The Bearings, Vol 11, No 1
Articles in this issue
- Boston correspondent covers the intensifying rivalry between Boston and Asbury Park for the 1895 L.A.W. national meet, reporting on the Riverside Cycle Club's debate over the racial membership amendment and the Mattapan Road Club's new clubhouse.
- Brief Cavendish, Vermont dispatch reports the Vermont State Board of Agriculture promoting good road reform at winter institutes, crediting summer visitors and buyers of abandoned farms as key drivers of the movement.
- Full account of the founding banquet of the Wisconsin League for Good Roads at Hotel Pfister in Milwaukee on January 22, with over 100 charter members and Abbot Bassett's address on the L.A.W.'s legislative victories; includes the adopted resolutions calling for state and county road improvement.
- San Francisco dispatch details the Bicycle Tournament Association's plans for a five-day indoor tournament with a banked pine-strip track designed by F.D. Elwell and $3,500 in prizes; Louisville dispatch reports M.J. Fleck's arrangements for a southern racing circuit beginning around April 10 through Birmingham, Augusta, Gadsden, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga.
- Brief note presents a picture of L.A.W. Secretary Abbot Bassett at Sterling Elliott's Christmas homecoming in Boston, illustrating the 'prodigal son' reception; also reports that the Outing Company has abandoned the relief expedition to find missing globe-girdling cyclist Frank Lenz.
- Editor G.K. Barrett's editorial argues that Asbury Park's seaside attractions, mayor's active support, financial preparations, bathing, and social program make it far the stronger candidate over Boston for the 1895 L.A.W. national meet.
- Editorial nominates Charles E. Randall of Chicago, former Racing Board chairman and president of the Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago, for L.A.W. second vice-president at the February National Assembly, recounting his dismissal from the Racing Board over 'Rule G' and his subsequent service to the Illinois Division.
- Syracuse dispatch on the proposed merger of the 150-member Melpomene Club with the 300-member Century Cycling Club; also reports E.C. Stearns signing only Fitzsimmons alongside Johnson for 1895, and Charles Murphy's announced attempt to break the straightaway mile record behind a locomotive.
- Concluded installment of Eugene Fay's cycling travelogue covering the route from Florence through Pisa, Genoa, the Italian and French Riviera (San Remo, Mentone, Nice, Cannes), Marseilles, Avignon, Lyons, and Paris, with road quality notes and travel observations for American cyclists.
- Salt Lake City dispatch reports Denver, Salt Lake, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and El Paso are seeking spots on the national racing circuit; Salt Lake's new $9,000 track is under construction, and the Falcon and Sterling teams are training in the region.
- Letter from H.S. Joseph, C.E., of Salt Lake City posing a technical question about whether the finish tape on a three-lap bicycle track should be placed 100 feet or 50 feet from the start of the pole curve, inviting engineers and track builders to respond.
- Milwaukee dispatch reports that William F. Sanger, 19-year-old brother of Walter C. Sanger, standing 6 feet 1½ inches, is negotiating with Lozier and Humber for a Class B racing contract after showing 2:15 mile form; ex-Mayor W.H. Rogers of Madison comments on road reform legislation and Senator McGillivray's good roads bill is described.
- Denver dispatch on the Denver Wheel Club's 'tramps' carnival' smoker on January 15 attended by Governor McIntire, Secretary of State McGaffey, and other officials, featuring a 'Bum Orchestra' and phonograph entertainment; also reports the Sterling team in San Antonio where Maddox rode a paced flying mile in 2:06 and Callahan won the mile open in 5:13, setting a new Texas state record.
- Jacksonville, Florida correspondent describes a forty-mile bicycle ride at low tide on the hard-packed sand of Pabalo Beach south of St. Augustine, including a wheel-versus-horse race and observations on the road's suitability for cycling.
- Buffalo dispatch reports A.G. Batchelder, sporting editor of the Buffalo Courier, is seeking the L.A.W. handicapper position for New York and New Jersey currently held by F.P. Prial; also relays Louis Callahan's letter describing a vivid dream of being chased by a bull during the racing team's stay in Mexico.
- Notes the 1894 Century Road Club prize winners: Dr. Milton Keim of Philadelphia won the M.&W. gold mileage medal with 18,538 miles, the Lincoln Cycling Club of Chicago won the club century banner with 317 centuries, and A.A. Hanson of Minneapolis achieved the national mileage record of 21,053 miles.
- Baltimore dispatch on ice hockey taking hold among wheelmen at the new artificial ice rink, plans for a benefit performance of Palmer Cox's 'Brownies' at Ford's Opera House on February 26 to fund the cycle track, debate over wooden vs. iron road signs, and Park Policeman Ackerman's 7,500-mile season mileage record.
- San Jose dispatch covers the San Jose Road Club's new clubrooms on South Third Street, a Northern California L.A.W. division meeting at Garden City Cyclers deciding to hold a League meet at San Jose on July 4, and Wilbur Edwards' electric pacemaker tricycle project designed to run sub-one-minute-per-mile speeds.
- Letter from President Bates proposing to abolish Class B and simplify L.A.W. racing to two classes (amateur and professional), arguing current restrictive rules hinder League growth to 100,000 members, unfairly expelled Zimmerman, and that amateurs should be permitted to receive prizes up to $100 value.
- Letter from Albert Mott of Baltimore correcting five specific factual errors in The Bearings' January 4 account of his referee decisions at a recent Baltimore meet, explaining the rule under which he disqualified riders who refused to respond to the starting bell after a disputed qualifying heat.
- Philadelphia dispatch on the large contingent of Philadelphia wheelmen and dealers attending the New York Cycle Show at reduced rates, and the Turner Cyclers' annual meeting electing Daniel Lorenz president and Leo F. Jones captain after a close vote.
- Brief editorial note explains The Bearings is exhibiting at the Philadelphia cycle show this week and again postpones the account of 'The Bantam's experience at the New York Cycle Show.'
- Letter from W. Washington Taylor & Co. of Rotterdam, Holland, praising The Bearings as 'the finest cycling paper in the world' and reporting they were the first to introduce American wheels in Holland, now facing imitators.
- Major report on the closing night of the first national cycle show under the Cycle Board of Trade at Madison Square Garden (January 28), with comments from over two dozen exhibitors comparing the Chicago and New York shows; also covers the Board of Trade annual meetings at which A.G. Spalding was elected president and R. Philip Gormully first vice-president, with full text of Spalding's inaugural address.
- Two fires struck Chicago's cycling district within one week: Winter's restaurant, a popular wheelman gathering spot at 289 Wabash Avenue, was gutted on January 24, and a second fire on Saturday night damaged the Overman Wheel Co. and Seig & Walpole stock in the same block.
- Detailed editorial reviews of the 1895 catalogues from E.C. Stearns (Yellow Fellow), Rouse Hazard & Co. (Sylph and Overland), Geo. N. Pierce & Co. (yellow cover, fifth annual), Syracuse Cycle Co. (crimson rim, cycle show number), Grand Rapids Cycle Co. (Clipper), McKee & Harrington (Lyndhurst, steel-bushed chain), Eagle Bicycle Mfg. Co. (aluminum rim), Peerless Mfg. Co. (Triangle, detachable front sprocket), and Crawford Mfg. Co. (multiple price points with Garford saddles).
- Louisville dispatch reports Harbison & Gathright (a saddlery firm) entering the bicycle business handling Tribune and Royal wheels, Griffith & Sample adding Spalding, W.R. Logan selling Phoenix wheels, and E.B. Dye & Co. taking on Keating, Union, Smalley, Falcon, and March lines.
- Philadelphia trade dispatch covers Garden & Brewster opening next week as Victor and Crescent agents, C. Fred Cope signing with Lozier to sell Cleveland wheels across a broad eastern territory, and H.D. Simmons opening the Indiana Bicycle Co. branch on Arch Street.
- Multi-city trade notes covering F.S. Cahill & Co.'s dissolution in Washington D.C., S.R. Brown's tire factory for sale in Wappingers Falls, new firms in Detroit, Minneapolis, Elizabeth N.J., Hamburg Pa., Pittsburg, Franklin Ind., Syracuse, Toledo (Al. Peter starting bicycle manufacture with 200 men and $20,000 in machinery), and Worcester Mass.
- Listing of recent U.S. bicycle-related patents Nos. 531,695–532,705 covering waterproof capes, electrically-propelled vehicles, wheel-tires, bicycle saddles by Arthur L. Garford of Elyria, pneumatic brakes, multiple speed-gearing, and detachable-link drive chains; also cycle trade-marks for Globe Cycle Works and March-Davis Cycle Co.
- London dispatch from 'Will o' the Wisp' on British trade concern over American price competition after Pope cut Columbia prices to $100, the Cycle Agents Union's collapse, U.K. cycle export growth to $6,243,810 for 1895, Osmond's new D-section rear-fork axle fixing method, and the Whitworth-Rudge amalgamation earning $30,000 in profits.
- Survey of the Arkansas bicycle trade in Pine Bluff (P.M. Kilroy selling Ramblers), Little Rock (Dickenson Hardware Co., McSwine Brokerage), Hot Springs (R.L. Reed's Bicycle Exchange doing strong rental business with 600 hotels filled January through June), Texarkana, and Fort Smith.
- Houston dispatch reports C.L. Spore sold 200 Rambler and Falcon wheels in 1894 and is remodelling his store at 608 Main Street to increase business, while Willson, Ayres & Co. is opening a new store on Texas Avenue handling Stearns and Majestic wheels.
- Technical article reprinted from The Hub presenting H.S. Joseph's comparative spring-balance drag tests of pneumatic-tired vs. steel-tired carriages on hard pine floors, gravel roads, and sandy roads, showing rubber tires require up to three times less tractive force on rough surfaces despite higher static friction on smooth floors.
- Reports 107 total applicants for space at the 1895 Chicago Cycle Show (up from 69 previously), listing new applicants including Marion Cycle Co., Sterling Cycle Works, Munger Cycle Co., and W.S. Frazier & Co.; also notes Hales & Anderson opening a new retail store at 277 Wabash Avenue and Henry Crowther joining Peerless Mfg. Co. as vice-president and general manager.
- Announcement of The Bearings' three-month guided European bicycle tour for American cyclists at $500 per person, departing New York February 16 aboard the Normania and led by Paris native M. Eugene Fay, covering Naples, Rome, Florence, Pisa, the Italian and French Rivieras, Marseilles, Avignon, Lyons, and Paris; party limited to 20 cyclists.