The Bearings, Vol 11, No 8
Articles in this issue
- Five California clubs—Bay City Wheelmen, Olympic Club Wheelmen, Reliance Club, Acme Club, and California Club—held simultaneous road races on March 10 to select riders for the April 7 Great 100-Mile Relay Race; Eddie Bald, Ray McDonald, and Asa Windle arrived in San Francisco drawn by reports of the new San Jose track in The Bearings.
- Belgian champion Houben has challenged Protin to race in Brussels in late May and offered Fournier a three-heat revenge match and Robertson a separate race in April, consolidating his position as the continent's dominant sprinter.
- Norwegian cyclist Henie challenged Danish champion Svend Hansen to a 500-meter and five-mile match at the Copenhagen C.C. track, Henie skating and Hansen cycling; Hansen won the short race in :55 before his tire burst in the long event.
- The All America racing team returned from Mexico to El Paso after completing their Mexican tour, including a mule excursion into the Guadalajara barrancas and a jail incident for 'Monk Sunburn'; the team raced eight events in a fierce sixty-mile-per-hour sandstorm before 500 spectators, with Callahan and Maddox dominating Class B events.
- Milwaukee correspondent reports Walter C. Sanger is slowly recovering from a severe case of typhoid fever and may join the Spalding team south around April 1; D.D. Warner of Madison has been recommended as Wisconsin state handicapper; the North Side Club's June 8 road race will offer a $100 first-time prize.
- Louis A. Tracy, chief consul of the Connecticut Division L.A.W., ex-president of the Hartford Wheel Club, and treasurer of its racing committee, was arrested in Springfield for embezzling $10,000 from the Security Company where he served as secretary and teller.
- North Carolina legislator H. McKenzie introduced a bill requiring bicycle riders to dismount when meeting vehicles on roads; the state house met it with laughter and mockery, including amendments requiring mule riders to dismount for bicycles, before tabling it.
- The Universal Exposition of 1900 is planning extensive cycling events in the Bois de Boulogne and at the enlarged Vincennes track, including twenty race meetings, international military cycling competitions from Belgium, England, America, Italy, and Russia, motor cycle road trials, and $28,000 in prizes.
- The Illinois Cycling Club drew 1,200 people to the Peoples' Institute in Chicago for an amateur minstrel show featuring performers Varnell, Magoon, Blaine, Jones, Stiles, Craigie, Northway, and Evans; the show ran over three hours without a catch.
- The Bearings editorial argues that Zimmerman, Wheeler, and Banker have made professional racing respectable and endorses the Philadelphia proposal to create a third LAW class for cash-prize riders under full Racing Board control, predicting the scheme would succeed where the Cash Prize League failed.
- Editorial defends Minneapolis wheelmen's right to hold road races on Memorial Day (May 30) against renewed G.A.R. veterans' objections, arguing bicycle racing does not interfere with memorial exercises and that the national holiday belongs to all citizens including working-class riders.
- Editorial urges LAW members to follow the Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago—where H.E. Raymond and T.F. Sheridan are erecting signs every five miles on principal roads—in demonstrating that wheelmen support good roads for farmers, not just for themselves.
- Comic poem by 'The Idler' imagining ancient and mythological figures on bicycles: Hector tied to Achilles' wheel, Aeneas scorching out of Troy, Socrates pedaling from his wife, Caesar coasting down the Capitoline Hill, and Moses needing only a speedy pacer to reach the Promised Land in less than forty years.
- Belgian champion Houben defeated Jacquelin in both heats of a recent race using his killing homestretch sprint, cementing his status as Belgian champion after earlier victories over Fournier, Medinger, and others.
- The Buffalo Cycle Track Co. is organizing under Henry E. Ducker and W.S. Bull with $45,000 capital in $10 shares; Pope Mfg. Co.'s Buffalo branch pledged $1,000, and Class A riders Buse, Weinig, Steimal, and Foell are forming Columbia and Stearns makers' teams for the new season.
- Philadelphia correspondent reports that cycling opinion there strongly favors the LAW creating a third class for professional cash-prize riders; 'Pop' Brewster, O.S. Bunnell, and League president Willison all reportedly support the idea; the Associated Cycling Clubs of Philadelphia also met to plan an interclub historic tour and a possible cycle path to Atlantic City.
- London correspondent C.W. Hartung reports that the N.C.U.'s licensing crackdown on riders who refuse to compete in championship races may inadvertently create an English Class B; the C.T.C. saw 2,049 fewer renewals after raising subscriptions but gained £2,000; the first issue of the Lady Cyclist appeared and the Lady Cyclists' Association issued a prospectus promoting rational cycling dress and organizing foreign tours.
- Washington D.C. correspondent reports the new Washington Road Club opened a fifty-two-member clubhouse at Fourth and New York Avenue; prominent cyclists include Congressmen Bellamy Storer and Tom L. Johnson and diplomats from Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, and Russia; T.P. Libby has originated bicycle polo, with the first American game to be played at Cline's riding academy on E Street.
- Boston correspondent covers the contentious Massachusetts L.A.W. Division quarterly meeting where Secretary Dean repeatedly tried to embarrass Chief Consul Elliott, the insurance scheme was defeated, and $1,000 was appropriated for the May 30 spring meet; Eddie McDuffie signed with Peerless Mfg. Co. for Class B, and Waltham track manager Corcoran reports record prospects for the coming season.
- Letter from M.E.T. of Chicago criticizing the fashionable-society cycling coverage that ignores the working-class women who rode cycles years before the craze, calling for honest accounts of real touring over country roads rather than celebrity gossip about 'the New York 400.'
- English professional A.W. Harris, speaking to a Cycling representative, criticizes American racing tactics: team members 'nursed' the best position for Zimmerman in continental races, and the French took less liking to the Yankees than to any other nationality.
- Technical note (from English Cycling) warns that tandem rear wheel attachments are often too weak to prevent the wheel from shifting in the fork slides under the enormous drag of the chain; buyers are advised to inspect this fitting carefully before purchasing a double machine.
- Connecticut correspondent reports a booming cycling outlook in Bridgeport, Ansonia, Waterbury, and Naugatuck; Bridgeport has built the finest track in the state—a third-mile cement course at Pleasure Beach seating 2,000, modeled on Waltham and banked for a 2-minute pace—with its Decoration Day opening meet being organized by the Ramblers.
- Washington D.C. correspondent details the rapid adoption of cycling among the capital's elite: Congressmen Bellamy Storer and Tom L. Johnson, Jerry Simpson, and diplomats from Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, and Russia are regular riders; senators' wives and society women are choosing bicycle dress over spring finery.
- Rev. Dr. Parkhurst of New York is taking cycling lessons at the Bidwell-Tinkham Cycle Co. on Fifty-ninth Street and expects to be on the road within weeks, approaching wheeling with characteristic wild enthusiasm and predicting inside a year everybody will ride.
- San Jose's new Garden City Cyclers' three-lap cement track was completed and christened with champagne by President Lampkin, with Russel Cushing as the first rider; the opening meet on April 19–20 will feature Ziegler vs. Edwards, and the Columbia, Falcon, and California Rambler teams will all train there.
- Minneapolis G.A.R. posts are again threatening an injunction to block Decoration Day races at Lake Harriet; the Minneapolis Cycle Club declined a G.A.R. request to change the date, the city press sides with the cyclists, and a legislative bill proposing $150,000 for roads and bridges is pending in committee.
- W.M. Bunting of Florence, Ala. reports on cycling in Havana: two clubs operate quarter-mile and larger tracks, English and European wheels dominate over American makes, and the Spanish-language monthly El Cyclista is published; he also found strong cycling interest and fine roads in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine.
- Minneapolis riders A.A. Hanson and W.B. Jackson completed a brutal century run to Northfield, spending nine hours on the muddy return trip over railway ties in gale-force wind; separately, Walter Foster broke the Pacific Coast 25-mile road record in 1:12:55 on a Rambler racer with G. & J. racing tires.
- Philadelphia correspondent reports the local E.C. Stearns & Co. branch under Wiese & Bowen formally opened with two days of receptions; the Indiana Bicycle Co. under Manager Simmons is exceeding sales expectations with nearly a dozen Waverleys placed in one club; A.G. Spalding & Bros. is disposing of the Bailey bicycle stock at Chestnut Street.
- Minneapolis correspondent interviews high-grade dealers including F.M. Washburne of Heath Cycle Co., who report that customers who bought cheap wheels last season are now upgrading to quality mounts; tandem demand is unusually high, with ladies intending to wear rational costume on diamond-frame machines.
- Brief bulletin of new bicycle store openings, partnerships, and dealer changes across the country, including new outlets in Wilkesbarre, Saratoga, Terre Haute, Rochester, Goshen (manufacturing the new Spark bicycle), Washington D.C., and over a dozen other cities.
- Letter from Royal Cycle Works of Marshall, Mich. correcting a catalogue error: the description of the Royal Limited should read 'any kind of tire, especially the Dunlop,' not 'any kind of tire, excepting the Dunlop.'
- London correspondent Will o' the Wisp reports the Beeston Pneumatic Tire Co. entering voluntary liquidation; Palmer Tire Co. is being reconstructed with major cycle manufacturers involved; Bicycling News—the oldest cycling journal—has been absorbed by Sport and Play after its failed independent venture; Perry & Co.'s new detachable gear wheel earns praise; several other English cycle companies are being wound up.
- Technical article (from Iron Age) describes how the bicycle industry's demand for interchangeable precision parts has driven development of specialized machine tools—crank-shaft boring machines, axle lathes, milling machines for sprockets, chain-link riveters, and rim drills—arguing the special tool is now as important as bicycle design itself.
- Report on the Speeder Cycle Co. of New Castle, Ind., makers of a bicycle featuring Dr. Jacob Redding's patented changeable gear: a hand lever locks or releases internal spur gears within the hollow front sprocket, instantly shifting between high and low gears without stopping or jarring the rider.
- Letter from National Cycle Mfg. Co. of Bay City, Mich. warns that an unidentified concern is selling cheap bicycles by circular under the 'National' name at cut prices, falsely claiming them to be first-class $100 wheels; all genuine National wheels carry the company's distinctive name plate.
- Frank C. Riggs has returned from managing E.C. Stearns & Co.'s New England branch to head the commercial division at their expanding Syracuse home office; Boston trade notes report Jim Linscott operating six stores, Stevens Freeze & Co. opening suburban branches, and Young Albert Pope making a great success of the Boston Columbia branch.
- Boston correspondent recounts Fred Graves's clever advertising stunt for the Indiana Bicycle Co. on Columbus Avenue: extensive publicity promised 'a fine show of new bloomers,' drawing a large Sunday crowd who found the windows decorated instead with bicycle models adorned with beautiful red roses.
- Technical article (from Iron Age) with detailed descriptions of the Pope Mfg. Co.'s swinging bar device and T-shaped gauge for testing and correcting bicycle frame alignment, plus F.L.C. Martin's alternative straight-edge sighting method and advice never to attempt to straighten a buckled tube.