The Bearings, Vol 11, No 25
Articles in this issue
- At the Pastime Club benefit meet in St. Louis, F. W. Buckley lowers the one-third-mile competition state record, 'Easy' Anderson takes the mile Class B record, Eugene Devoy cuts the half-mile record to 1:01⅗, and 'Reddy' Maxwell lowers the paced mile record to 1:58; Ross Miller also sets new 25-, 50-, and 100-mile Missouri road records.
- Four Chicago club road races are run on Saturday by the Lake View, Calumets, Columbia Wheelmen, and Aeolus C.C.; at Garfield Park, Lawson the 'Terrible Swede' completes fifty miles in 2:05:05 despite colliding with a tandem pacer at mile 28.
- San Francisco correspondent reports on California cycling after the L.A.W. meet at San Jose: Charley Wells is praised as a champion in the making and will head for Salt Lake City and the national circuit; Captain Dodge of the Bay City Wheelmen is honored with a silver cup for rescuing William Detoy from drowning; E. R. Lozier (son of the Cleveland bicycle maker) and R. C. Lennie of Morgan & Wright are both in town on trade visits.
- Rain at Hills Grove, Rhode Island, limits the Narragansett Wheelmen's programme to three events, with J. Bowden winning the novice mile in 2:33, H. B. Hills the half-mile open in 1:12⅗, and Hans Hanson the mile handicap in 2:38; the one-mile state championship is postponed to July 27.
- Racing news from Wisconsin covers two-day meets at Wausau and Columbus and a one-day meet at Cedarburg: A. M. Chandler of Waupaca sets a new paced mile state record at Wausau in 2:11⅜, while Milwaukee riders sweep the second day at Columbus; E. J. Pennington announces his Chicago–Milwaukee Bicycle Railway scheme, proposing a sixteen-foot-wide elevated wooden toll road between the two cities.
- Minneapolis correspondent reports that the Deere-Webber Co. will hold a twenty-five-mile road race around Lake Harriet on August 12 (the day before the national L.A.W. meeting), with first prize a horse, harness, and buggy valued at $400, patterned after Detroit's famous Hilsendegen races.
- The Second Separate Company of National Guard military cyclists, the oldest enlisted company of its kind in the United States, rides to Cabin John's for a supper hosted by newly commissioned Captain Samuel H. Wiggin; on July 4 the company marched to Laurel, Md., where a broken fork was divided among four men so the march could continue.
- Manager Louis Gimm selects D. B. Cotton, himself, Hutchins, and Von den Stinen to represent Cleveland in the Pittsburgh–Cleveland road race after a trial run to Youngstown weeded out five of eight starters; the reorganized Lakeside Cycling Club secures a two-and-a-half-story house on Clinton Street as its new headquarters.
- Owen Kimble of Louisville wins all five open events at the Danville, Kentucky, races on July 11 on a half-mile trotting track, with George Davisworth finishing second in four of them; John Noonan takes the mile novice and E. L. Pearce wins the county championship.
- In the absence of ailing John S. Johnson, Walter C. Sanger wins the mile open at Saginaw in 2:04¾, lowering the record 'Flying Jib' set at Union Park two years earlier, while Pat O'Connor wins the mile handicap from the 120-yard mark in 2:08.
- At Asbury Park, the L.A.W. special committee and the Cycle Board of Trade reach agreement that the League will govern professional racing in the same manner as amateur racing; Vice-President George A. Perkins refuses to participate in the joint conference, insisting the work belongs solely to the League's executive committee.
- Zimmerman has gone to Europe to seek matches against Protin and Houben before departing for Australia on September 1; Dirnberger plans record attempts at Manhattan Beach; Coulter and Ziegler join the Spalding team after the Yost team disbands.
- Editor Barrett defends Racing Board Chairman Gideon against critics, arguing he is honestly enforcing unjust rules, and calls on the next L.A.W. assembly to reform the racing code—particularly the rule demoting Class A offenders into Class B, which he and 'President' Bates argue should be an honor rather than a convict colony.
- An editorial praises the Asbury Park L.A.W. meet as surpassing even Denver for hospitality—clam bakes, yachting trips, fine racing, and ocean bathing—but sharply condemns the gang of wheelmen who rioted on Saturday night, tearing down signs, defying police, and disgracing the sport.
- A Riverside, California correspondent describes the city's magnificent tree-lined boulevards (Magnolia, Palm, and Jarupa Avenues), its status as the richest city per capita in the world, and the new three-lap cycle track being built by the Riverside Wheelmen on the corner of 1st and Locust streets.
- Full report on the L.A.W. national meet at Asbury Park, July 10–15, 1895: Eddie Bald dominates Class B racing, winning the half-mile, one-mile open, two-thirds-mile open, and quarter-mile national championship, each time narrowly beating team-mate Ray Macdonald; Nat Butler upsets the field to take the two-mile national championship in 4:26; Zimmerman rides an exhibition mile in 1:57⅗; Conn Baker and I. A. Silvie turn professional mid-meet.
- Mary E. Brooks of Sioux City, winner of this week's $5 paragraph prize, argues that cyclists who invoke court decisions classifying bicycles as vehicles to claim road rights must equally accept vehicle restrictions such as bells, lamps, and sidewalk bans, or risk earning the title 'cycle-hog.'
- George H. Streaker of Philadelphia compares eight years of horseback riding—with its nervous strain, slipping on asphalt, and high stable costs—to four years of cycling, concluding that he loves the wheel even more than his old horse and would only sell it to buy the latest improved model.
- R. E. Resk of Memphis proposes organizing professional racing circuits with purses for intermediate distances as well as finishes, and a season-end championship purse of $1,000–$1,500 for the rider winning the most intermediates, arguing this system would ensure fast, honest races and elevate cycling as the grandest sport.
- Wm. Hoepfner suggests that suburban railroad station agents open bicycle storage and repair rooms, or hire a boy in an adjoining space, so commuters could ride to the station, leave their wheel cleaned and ready, and ride home in the evening—a plan already tried successfully in some towns.
- American cyclists compete at the Monterey Athletic Club, Mexico, July 4 and 9: Hofheinz of the Rambler team breaks the Mexican competition two-mile record in 5:02 and wins the one-third mile; Waelder (Rambler) sets a Class A mile competition record of 2:30; Roach (Syracuse) wins the two-mile open in 6:07⅗; all prize-winners elect to take bicycle merchandise rather than cash or diamonds.
- The Y.M.C.A. fifteen-mile road race at Salt Lake City disappoints 1,000 spectators when Ogden favourite Fenton refuses to start from scratch alongside Jensen; Jensen punctures at mile three, and Freeze ultimately wins the race with a nine-minute handicap while W. H. Drabble of Ogden wins the time prize in 50:16.
- Trade correspondent 'Oro' reports from Atlanta on the depressed state of the bicycle trade in Georgia after the 1894 slump: Macon has fallen to a single active dealer (S. S. Parmlee), Columbus is barely recovering under Philip Eifler and R. L. Ross, while Americus (Griffith Bros., W. H. C. Dudley Jr.) and Brunswick (J. H. Polhill, F. A. Dunn, Roe & Cook) show more enterprise.
- Chicago bicycle manufacturers ridicule reports that Studebaker and Revell plan to produce 400,000 bicycles by April 1896 at $18 each; R. Philip Gormully writes to the Tribune calling the scheme 'ridiculous' on the basis of seventeen years' manufacturing experience, warning investors that no firm could build that number in as many years as the story claims months.
- Brief trade notes cover new company incorporations and factory expansions: Crown Cycle Co. in La Porte, Ind. ($50,000 capital); Climax Cycle Co. in Chicago ($100,000); Yost Mfg. Co. in Toledo doubling capacity with a new 60×100-foot brick factory; and a dozen other firms entering or expanding their bicycle operations from Portland, Me., to San Diego, Cal.
- Bishop & DeLang, who opened a Royal bicycle agency in Louisville just two months ago, make an assignment for the benefit of creditors with liabilities of about $800 and assets of about $400, citing lack of capital, poor advertising, and inexperience; it is not yet determined whether the business will be continued.
- Seven new bicycle-related U.S. patents are listed, covering a bicycle attachment (George E. Heaton, Kalamazoo), a motor for vehicles (Willard I. Twombly, Portland), a pneumatic tire fastener (Ernest L. Ferguson, Chicago), a clutch mechanism (George St. Clair Mauson, Chicago), a pneumatic tire valve (Edward O. Goss, Waterbury), a bicycle locking device (Herman C. Tafel, Louisville), and a saddle for cycles (John P. Johnson, Dublin).
- E. C. Stearns & Co. mounts an aggressive advertising campaign at the L.A.W. meet: 10,000 yellow canes tied with orange ribbon, 5,000 orange buttons, and Stearns banners festooning every street-car in Asbury Park, with competent judges estimating the company secured $10,000 worth of advertising value.
- London correspondent 'Will o' the Wisp' reports on the possible combination of English manufacturers against the makers' amateur system; a heated C.T.C. Gazette debate on bicycle brakes; the Cycle Gear Co.'s new rear-hub two-speed gear; the new benzoline-vapour 'Moonlight' cycle lamp that burns six to seven hours; and Humber & Co. shares reaching 8½ while tire company stocks languish.
- Chicago trade items include: the Hartford Rubber Works Co. opens a direct branch office at 835 Wabash Avenue under Morris Penrose; Kennedy on an International/America bicycle wins the only Class B event from scratch at Washington Park July 4 and beats a running horse; the Peerless Mfg. Co. of Cleveland announces lighter, 25-per-cent-stronger '96 models including a $125 special light roadster.
- San Francisco inventor Berend Berger applies for a patent on spring-loaded side arms with small running wheels to keep a bicycle upright, controllable by handlebar lever or foot and weighing only 1½ pounds—aimed at military couriers, postmen, and beginners; Rouse, Hazard & Co. has received recent orders from China, New Zealand, Barbados, and Newfoundland.