The Bearings, Vol 11, No 12
Articles in this issue
- Arthur Augustus Zimmerman quietly married Miss Grace Riley of Troy, N.Y. on April 14 and departed immediately for Virginia Beach, then Europe; Mrs. Zimmerman told The Bearings the couple plans to spend summer in France and later travel to Australia.
- A.G. Spalding is reported to be forming a powerful syndicate with millions in capital to control all bicycle race tracks in America and France, with Sanger, Titus, and Cabanne said to be ready to leave the amateur ranks and join his league.
- Racing Board chairman Gideon's bulletin suspended John S. Johnson of Minneapolis and Orlando Stevens of Ottumwa from their respective classes pending investigation, while also declaring George Fitzsimons of Charlotte in Class B for violating Class A rules.
- President Willison appointed Fred Gerlach of the Illinois Cycling Club and Douglas W. Robert of St. Louis to the Racing Board, joining existing members Gideon, Robinson, and Croninger.
- A London cablegram reports the Times published an Armenian letter suggesting Frank Lenz, the American bicyclist who vanished on his world tour, was not killed on the road between Kourtali and Zahar, and that a reward has been offered for further information.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs of Milwaukee secured national circuit race dates for August 19–20, beating out the Milwaukee Wheelmen; a scheme is afoot to host Class B circuit chasers for a week’s rest at Ripon’s Green Lake after Marinette’s August 16–17 state meet.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago voted to issue $50,000 in bonds to purchase land and build a record-breaking third-mile track, clubhouse, swimming pool, and gymnasium, with F.W. Morgan of Morgan & Wright agreeing to take most of the stock.
- Referee Morgan’s report upholding E.C. Stearns & Co.’s injunction was confirmed by Justice Vann, finding that John S. Johnson intended to violate his 1894 contract by racing in France; trainer Tom Eck is now promoting a Sanger match and proposing flying starts and a professional racing class to the L.A.W.
- The Kansas City Cycle Club is preparing to make the third annual Waldo Park Decoration Day road race the biggest athletic event in the southwest, with E.A. Grath of St. Louis returning to defend his Missouri road record of 28:41 for ten miles set in 1894.
- The Y.M.C.A. of Chicago’s bicycle show proved a near-total failure in attendance, with exhibitors including Columbia, Fowler, Spalding, Crescent, and tire companies Morgan & Wright, Palmer, Dunlop, and Webb sitting nearly empty on Tuesday evening.
- The Bearings’ editorial congratulates Zimmerman on his marriage, reflecting that while the event is of supreme personal importance to him, the public values him chiefly for the racing achievements that no other man in a decade has equaled.
- An editorial argues that Johnson’s Racing Board suspension is likely part of trainer Tom Eck’s scheme to get Johnson declared professional and thereby sidestep the Stearns court injunction barring him from France.
- The Bearings’ editorial harshly criticizes Chairman Gideon’s national circuit schedule for requiring 30,000 miles of travel, systematically favoring eastern cities, and refusing Louisville prime dates during the G.A.R. encampment despite the city’s record-breaking track.
- A Louisville wheelman lost his senses of smell and taste after a cycling fall and cannot afford the required surgery, prompting Keating Club members to organize a minstrel benefit show at Library Hall on May 1–2; a woman was separately arrested after attempting to sell a rented bicycle at the Chicago Cycle Co. for $7.
- The Massasoit Club of Springfield, Mass. is selecting a site at Agawam, Riverside, or Willimansett for a new one-story summer road house with a 15×30 foot lounge and wide veranda, with bids already received.
- Chairman Gideon suspended John S. Johnson for thirty days but declined to reveal the charges to The Bearings’ correspondent; trainer Eck insisted Johnson could clear himself easily, while Gideon also defended his national circuit schedule against widespread western criticism.
- Lincoln Park commissioners in Chicago granted permission for the Decoration Day road race but refused to allow the Associated Cycling Clubs’ grand union run on May 26, with Superintendent Alexander citing Sunday monopolization of public pleasure grounds.
- The Bay City Wheelmen of San Francisco won the second annual 100-mile California relay race and claimed the Varney Cup from the Garden City Cyclers, with T.A. Griffith riding heroically despite a torn fingernail and serious fall, completing his fourth relay in 29:48 while bleeding profusely.
- Emil Ulbricht captured first time and A.W. Cleaver of the Chicago Cycling Club took second time in the Crown City 18-mile road race at Pasadena on April 9, with W.H. Stewart winning the overall race on a 7-minute handicap.
- Mrs. K.B. Cornell organized Chicago’s first all-ladies bicycle club six weeks ago; now with over 50 members all wearing knickerbockers or bloomers, the club plans regular country tours and will turn out in full force for the grand union run on May 26.
- A reprint from the English journal Cycling argues for increased tandem racing in the coming season, noting that improved machines and the steadying effect of tandem work improve riders’ body balance and leg action on singles, with occasional change of seats particularly beneficial.
- Representatives of eight leading American cycling papers—including The Bearings, The Wheel, The Referee, The Bicycling World, and American Wheelman—met in Buffalo on April 12–13 and formed the Associated Cycling Press of the United States.
- The thirteenth annual meeting of the Canadian Wheelmen’s Association in Toronto adopted the two-class amateur rule identical to the L.A.W., elected Dr. P.E. Doolittle president, and awarded the Dominion Day meet to Waterloo; Doolittle outlined plans for 1,000 guideboards on Canadian touring roads.
- The Pastime Club and the Associated Cycling Clubs of St. Louis moved toward reconciliation after more than a year of bitter dispute, with Pastime president Willi Brown proposing to rejoin the A.C.C. in exchange for the October 5 national circuit date; an August 24 midsummer meet is also planned.
- Harvard is backing a University of Pennsylvania proposal to form an intercollegiate cycling association, planning a closed college meet in June to develop new talent; the Whitworth company of England offered Willie Sanger $20 per week and expenses to train at Waltham under Billy Corcoran.
- Kay Macdonald was sick for a week at San Jose while Bald trained twice daily; the California track was busy with Rambler, Columbia, and Falcon teams, and star rider Oscar Osen was suspended for allegedly selling prizes won at a Phoenix diamond meet.
- T.W. Eck and D.G. Shafer signed articles of agreement for three one-mile match races between J.S. Johnson and W.C. Sanger before September 29, with gold bars as prizes; the proposed 25-mile race between Johnson and Titus was deferred due to a dispute over pacing arrangements.
- The N.C.U. council meeting at Anderton’s Hotel, London approved rules requiring amateur records to be made only in bona fide club or open races, passed a resolution to challenge the A.A.A. over professional riders at mixed meetings, and re-elected most officers including treasurer Britten.
- The Asbury Park Wheelmen opened their new Bangs Avenue clubhouse with Zimmerman and Titus expected to attend; Chief Consul Potter’s guideboard bill passed both branches of the New York legislature; Austin Corbin ordered bicycles carried free on the Long Island Railroad and his Manhattan Beach track will be ready by June 1.
- Only 12 of an expected 30–40 riders started the South End Wheelmen’s annual Good Friday road race in Philadelphia over five miles through the lower ‘Neck’; Benjamin Peck won from 1:30 handicap, beating scratch man Frank Marriott by 10 seconds.
- Mr. and Mrs. H. Darwin McIlrath departed Chicago on April 10 on 26-pound Fowler bicycles to circle the globe as cycling correspondents for the Inter-Ocean, welcomed by wheelmen in Iowa; their planned route crosses Japan, China, and Asia, with a side mission to search for traces of the missing Frank Lenz.
- A correspondent surveys the bicycle trade in Elgin, Ill.—home of the National Watch Co., which makes 20,000 watch wheels per day—finding dealers J.M. Kimball, Wolaver & Winne, Rovelstead Bros., and Wait & Burdick selling Sterling, Stearns, Columbia, Waverley, and Czar wheels in a booming market.
- Brief trade notes from Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, Galveston, Bozeman, and a dozen other cities report new bicycle salesrooms, agency changes, and retail openings by the Hamilton Cycle Co., R.H. Wolff & Co., the Kenwood Bicycle Co., and others.
- The bicycle trade opened strongly in Fort Wayne, Ind. with five surviving dealers—down from 23 two years ago—led by the Randall Cycle Co., which sold over forty machines in two weeks handling Winton, Stearns, Waverley, Cleveland, and Apollo wheels.
- The Bearings’ New York correspondent inspected a 52-pound arm-propelled tricycle built in 1893 by William Trafford of Philadelphia and owned by telegraph operator Harry A. Given, in which cranks and a chain at the steering head drive the front wheel entirely by the rider’s arms.
- A translated article from the Revue Velocipedique Belge argues that large-diameter bicycle tubing forces manufacturers to use dangerously thin walls that are weakened further by brazing and filing, and that the only safe solution is to use larger tubes with proportionally greater wall thickness.
- The Bearings’ London correspondent reports D.W. Bassett departing Humber to manage Raleigh, F.J. Osmond’s new tandem frame design, criticism of an impractical new electric lamp, spurious Dunlop tires being circulated from Arnhem, and John Griffiths’ Cycle Corporation posting a trading loss with no dividend.
- H.A. Lozier & Co. of Toledo opened a new salesroom at 604 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia to handle demand for Cleveland wheels, retaining the 1,710 North Broad Street store and riding school; other Philadelphia dealers report strong trade in Rambler, Falcon, Orient, and Triumph wheels.
- The second annual cycle show of the Lincoln Cycling Club of Chicago at 390 Dearborn Avenue ran April 11–13 featuring exhibits from Pope, Spalding, Monarch, Fowler, Morgan & Wright, Crescent, and many other makers across three floors; the event was judged a social and financial success.
- Dr. Welker of Denver found that packing bicycle bearings with extra-heavy vaseline, refreshed with occasional drops of oil, outperforms ordinary oil by resisting leakage, gumming, and dirt ingress even in summer heat, and he has used the method successfully for six months.
- A Birmingham firm has developed a puncture-resistant inner tube by stretching a rubber tube and bonding a compressed strip of rubber and canvas to the tread area; tests show even knife gashes close automatically by contraction of the compressed section.
- Chicago’s new American Wheelmen’s Association, capitalized at $50,000, loans members a replacement bicycle when theirs is stolen and pursues recovery of the original machine, for a $1 joining fee and $1 annual dues; over 1,000 machines were stolen in Chicago last season.
- The Novelliste of Bordeaux reports that Jean Laceu of Bordeaux may have invented the bicycle pedal as early as 1848—predating Michaux’s 1861 claim—supported by official documents and sworn testimony from five witnesses to his early pedal-driven vehicles.
- Stover Bicycle Mfg. Co. of Freeport, Ill. wrote to The Bearings explaining that six wheels rejected by a former agent were subsequently sold without authorization to a Chicago department store advertising them at cut prices, and that the company had no part in that transaction.