Vol 2, No 14
Articles in this issue
- The twenty-nine names entered so far for the Club's Road Medal Trial, among them the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, P. Dalton, M. D. Rucker, Jun., Theo. Godlee, The O'Reilly and H. H. Crawley.
- The Club's official department for the number, carrying the Committee's report of 19 May and Captain M. D. Rucker's ruling on Sunday riding.
- At the meeting of Monday 19th, Pierre Marchand, A. Hamilton Marker, Henry George Atkinson and Robert Mann Long were elected members, with proposers and seconders named. It was also decided that at the General Meet of 7 June to meet the D.B.B.C. only the outward run should score as attendance at a Club meet.
- The Committee has heard of a member riding on Sundays with a bag bearing conspicuously large "L.B.C." letters. Since a large majority of the Club decided badges should not be worn on Sunday, Captain M. D. Rucker, Jun. warns that lettering identifies the Club just as plainly and that Rule 3 will be strictly enforced.
- "Rusticus" argues that now the old prejudice against bicycling has died, riders should stop over-claiming for it: it cannot compete with hunting, shooting, cricket or rowing, it is defeated by rain, wind and frost, and its casualties are disproportionate. He also doubts the economy claim, allowing only that the country doctor and postman genuinely gain by the iron steed.
- A verse fragment signed "S." in which a night-riding record-breaker drives through rain, snow and hail with head on fire and dimming eyes, praying only to last, see himself in print, and be reported as finishing "fresh as paint" after his twice one hundred miles.
- Tabulated district meets, Lea Bridge Road for Hoddesdon and Ingatestone, Jack Straw's Castle for Ruislip and Essendon, Kew Green for Box Hill and Slough, the Griffin at Kingston and Central Croydon Station for Leatherhead, with no run on 31 May, all districts to Maidenhead on 7 June to meet the D.B.B.C., and the Race Meeting on 21 June.
- The N.E. district managed only five riders to Chigwell Row and the "Maypole" after its Captain's somersault into loose gravel; Palmer Dalton's N.W. party of fourteen rode the old Roman road to St. Albans, swam in the bath and put up at the "Bell" (35½ miles); and the W., S.W. and S.E. districts converged on the "Anchor" at Ripley, where they watched the Druid and Zingari road race and later passed Cortis, fresh from his 2min. 52sec. mile at Surbiton.
- "Eavesdropper" retails Club gossip: Thorn and Rucker going into training quarters at Surbiton against the Cambridge men, Cleaver training hard for the fifteen miles, Keith-Falconer and Weir promising a hot pace on the Bath road at Whitsun, and Col. Frazer's report that bandmaster Waterson is convalescent after the Herbert collision, with the L.A.C. Committee paying for the repairs to Herbert's machine.
- The Race Committee adds a one-mile Novice Scratch Race, open only to members who have never won a bicycle prize and barring racing machines; entries with 2s. 6d. to the Hon. Sec. by Saturday, with practice allowed on the Thursday and Friday. Members are pressed to sell the enclosed tickets and admitted free on their badge.
- "Goethe" answers "Rusticus" in defence of his fellow maniacs, arguing that the bicycle teaches its rider roads, geology, bearings, steerages and the cleaning power of petroleum, and shows him towns he would otherwise never glimpse. He concedes at the close that he does gauge a conversation by how soon he can leave his wheel alone.
- Continuing the alphabetical series with the "Arab" of John Harrington of Union Street, Ryde, admired at the Agricultural Hall exhibition for its finish: a recessed Stanley head with an unusually broad 24-25in. bar, hydraulically rolled front fork, pianoforte-wire suspension spokes, a leather strap-brake worked by thumb-pieces, cage-free ball bearings and a saucer-sized alarum, at £14 16s. for a 46-inch.
- Norman B. Morris continues his Breton tour, riding Concarneau to Quimperlé and Lorient on 1 October past the sardine fleet, the lobster-breeding aquarium and the Druidical stones towards Pont Aven, warning that the steep two-turn descent into Quimperlé needs the brake hard on. He recommends the "Hotel du Lion d'Or" and finds the "Hotel de France" at Lorient grand but dear; 33½ miles.
- Dated list from the Cambridge University B.C. Invitation Race on 24 May to the Lombard B.C. mile at Catford Bridge on 19 July, including the L.B.C. Evening Meeting, the Bath Race, the three Bicycle Union Championships and the Pickwick meeting at the Alexandra Palace.
- The letters column for the number, given over entirely to "Whoa!" on the subject of brakes.
- A long comparative letter signed "Whoa!" reviewing every brake the writer knows, hind-roller, Carter trailing, skid, strap, Stassen eccentric, Timberlake, Coventry Club and grip brakes, and objecting to revolving handles, cords that stretch in the rain, and spoon brakes that tear tyres and buckle the wheel. His verdict: a Timberlake front brake with the Coventry Club locking ring, or failing that a grip-roller brake, which fits any machine.