The Bearings, Vol 11, No 15
Articles in this issue
- San Jose correspondent reports the Garden City Cyclers' two-day meet has only increased local cycling enthusiasm, covers Stanford-educated racer Wilbur Edwards' retirement, Allan Jones's move to Class B, Casey Castleman's track record attempt, and touring cyclist T.W. Winder's arrival after 1,200 miles of Texas railways and two Arizona sandstorms on his 21,600-mile round-the-U.S. ride.
- Syracuse correspondent reports that trainer Tom Eck has after all responded to Racing Board chairman George Gideon's charges, furnishing evidence that rider L.C. Johnson missed the Wilkesbarre tournament through railroad delays and that E.C. Stearns & Co. entered him at Baltimore.
- Brief from Paris: American rider George A. Banker was beaten in the first heat of the 2,000-yard race at the Velodrome de l'Est; Baras won the final.
- Detailed account of the 1895 Linscott 25-mile handicap road race in Boston, won by the little-known George R. Cutter in 1:12:59 from 218 starters, with Eddie McDuffie taking the time prize in 1:12:08; a freight train interrupted the race at a Malden railroad crossing and a fall by Mayo disrupted the lead bunch; full finisher list of 72 prize-winners included.
- Philadelphia correspondent defends the Asbury Park Wheelmen against published reports of committee quarrels threatening the 1895 national meet, reports the Century Wheelmen's eighth annual banquet at the Lorraine Hotel with guests Gideon and L.A.W. president Willison, and notes the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld the Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike Co.'s right to charge cyclists one cent per mile.
- Walter Sanger's letter from Birmingham, Alabama dismisses M.F. Dirnberger's Buffalo Courier claim that Sanger is not in his class, arguing that 1893 and 1894 racing cannot be compared, and inviting Dirnberger to name meets where he will face the full Spalding team of Sanger, Titus, and Cabanne.
- The executive committee of the National Cycle Board of Trade met in New York with Spalding, Pope, McKee, Coleman, and Wilson, approved show contracts for eastern and western exhibitions, elected six new member firms, and directed the committee to prepare guarantee forms for makers and dealers and to investigate uniformity in certain cycle parts.
- At a meeting of the St. Louis Pastime Athletic Club, Willi Brown was elected president and the proposed public auction of the clubhouse was withdrawn, leaving the club to continue under new management.
- Editorial arguing that cycling has replaced traditional spring tonics—treacle and sulphur, sarsaparilla, patent medicines—as the ideal blood purifier, recommending daily bicycle rides with brisk sweating as nature's best medicine, with a wry aside that cycling's inevitable perspiration is incompatible with the social ethics of the 400.
- Editorial urging Class B racing men to collectively declare themselves professionals now, noting that Chairman Gideon supports the move, the public already regards Class B men as professionals, and that concerted action by a score of top riders would force promoters to create professional events rather than waiting to be expelled from Class B one by one.
- Retrospective on A.A. Zimmerman's early racing career, quoting The Bearings' own 1890 coverage of his breakthrough at the Peoria tournament where he beat the previously undefeated Willie Windle in both a quarter-mile scratch and the ten-mile race, astonishing the racing world with his cyclonic finishing sprint.
- The Springfield Wheelmen's Club celebrated its fourteenth anniversary with a banquet at the Massasoit House attended by Governor Greenhalge, Congressman Gillett, Mayor Long, and Sterling Elliott, chief consul of the Massachusetts Division L.A.W.; the Vermont state highway commission has also begun directing road improvements statewide.
- Milwaukee correspondent covers West Superior's plans for a July 16–19 race meet backed by the Chamber of Commerce, LaCrosse's Memorial Day road race and tourney, Oshkosh's new 1,300-member club admitting ladies but barring dealers, Sanger's training in Birmingham (riding a mile in 2:20 despite recent typhoid), the North Side Club's June 8 Silver Springs road race, ladies' cycling clubs sprouting across the state, and a legal investigation into exorbitant toll-road charges on cyclists.
- Minneapolis: A.A. Hansen rode 25 miles at Minnehaha track in a new state record of 1:06:36½ paced by tandems; W.E. Becker also rode a paced mile in 2:11; reports also cover the Minneapolis Limited's Memorial Day preparations with 61 qualified riders, two new clubs (the North Side Cycling Club and the Rambler Club), and St. Paul's push to enforce a bell-and-lamp ordinance while demanding cyclists' right to half the street.
- St. Louis: Cabanne challenges Dirnberger to a series of match races for $1,000 a side, offering 35 yards in a mile or 50 in two miles on any track between New York and St. Louis after June 10; also reports D.W. Robert filing reports on eighteen Smith Academy pupils for competing in unsanctioned races, and Herman Kohl's claimed De Soto road record of 7:47:00.
- Trainer D.G. Shafer's letter to A.G. Spalding reveals that Walter Sanger has suffered a nervous collapse during Birmingham training—losing ten pounds in five days—attributed to grief over his brother Emil's murder; Shafer reports Titus is a 'fiend for work' doing quarters in :28½ and eighths in :14, and predicts Cabanne will be very fast at short distances.
- Louisville: W.A. DeCardy set two new Class A flying-start records (1/3-mile in :38⅗ and half-mile in 1:00⅖, both bettering F.H. Allen's 1894 Springfield marks), then in the season's first meet rode an unpaced mile in 2:12⅘; the Stearns team drew boos for blatant team-riding in the Class B mile handicap; Arthur Gardiner won the open Class B events and the Morgan & Wright team departed for the southern circuit.
- San Francisco: 185-pound Class B crack Wm. A. Terrill has been recruited by Dirnberger to join the Syracuse team at Louisville, while Charley Wells is sought by both Columbia and Syracuse; trainer Richard Alyward, who developed Ziegler and Edwards, has received tempting eastern offers but is currently readying Allan Jones for his Class B debut at the Fabiola races in Oakland.
- London correspondent covers the Surrey B.C.'s spring meeting at Kennington Oval before 14,000 spectators, where W.H. Bardsley of the Polytechnic won the Surrey Cup ten-mile race after E.E. Parlby fell on the last lap, and Jones and Ridout won the mile tandem final; also describes R.L. Jefferson's champagne send-off for his 27-pound Rover-mounted ride to Moscow and Bath Road Smith's critical head injury from a broken fork crown near Marlborough.
- Paris correspondent reports Henri Desgrange lowered the 100-kilometer tricycle record to 3:05:27½ at Longchamps despite bad roads and a strong wind; the Houben-Barden match is set for May 19 in Brussels; the Bordeaux-Paris 'Cycling Derby' on May 11–12 will be open to amateurs for the first time; and A.A. Zimmerman has sent The Bearings a copy of the 'Zimmy Caprice' piano composition written in his honor.
- Feature on Miss Annie Londonderry, described as the first woman to ride around the world on a bicycle, who has returned on a Sterling finished in gold and ivory after a 15-month journey covering Japan, China, the Sino-Japanese war front at Port Arthur, France (where she was robbed at gunpoint by three masked men), and California (where a buggy driver ran her down near Stockton, leaving her unconscious for two days); she has earned $1,500 selling advertising space on her wheel and expects to complete the $5,000 bet by lecturing on the war.
- Detailed guide to proper cycling attire for men (heading not visible in OCR, article begins mid-sentence), covering the hookdown cap as the ideal headgear, woollen underwear regardless of temperature, striped sweaters worn outside the trousers, loose knickerbocker trousers buckled just below the knee, snug-fitting stockings turned down over the knee band, and tan high shoes that resist mud and support the ankles.
- A party of twenty from the Chicago Cycling Club made their annual visit to Cincinnati, where a Thistle tandem set a scorching pace that shed all but Nicolet before the sprint up a long hill; at William Windisch's brewery Nicolet took a hard fall when Levy ran over him; the full roster including editor G.K. Barrett and N.H. Van Sicklen is listed.
- Detroit Wheelmen are considering a plan by member Louis Fineberg to build a new $20,000 clubhouse on a centrally located leased lot for $1,800 a year; Fineberg pledged $1,000 interest-free for five years and a diamond ring to raffle, inspiring over $1,000 more in pledges on the spot.
- Anecdote about a 'seedy' stranger from Louisville who visits The Bearings' editor, drops names of cycling figures including Prince Wells, Tony Landenwich, and R.C. Whayne to establish credentials, then cadges money for a meal with a halting tale of jobhunting at Chicago's bicycle factories; the editor's assistant is dispatched too late to learn what kind of whisky the man drinks.
- The New York local cycle board of trade was permanently organized with M.L. Bridgman of the Metropolitan Bicycle Co. as president, J. Charles Smith-Dart as vice-president, Frank Ray of Gormully & Jeffery as secretary, and J. Friedenstein as treasurer; twelve firms including Spalding and Lozier were represented at the founding meeting.
- A conference in New York between National Cycle Board of Trade delegates Spalding, Coleman, McKee, Dickerson, and Wilson and L.A.W. representatives Willison and Perkins discussed matters of mutual interest but took no definite steps; Tom Cooper of Detroit, described as one of the best handicap riders in the country, has not yet signed for the season.
- Letter from A. Linde, manager of Construction Generale des Cycles in Liege, Belgium, seeks catalogues and prices from American machinery manufacturers for nearly 100,000 francs' worth of bicycle-building equipment, and also offers to represent a good American bicycle make in Belgium.
- Milan correspondent analyzes Italy's booming bicycle market: 55,000 machines sold in 1894 (18,900 domestic, 20,000 from England, 15,000 from Germany), with the greatest concentration in Milan where 7,875 riders registered; the first international cycle show, organized by the Milan Veloce Club for its 25th anniversary, was a success; Columbia and Victor are the two new American makes entering the Italian market for 1895.
- Washington D.C. trade report notes bicycle business is the only trade unaffected by economic depression; M.A. Tappan has opened a new Connecticut Avenue branch with partners Fister and Hammond, planning rentals and a riding school; Gormully & Jeffery's school has 200 ladies enrolled and is temporarily refusing gentlemen for lessons.
- Letter from Myron T. Bly, writing from London after a six-week ride through Italy and France starting at Naples, praises the Sager Mfg. Co.'s pneumatic saddle pads for preventing saddle soreness even on the first day's riding after a year off the wheel, and warns of likely European infringements as continental dealers are keen to copy them.
- Two Bearings staff members, courtesy of Excelsior Supply Co. manager Robie, test-rode a Thistle tandem over the Poorman road race course at Cincinnati and found it the only machine to finish without any accident, praising its hill-climbing ability, single-chain smooth running, and complete absence of chain slackness when back-pedaling.
- Philadelphia correspondent reports plans for a large Madison Square Garden-style hall for cycle shows and races; reviews trade at Spalding's Chestnut Street store offering 22-pound roadsters at $70, Garden & Brewster unable to fill orders for Crescent No. 1 wheels, and the Philadelphia Cycle Bazaar at 211–213 North Broad Street offering over 300 '94-pattern wheels from $40 upward.
- Brief trade notes from a dozen cities including Nyack, Phoenix (Ariz.), Quincy (Ill.), Buffalo, Beaumont (Tex.), Louisville, Washington D.C., Boston, Rome (N.Y.), and Pittsburg, covering new stores, agency appointments, partnership changes, and financial filings.
- Description of the Garvin Machine Co.'s No. 1 Lincoln milling machine fitted with a double-spindle indexing fixture for cutting bicycle sprocket wheels in gangs, with two cutters that simultaneously finish one tooth in every sprocket in both gangs at each pass while maintaining absolute accuracy.
- Detroit: Hilsendegen of 310 Wood Avenue reports selling over 2,000 wheels but wanting 1,000 more; the National Mfg. Co. of Bay City has run short of tubing; the Detroit Wheelmen have set July 20 for their 25-mile Belle Isle race, now open to the world; a U.S. Circuit Court decision upheld S.F. Heath Cycle Co.'s patent on its bicycle air-pump design against infringement by Hay & Willits.
- London correspondent notes a slight drop in British cycle export values for the first quarter of 1895 versus 1894, attributed to rising continental manufacturers; reports on a growing brake-removal craze causing Easter accidents, The Wheeler's threat to name firms fitting single-machine tandem steering-posts into tandems, and the Eadie Mfg. Co.'s novel double-socket rubber-buffered tandem head; the Osmond Cycle Co. is pursuing London counterfeiters of its name.
- Cleveland: Don L. Robinson, a long-time H.A. Lozier salesman, left for Hot Springs on March 31, sent letters from unspecified western points, then vanished, apparently deserting his wife and five-year-old son; also reports the Y.M.C.A.'s newly formed 'Association Wheels' cycling club with an orange triangle emblem and a prohibition on wearing it while riding on Sundays.
- J. Dean of Racine, Wis. has invented a practical bicycle boat—two ten-foot inflatable canvas floats set four feet apart connected by steel tubing on which the bicycle rests, with the rear wheel driving a bevel-gear propeller—drawing only 2½ to 3 inches of water and folding into a 25-to-27-pound package; tested successfully on the Racine river.
- Profile of R. Frank Bunting, who has built the Monarch Cycle Mfg. Co.'s southern territory over several years and now runs a Memphis branch at 44 Monroe Street with four salesmen on the road and a doubled office force; his brother Geo. H. Bunting serves as Monarch's advertising manager.
- New York trade roundup covers the Starr Cycle Co.'s riding academy in Tammany Hall (appointed New York Fowler agent by Frank Fowler), the Smith-Dart school at capacity with the 16-pound Dart-Vim ladies' wheel in demand, the Eagle Bicycle Mfg. Co.'s cold-swaged-frame 20-pound machine at $100, and the fashionable opening of the Metropolitan Bicycling Co.'s Sixtieth Street academy attended by New York society leaders.
- Peoria manufacturer Rouse, Hazard & Co. is running double shifts producing 30–40 bicycles a day and denies that a recent factory fire caused significant damage, after rival traveling men used newspaper clippings about the blaze to spread false rumors that the firm could not fill orders.
- Background on Class A star W.A. DeCardy of the Morgan & Wright Cycling Club, detailing the two Class A records he broke in Louisville on May 2 and 3—1/3-mile flying unpaced in :38⅗ (beating F.H. Allen's :39⅖ from Springfield 1894) and half-mile in 1:00⅖ (beating Allen's 1:01)—noting DeCardy rides a Syracuse frame on Morgan & Wright tires.
- Racing Board chairman George D. Gideon's official notices declare Oscar Osen of San Jose and Charles A. Diemann of Cedar Rapids professionals for violating Clause C amateur rules; suspend riders from Haverford and Gilroy for competing in unsanctioned races; elevate George Nissen, Julius Smith, R.E. McCollough, and Allan Jones to Class B; and assign the one-mile national championship to Denver on October 19.
- The Asbury Park Wheelmen hosted a clubhouse reception for 700 guests—the social elite of Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Long Branch, and Atlantic Highlands—with dancing managed by W.A. Berry, to demonstrate club unity after recent press reports of infighting; the club cleared over $1,000 from a recent fair and is preparing for the Crescent and Atlantic City Wheelmen's century run on May 29.
- Trainer Tom Eck, interviewed at length by The Bearings' Syracuse correspondent, proposes that the L.A.W. replace over-valued merchandise prizes with stamped, numbered gold bars to close the gap between advertised and actual prize values, cut tournament programmes to five events spread over two days, create two or three separate regional circuits converging at the national meet, and eventually channel $50,000 a year into the League treasury from racing receipts.
- Approximately 75 New Orleans wheelmen paraded with illuminated and decorated bicycles up and down Charles Avenue before an estimated 10,000 spectators, with fireworks from the band wagon; the L.A.A.A.U.'s May 11 meet will include four Class A events, and the recently organized Crescent Wheelmen are struggling to attract members and find headquarters.
- New York correspondent covers the De La Salle School games at Berkeley Oval (W.A. Ehrich of Harvard won the mile) and Columbia Collegiate Union games at Williambridge (D.E. Baxter won the two-mile handicap, George Ruppert rode impressively from scratch despite being pocketed); a campaign to reduce the Brooklyn Bridge bicycle toll from 3 cents to 1 cent; and a fashionable charity bicycle tea at the Claremont Mansion on Riverside Drive for the Burnham Industrial Home for Boys.
- Washington correspondent reports that bloomers are almost never seen on the capital's women riders despite their great numbers, attributing this to the absence of a Michaux-style swell club to set the social tone; covers an impending record attempt on the Baltimore-to-Washington 43-mile road; and an amusing exchange in which Colonel Pope could not remember rider Eddie Bald's name nor that of W.F. Sims, his own Columbia team member.