The Bearings, Vol 11, No 11
Articles in this issue
- Tom Eck and Spalding team manager Dave Shafer agree in New York on terms for three short-distance match races between John Johnson and Sanger plus a team event pitting the Stearns and Spalding squads, though Eck will not sign formal articles until the Johnson-Stearns suit is resolved.
- The San Jose, Cal. correspondent reports a cycling boom led by riders Otto Ziegler, Wilbur Edwards, Oscar Osen, and Allan Jones; a tandem tire blowout at the Garden City Cyclers' track injures Coulter and Cushing; 15,000 spectators expected for the upcoming relay race around the bay.
- Jefferson, Iowa lady schoolteachers have ordered bicycles and plan to wear bloomers, with cycling enthusiasm running high ahead of the July L.A.W. state meet; the Ladies Knickerbocker Club will join the Associated Cycling Clubs' grand union run on May 26.
- Referee T.L.R. Morgan has still not settled the Johnson-Stearns controversy in Syracuse; Eck details plans for Johnson-Sanger and team races and predicts Johnson will skate and ride faster than ever, while Dirnberger writes from El Paso of his unpaced training; the Syracuse Athletic Association clubhouse suffers $4,000 fire damage.
- The Cleveland Wheel Club's silver potpourri drew overflow crowds on all three nights; E.C. Johnson resigns from the state board of officers due to his Stearns team commitments, with Chas. E. Dahlke named to fill the vacancy.
- The Massasoit Club of Springfield, Mass. appoints a committee to select a site for a new summer clubhouse at Willimansett, Agawam, or Riverside; a road race committee is also appointed following last year's success, and the Knights of Pythias hold a bicycle fair at city hall.
- G.H. Anderson is arrested in Bardstown, Ky. for bicycle theft; a dispatch from Indianapolis reports that ex-President Harrison's grandchildren 'Baby McKee' and his sister Ruth McKee are riding bicycles, with their mother Mrs. James Robert McKee and Mrs. Dimock also taking cycling lessons.
- Two cyclists posing as bicycle agents held up the Oregon express near Wheatland, Cal., killing Sheriff Bogard of Tehama County; the dead robber Browning and accomplice Brady, both ex-convicts, are also suspected of murdering road-house keeper Cornelius Stagg; separately, artist Eugene Taniere is killed when his bicycle collides with a paving machine on a steep San Francisco hill.
- An editorial argues that returning agricultural prosperity will make rural bicycle demand exceed city demand, as farmers constantly need quick transport to town without tying up work horses during planting and harvest seasons.
- The Beck's Hot Springs Cycle Track and Athletic Association of Salt Lake City is organized with J.D. Kendall as president and capital stock increased to $15,000 in non-assessable shares.
- A party of Chicago riders will leave May 4 over the Monon route for a Sunday ride over the famous Poorman road race course in Cincinnati and back, with total expenses not to exceed $10; wheelmen wishing to join should send names to The Bearings.
- The editors stand by their earlier piece criticizing the management of the Duarte, Cal. race meet, citing eyewitness accounts from Frank Lumsden and Fred Howard and California letters, while correcting the detail that a prize was offered for sale on the return from the meet rather than on the track.
- An editorial defends Myrtle Hopkins, who was seriously injured by a reckless tandem driver and aided by The Bearings and the Associated Cycling Clubs, against a rival paper's systematic abuse of her subsequent misbehavior, invoking the words of the Man of Galilee.
- L.A.W. secretary Abbot Bassett reports a record 875 membership applications in the first list of the season, far above the previous best of 527, with New York topping division lists at 387; the Linscott 25-mile road race on May 4 offers an $800 piano as first prize and a $200 diamond for best time.
- Milwaukee: tandem racing heats up with Andrae (Schmidtbauer and Andrae), Telegram (Roth and Crocker), and Union (Howie and Bremer) teams forming; the Milwaukee Wheelmen adopt a burlesque initiation ritual; L.A.W. renewals are strong; Sanger has left his sickbed for the first time in a month and expects to be racing fit by May 15.
- Over 300 riders make the spring county tour to Clayton despite drizzling rain, with the St. Louis Cycling Club winning the best-appearance prize and 270 sitting down to dinner; a circuit date dispute between the Associated Cycling Clubs and Pastime Athletic Club over October dates remains unresolved after telegrams with Chairman Gideon.
- The national race committee plans a 100-mile century run from Newark to Asbury Park with 4,000 riders expected, including delegations from Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia; the Press Wheelmen elect 36 new members; the New York state division meet in Brooklyn will feature three state championship races at the Manhattan Beach track.
- The Bay City Wheelmen of San Francisco win the annual 100-mile relay race around the bay in 4:58:00, with the final ten miles ridden by Ziegler, Edwards, Harbottle, Wells, Foster, and Castleman, defeating last year's champions the Garden City Cyclers.
- Outdoor racing at the Buffalo track in Paris is postponed by flooding rain; at the indoor Palais des Arts Libéraux, Baras wins the Prix Cassignard by jumping from the banking on the last lap, and Robertson takes the Prix Holbein 50-kilometer race in 1:08:17, with Michael beating Bouhours for second.
- A.V. Linton lowers the 100-kilometer indoor record to 2:20:22 at the Velodrome d'Hiver, barely beating Jules Dubois's previous mark of 2:20:35½, though the new U.V.F. rules no longer recognize covered-track records, and Linton is entered in the outdoor 100-kilometer race the following Sunday.
- Minneapolis: Harley Davidson of St. Paul denies signing with a U.S. manufacturer and plans to ride a Canadian-built wheel for the Canadian championship; A.A. Hanson will remain in Minnesota and attempt the 24-hour world record on July 4 rather than go to train under Eck.
- Profile of W.A. Barbeau, a 17-year-old member of the Riverside Wheelmen of New York, who holds the one-mile indoor Class A championship and world records at the half-mile flying start (1:05⅕) and competition half-mile (1:07), having won 40 prizes worth $1,800.
- Cycling writers from the New York Tribune, Times, Morning Advertiser, Recorder, and other papers meet at the Everett House to organize the Quill Club Wheelmen, electing Dixie Hines temporary chairman; a second meeting is set for Saturday to finalize the constitution and by-laws.
- A humorous editorial sketch recounts the visit of an eccentric, impecunious old inventor who tries to get The Bearings to publicize his unpatented new tire that will 'revolutionize cycling,' departing in aggrieved tears when the editor reveals the invention is neither new nor practical.
- Dr. J.H. Worman of Outing Publishing Co. receives a cablegram reporting that around-the-world cyclist Frank Lenz arrived safely at Chilgani on May 9, 1893, then left for Erzeroum; a month later the villagers heard he had been killed in the vicinity of Koord Ali in the Turkish mountains.
- Philadelphia: the Centaur Bicycle Club inaugurates successful indoor rides at the Third Regiment armory before the city's elite; Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and Penn endorse plans for an intercollegiate bicycle league; the Associated Cycling Clubs and the Tioga Cricket Club fail to reach agreement over track control, the Cricket Club unwilling to cede management of its grounds.
- The Zimmerman-Houben match race is called off after Houben refuses to meet the 'Skeeter' even without a stake; Zimmerman resumes training and will tour Australia beginning August 8; meanwhile the Sanger-Johnson match arrangement is still smoldering with Shafer in New York waiting for Eck.
- Mr. and Mrs. H. Darwin McIlrath depart from Chicago's Dearborn and Madison streets before a crowd of 2,000 on a bicycle journey around the world, following a route through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe on Fowler wheels fitted with Palmer tires and Christy anatomical saddles.
- 'Tom' Winder, editor of the Warsaw, Ind. Wasp, undertakes a 21,600-mile ride around the perimeter of the United States in 300 days to win a wager, averaging 72 miles a day on an Eclipse bicycle with Morgan & Wright tires, filing correspondence for the Buffalo Express.
- The U.S. Geological Survey launches an international inquiry, through the State Department, into methods France, England, Germany, Austria, and Italy use to collect, test, and specify stones for highway construction.
- Boston inventor E.N. Higley's 54-pound aluminum unicycle — 7 feet 3 inches tall with a pneumatic tire and ball bearings — is demonstrated for two hours in Back Bay Park by William D. Wilmot, who steers, stops, and rides it in a 40-foot circle, unlike all previous failed attempts including Boulanger's infamous canal plunge.
- Chairman Gideon announces the complete 1895 L.A.W. national racing circuit, listing dozens of meets from May 30 (Plainfield, N.J.) through November 9 (Los Angeles), along with other sanctions granted and suspensions of George Fitzsimmons and Oscar Osen of San Francisco pending investigation.
- Philadelphia's 132 bicycle dealers face unprecedented demand with many stores open day and night; the Union Cycle Co. branch, Frank Dampman's new $100 machine, and the Waverley at 913 Arch Street are selling faster than factories can supply; Artman's Cycle Trade Directory makes its debut.
- The Lake View Cycling Club of Chicago holds a successful three-day cycle show with exhibits from Hill Cycle Mfg., Monarch, Sterling, Falcon, Windsor, G.S.C., Reindeer, Spalding, Credenda, National, Union, Thistle, Stearns, Victor, Zimmy, and many other manufacturers.
- The Palmer Pneumatic Tire Co. issues the first bicycle-trade poster of its kind, designed by artist Ottman and depicting a lady in bloomers leading a club run; The Bearings Publishing Co. originated the idea and the poster is available for five cents in stamps.
- Dave Shafer plans to open a training school in New York for Spalding team candidates; tips on reviving hardened rubber valve washers and identifying deflation causes; the new Searchlight lamp from Bridgeport Brass Co.; J.M. Erwin and A.A. Zimmerman's training book; the Ohio Cycle Co.'s Columbus show; Stodder Puncture Proof Tire Co.; Corfe & Duff's Noxall tire cement; Eagle Bicycle's Bayonne branch; Monarch's forthcoming 40-page art catalogue.
- A humorous piece notes that 326 Chicago policemen are being dropped from the city payroll, then reproduces a comical letter to the Baxter Register Co. from San Francisco proposing to fake a meteorite landing stuffed with patent-medicine goods as a publicity scheme, which the Register Co. declines via The Bearings.
- The Hill Cycle Mfg. Co.'s house-organ insert reports that Huffstettler on a Fowler won eight firsts at an Orlando, Fla. race against southern champion Fitzsimmons; announces seven winners sharing the $5 prize in the Queen Bee naming contest for the new ladies' model.
- An editorial argues that bicycle auction sales, once feared by retail dealers as ruinous, have proven beneficial by creating new riders who later traded old auction machines for full-price high-grade wheels, citing a concurring anecdote from Chicago dealer Horace Bell.
- Milwaukee: Julius Andrae & Sons Co. is running its plant overtime to meet demand; riders including W.F. Sanger, J.C. Schmidtbauer, Don Pollock, and Emil Koehn will race Andraes this season despite the firm having no paid racing team.
- The Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co.'s Brooklyn branch spring opening draws 2,500 visitors to admire flowers, palms, and Rambler displays; Gotham trade notes cover Maltby & Robley's expanding 125th Street riding school, 25-plus Lyndhurst riders entered in the Irvington-Milburn road race, and sundry dealer activities.
- A comprehensive survey of Chicago bicycle row finds record spring trade at Fowler, Indiana Bicycle Co. (Waverley), Kenwood, Gormully & Jeffery (Rambler), Spalding, Thorsen & Cassady (Victor, Stearns), Excelsior Supply (Thistle), Pope (Columbia), Sieg & Walpole, Monarch, Hales & Anderson (Wolff-American, Ariel), and A.H. Revell & Co. (Munger, Tribune, Eclipse).
- A traveling man writing from Savannah, Ga. cautions that southern cycle business will fall short of expectations due to 1894 over-stock and curbstone agents; detailed survey covers Mobile, Ala. (led by W.C. Belknap's High Grade Cycle Agency and Toulmin Mfg. Co.), Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham, where the Spalding team will train.
- Washington, D.C. correspondent reports cycling is fashionable among society ladies, diplomatic corps members, and military officers at Washington Barracks; F.D. Ewen receives a patent for a new rear-wheel chain-adjustment device; the District Bicycle Co. sells Columbias to Count Buisseret of the Belgian Legation and Prince Iturbide.
- A.G. Spalding & Bros. open a cycling academy on the roof of Madison Square Garden under Geo. R. Bidwell, with plans to move it to the grand amphitheater after May, offering an 800-rider floor with an eight-to-nine-lap outer track for experts and a central instruction area for novices.
- The Cycle Board of Trade secures Madison Square Garden for the National Cycle Show, January 18–25, 1896; wins assurances that the Eighth Avenue asphalt will not be removed; successfully opposes the Weston bill (which would require repairers to report all wheels to police) through meetings with A.G. Spalding and the Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago.
- Minneapolis dealers are 800 wheels behind orders as an unusually early spring triggers record demand; ladies are buying twice as many wheels as ever before; club purchase groups in St. Paul are extracting considerable discounts by ordering in bulk for spot cash, raising concerns among dealers.
- Brief listings of new stores, firm changes, and incorporations across dozens of U.S. cities: Dewey & Topp in Manlius N.Y., Charles King & Co. in Brooklyn, Dodge & Pearson opening in Superior Wis., the Lieb Cycle Guard Co. incorporating in Elkhart Ind. to manufacture a patent chain guard, and many others including openings in Tampa, Paducah, and New Berne.
- A Bearings representative tours the Parkhurst & Wilkinson bicycle department on Kinzie Street, Chicago, noting the busy Webb detachable tire section; A.I. Brandenburg provides step-by-step illustrated instructions for oiling and adjusting the ratcheted bearing of his patented pedal.
- E.L. Ferguson of the Monon Building, Chicago introduces a hinged corset-steel-like fastener for inner-tube tires that replaces lacing and allows the rider to hold it fully open with one hand while removing or replacing the inner tube; priced at $1 a pair.
- Brief notices on new trade catalogues: a second edition of 'The Truth About the Fowler'; the Chicago Tip & Tire Co.'s comprehensive price list; the Brooklyn Cycle Co.'s Bradleyesque dark-green catalogue on terra cotta paper; Morgan & Wright's morocco-bound edition-de-luxe '95 catalogue; and the Columbus Buggy Co. of Detroit accepting the Royal bicycle agency.