The Bearings, Vol 11, No 9
Articles in this issue
- New York dispatch reports that John S. Johnson will turn professional and sail to France with trainer Tom Eck, likely to ride a Beeston Humber; Eck meets with E.C. Stearns in Syracuse to negotiate the arrangement.
- Zimmerman cables Paris accepting Belgian champion Houben's $5,000 challenge, then plans tours through France, Italy, and Australia before returning via San Francisco.
- Syracuse dealers and manufacturers organize to build a third-mile cement track at Kirk Park; the Century Cycling Club has secured July 4-5 dates from Chairman Gideon for a tournament.
- Kansas City Cyclists elect Albert Young as president at their fourth annual meeting, entering their fifth year with 85 members and plans for larger club rooms with a bowling alley and gymnasium.
- Philadelphia correspondent interviews Chairman Gideon and O.S. Bunnell on the proposed three-class racing system; both favor it, while the Mount Vernon Wheelmen and Park Avenue Wheelmen disband, the latter costing president Bunnell over $1,000.
- Massachusetts L.A.W. Division launches its renewal campaign, appointing local consuls at every post office with tin signs and gold badges, offering $200 in prizes for the most applications, as New York leads with 260 renewals.
- Springfield, Mass.: riding season opens with forty-five women in one club adopting club regalia; a new hill club is being talked of, and the Vermont Wheel Club at Brattleboro secures rooms in the new Exchange Block.
- At San Jose's new Garden City track, Class A man Allan Jones lowers the world third-mile competition record to 24 and 4/5 seconds, beating Class B cracks Osen and Cushing.
- Editorial responds to President Bates' two-class proposal, arguing that a transitional Class C for professionals is needed first so that Class B riders can sort themselves out before true amateurism and honest professionalism can be established on the French model.
- Editorial mocks Victoria, B.C., where police warned pretty Miss Ethel Delmont against wearing bloomers on a bicycle, contrasting it with Chicago where hundreds of women cycle freely in the garment without official hindrance.
- Editorial praises the Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago for barring Chicago riders not in member clubs from their annual road race, compelling every city club to join and share its work promoting better pavements and fair legislation.
- Associated Cycling Clubs meeting adopts rules for the Chicago Road Race, including a new provision barring Chicago riders not in affiliated clubs; three road races planned for the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and the annual Chicago race.
- Racing Board declares Charles W. De Kay (Wyoming) and E.A. Willis (New Jersey) professionals, transfers C.T. Earl to Class B, and appoints official handicappers for Districts 1 through 13 covering New England to the Pacific states.
- Metropolitan Association of Cycling Clubs votes to run the Irvington-Milburn over its historic course; A.G. Spalding takes the Madison Square Roof Garden for a cycling school through June; New York and New Jersey club elections reported.
- Milwaukee's society women—led by Mrs. E.P. Allis—have been secretly cycling daily on Juneau Park's lakefront roads; Colonel Andrae opens a free riding school, and two new bicycle tracks are planned at the State Fair Park and City Baseball League grounds.
- Salt Lake City: a bicycle sidewalk ordinance restricting speed to eight miles per hour gains wheelman support; the Hot Springs track owners announce a three-mile natural cement cycle path to the city; the Utah Signal Corps drills on white Sterling bicycles.
- Former L.A.W. corresponding secretary Frederick Jenkins calls for abolishing the National Assembly, converting the League into a federation of state divisions, and cutting national dues to a ten-cent per-capita tax to save thousands in administrative costs.
- Minneapolis: two road improvement bills before the Minnesota legislature, including Senator Lloyd's plan to divert internal improvement land fund revenue to roads; the Limited club's Decoration Day races proceed despite a G.A.R. protest filed with the Park Board.
- Mendota, Ill.: a stock company is forming to build a three-lap-to-the-mile track with grand stand for about $2,000, to be used for monthly race meets with a major three-day finale, as new cycle stores report brisk sales.
- San Francisco: Wilbur Edwards of the California Rambler team abandons short-distance straightaway record attempts at Alameda after the quad could not pace him fast enough; teams move to San Jose's Garden City track for the April 19-20 meet.
- Eastern cracks Bald, McDonald, Coulter, and Harbottle arrive in San Jose with trainers Windle, Tellam, and Foster; controversy erupts over clubs importing outside riders like Casey Castleman and Billy Burke for the relay race instead of using home talent.
- London: A.E. Walters and the Polytechnic Club plan the Anchor Shield return ride to Ripley; the New Trafalgar Club secures St. Catherine's Lodge in Chelsea for a quarter-mile track; Harrogate Camp moves to Scarborough; the Empress of Austria takes up cycling.
- At the Paris Velodrome d'Hiver, Scotland's Robertson wins the 100-kilometer race in 2:21:20—the fastest competition time ever—defeating Huret (despite a puncture) and England's Michael; Jacquelin takes the 100-meter sprint in 10 and 3/5 seconds.
- Paris track manager Baduel proposes to match Zimmerman against Houben for 25,000 to 100,000 francs; Scottish professional Don Lacaille is reinstated after proving he was involuntarily forced into the professional ranks.
- Albany: wheelmen defeat Senator Donaldson's 'fog horn' bill requiring bugles and bells at two-to-four rod range; the Niagara County cycle side-path bill passes both houses, authorizing a 50-cent annual tax on the county's 4,000 wheelmen to fund cinder paths.
- St. Louis: Forest Park Road Race Association considers rerouting the June 1 race to eliminate a dangerous railroad crossing; the Pastime Athletic Club's cycle show features stereopticon views of Allen and Sachtleben's cross-Asia trip.
- El Paso, Tex., March 16: Walz wins the two-mile handicap and flying quarter-mile; Dirnberger arrives from Hot Springs under smallpox quarantine conditions, with trainer Lyman predicting a top season on his new crimson-rimmed wheel.
- Louisville: the southern circuit is revived under O.W. Lawson with races in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, Paducah, and Louisville running May 11-25; the Stearns team reports for training while the Morgan & Wright team is expected shortly.
- Editorial argues that the raw-material shortage—particularly tubing—will prevent the 30-40 percent output increase factories had planned for 1895, acting as an unintended brake on overproduction and price-cutting.
- Trade report: western Mannesmann tube agents have refused 60,000-80,000 feet of orders in six weeks; one Chicago maker offered 25 percent above market price; another sent an officer to England with cash to buy stock; wood rims and tires also in short supply.
- New York: the Metropolitan Bicycling Co. at 60th Street and the Boulevard—backed by Col. A.A. Pope and J.B. Hoggan—prepares to open a 150-by-75-foot riding academy with separate ladies' and gentlemen's departments, gymnasium, baths, and Columbia salesroom.
- Washington, D.C.: brisk spring trade at Cline Bros. (Overman), District Cycle Co. (Columbia), and the Dorsett Hand & Foot Power Co., whose physicians endorse the wheel for muscular development; a proposal to tax bicycles is denounced as unconstitutional.
- Kansas City trade is strong with high-grade wheels dominant; Clark Bros. sell 41 Cleveland Swell Specials; department store Emery, Bird, Thayer & Co. sells $100 wheels at $50, prompting regular dealers to declare war with competing offers of better value.
- Translated critique from La Bicyclette reviews the 1895 Paris cycle show: saddles too light, extreme drop bars confined to racers, wooden rims gaining ground, roller chains superior to Humber type for tourists, and brakes nearly absent on nine-tenths of machines.
- London: American firms rumored to be seeking London depots cause trade-circle alarm; satirical notes on bizarre inventions including a detachable handlebar for 'braining highwaymen'; the Bamboo Cycle Co.'s £400,000 prospectus is skeptically examined.
- The Zimmerman Mfg. Co.'s new poster-style catalogue features the 18-pound Zimmy racer; A.A. Zimmerman will visit Chicago for two weeks at the Shirk Mfg. Co. store on Wabash Avenue, agents for his wheels.
- Philadelphia: the Cycle Trade League debates allowances on second-hand wheels; Remington Arms Co.'s new branch at 911 Walnut Street reports good business; Emil Werner's Philadelphia Cycle Bazaar handles Smalley, Monarch, Triangle, and Tribune makes.
- Providence, R.I.: spring trade rushes in after the first good riding days; the W.W. Whitten Cycle Co. carries the state's largest line including Victor, Thistle, Orient, Wolfe, Globe, Remington, Pierce, and Royal cycles.
- Profile of James W. Shone and Roswell J. Hanna of the Hall-Shone Co., Rochester, N.Y., who travel throughout the United States and Canada selling their automatic mud-guard, Eclipse cycle lock, H.S. cement, and a full range of cycle sundries.
- Letters from C.A. Mitchell of Skowhegan, Me., and E.V. Tuttle of Battle Creek, Mich., both agree that placing the sprocket between the crank-shaft bearings distributes chain-pull load more evenly, endorsing the belled (dished) chain-wheel principle.
- Profile of Boston inventor and world-record revolver shot Wm. C. Johnston, who rode his two-speed bicycle attachment for a full season before marketing it, and now offers a complete line of ladies' and gentlemen's wheels with the device for 1895.