solid midday meal and a two-hour rest; he prefers the first. On p.20 he recommends a sample of Protene Travellers' Lunch (biscuits and chocolate, Protene Co., Welbeck Street), describes his own wool-lined clothing, and holds that a talkative companion cuts his mileage.
- By Margaret R. Horsfield. The Cycle Campers' Association's last official camp of 1902 was at Blackness Farm near Keston, Kent, from Friday 12 to Monday 15 September. Seventeen campers came, two of them ladies, fewer than expected because of cold wet days. The party climbed from Bromley to Hayes Common, toured a park with a Roman camp, and rode through Sevenoaks to Knole Park, seat of Lord Tavistock, whose house was shut by five o'clock. A business meeting was held in a tent lent by a camp steward. On the Sunday the president gave an address at the 'unconventional service' at 10.30, followed by dinner under a shady tree. The writer, who attended all the Association's camps this year, offers information to ladies who may wish to join.
- By Constance Everett-Green. The season has been poor for touring, mostly short tours of two to four days, which suit ladies who will not ride far on consecutive days. A two-day tour costs 10s to 20s; remote inns can be as cheap as 5s a night but the dinner is poor. At Salisbury a cattle sale filled the hotels; spare shoes, stockings and a shirt spared her bed or borrowed clothes. Rain: take roofed shelter at once if in sight, otherwise ride on with the cape over the coat on the handle-bar, dry the cape at the stop, and buy a longer cape. Ladies ride in rain without capes. The piece closes on swimming, replying to last month's article: a skirt winds round the legs in water, and the non-swimmer must learn confidence and buoyancy.
- Letters on tyres, brakes and membership. Fleuss tyres (A. P., 13,808, asking): R. C. (11,597), F. L. (37,170), Nos. 7277 and T. E. (28,124) report good wear, one bad. Palmer tyres praised by Rev. C. S. Richardson (21,816) and E. H. Clarke (1613). A lodgings register is proposed (A Twenty Years' Member); Maltby of Orston and Mrs Groom recommended. Clipper tyres: six explosions. The 'Cam' rim brake (Reginald Hivpery). A. H. Downey (1303) asks what is the matter with the M.D.A.; C. C. Bell corrects Welsh in the Companion. Six letters on the hotel-rebate advantages of membership. H. Cripps (41,575) on Dunlop tyres cracking. 'A Plea for the Poor Maker' defends the Bowden brake and Dunlop tyres; L. S., Goodhart Godfrey, Desonni and Charles E. Carroll report on Bowden brakes.
- Short replies. No. 32,116: the last machine is dealt with in 'Olla Podrida', machines ranked 3, 2, 1. The Eadie Manufacturing Co. (No. 3313, Newcastle) is thanked. No. 34,765 is advised to abandon the idea of fitting a motor to his present machine. C. H. (Southsea) is told the Liberty tyre will be treated in Mr Brown's series. No. 17,627: deduct one mile in fifteen for a 30-inch cyclometer on a 28-inch wheel. No. 10,964 (Kennington): Roman rims are reliable, and Dunlop or Palmer tyres as good as any. R. H. S. is told to choose from the Gazette's advertisers. No. 17,745: a St Crispin saddle. N. H. A. ranks machines 2, 1, 3. S. J. G.: Gamage's chain and Yale lock. No. 4921: the railway point goes to the conference. No. 29,034: the Dunlop guarantee does not cover Smith's bands.
- Short news items and court reports, each headed, mostly from the press. 'The L.A.W. in a Bad Way' compares August membership: 20 applicants for the League, 1,038 for the C.T.C. 'Look Where You Are Going': at Kidderminster County Court, William Lawrence sued Ellen Edith Challoner for £25 after a collision, and Sir Richard Harrington gave judgment for the defendant. 'The Starley Memorial': donations go through Mr R. T. Lang, 27 Chancery Lane. 'The Unfortunate Cyclist', Uckfield: a cyclist who rides without a bell is a nuisance. 'Cyclophil' on the broken-glass by-law: Walter Reynolds dismissed a woman's summons. 'Conflicting Evidence', Chester County Court: a basket claimed from a hotel was first awarded to the plaintiffs, then on re-hearing they failed.
- Notices of the Half-Yearly General Meeting at Caxton Hall on Friday 10 October 1902, signed by E. R. Shipton, Secretary. The agenda: the minutes of the AGM at Nottingham; the Council's motion to rescind the 1898 resolution and fix the divisions and Representative Councillors by membership strength; and a notice by E. Jenks, 131 Banbury Road, Oxford, that editorial approval of tradesmen's goods not connected with cycling should not appear in the Gazette. The Special General Meeting the same evening takes resolutions 1 to 6 (Representative Chief Consuls, a new Article 26); on p.28, resolutions 7 to 11 amend Articles 27, 28, 32, 33 and 43.
- Council meeting of 13 September 1902 at Belfast. Resolution 154 names J. W. S. Neal Chief Consul of France; 155 adopts the Finance report. Resolution 156 adopts the Rights and Privileges report; counsel doubted a libel action against H. J. St. Benno Cunliffe would succeed, and the Committee's proposal to call on him to resign is adjourned (157) to October. Committee reports: Map and Road Book; the Roads Improvement Association; Rights and Privileges (the North and South Shields Railway Bill clause carried 219 to 48, costs of £186 settled at £150; a dismissed Epsom furious-riding summons; railway and tram claims); General Purposes, cutting Representative Councillors for 1903 from 62 to 34 and meetings to eight a year. Next meeting 11 October.
- Reports from the local associations, each signed by its honorary secretary. Glasgow: broken lamp funnels, a run to Lanark. Leicester: the October runs. Liverpool (2 September): gullies in Ullet Road, furious cycling in Newsham Drive; J. H. Barrow, Consul for Seaforth, died on 6 September. Manchester (6 September): a Danger Board for Blackstone Edge, rolled macadam on the Rhodes road, finger-posts at Heaton Chapel. Northumberland and Durham (12 August, 9 September): thanks to the MPs who carried the cycle clause of the North and South Shields Electric Railway Bill. Nottinghamshire: excessive road watering in the city, October runs. Warwickshire and Birmingham (30 August): district boundaries to match parishes. West Riding: a lecture by Rev. Horace F. Wonnacott on 22 October.
- The column's rules, from the Editor: a member seeking a companion may insert a short account free, naming the counties or centres, whether he rides a bicycle or tricycle, and a nom-de-plume or membership number; replies go care of the Editor; one insertion, repeated only on application. Notices follow: a gentleman (No. 37,496) seeks a companion for October touring in England; a London bachelor (No. 39,482) seeks a riding companion; a member (No. 558) wants one for a 14-day tour in October; H. M. R. (No. 38,026), a bachelor of 48, wants one for tours of three to six days; a cyclist and photographer seeks a companion for a tour from January to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the South Seas.
- Standing notices to members. 'The C.T.C. At Home and Abroad' is offered gratis; the Touring Bureau and library are described. Rights and Privileges: a member wronged on the road should lay the facts before the Committee through the Secretary, unless a District Association is competent; a list of district Hon. Secs follows. British and Irish Road Book volumes I to VI, priced; a revised Bartholomew's Reduced Survey at 1s on paper and 2s on cloth; Companion to the Road Book, vol. II. On p.33: the Foreign Handbook, customs tickets for cycles in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and the USA, reciprocal membership with foreign clubs, Continental Road Books, Thomas Cook tours, Paris itineraries, the Badge, name-plates, Club costumes and steamship concessions.
- The standing invitation to amateur cyclists: subscription 5s a year and entrance fee 1s, a guinea for five years or two for ten, and a reduced 3s for later family members who forgo the Gazette. Articles 6 and 7 on election are printed: application to the Secretary, seven days' notice, protest, Council decision. Forms must reach 47 Victoria Street by the first post on the 15th of the preceding month. The candidates follow, with addresses and proposers' numbers, by county from Berkshire to Yorkshire, then Wales, Scotland, Ireland (Tipperary) and abroad (Italy, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, the United States).