The Bearings, Vol 5, No 2
Articles in this issue
- William Twinkle's humorous weekly column recounts his deliberation over accepting the L.A.W. presidency, concluding—after watching his clerk dream of treading a political grindstone instead of riding at the head of a League procession—that he prefers not to carry the office's burdens.
- Feature on Philadelphia cycling covering the Associated Cycling Clubs (ten member clubs, fifteen recognized high-grade dealers, over 15,000 riders), the upcoming cycle show, and profiles of chief consul Samuel A. Boyle and H. Crowther, plus notes on the John A. Green Cycle Co. at 635 Arch Street.
- Note on Philadelphia tandem pair V.J. Kelley and J.H. Draper, who in 1891 broke Zimmerman and Taxis's five-mile tandem record of 14:32 with a time of 13:10, winning nine firsts and six seconds in fifteen races including Pennsylvania Division and national championships.
- Editorial column previewing the National L.A.W. Assembly at Columbus (February 15), where a single ballot is expected to elect Burdette, Sheridan, Brown, and Brewster to the top offices; many delegates will also attend the Philadelphia and Rochester cycle shows.
- Editorial essay advising cycling clubs to build strict membership committees, appoint dues-collecting treasurers, and organize spirited social programs, contrasting the thriving Lincoln Cycling Club model under Herrick with the recently rejuvenated Chicago Cycling Club whose Saturday-night entertainments now avoid profanity and gambling.
- Advocacy for Washington, D.C. as the site for the 1892 L.A.W. annual meet, citing its superior asphalt boulevards, parks, and public attractions; notes Baltimore & Ohio Railroad contacts L.S. Allen in Chicago and C.O. Scull in Baltimore for arranging reduced cyclist fares.
- Profile of G. Carleton Brown of Elizabeth, N.J., second vice president of the L.A.W. and five-time chief consul of New Jersey Division, whose nine-year road improvement agitation produced the 1890 New Jersey Road Law and a new State Road Improvement Association formed with the governor and board of agriculture.
- Preview of the February 29–March 5 Western New York Bicycle Exposition at Washington Rink, Rochester, featuring the Rochester Mandolin Orchestra, a 'Skirt Dancers' act by four local wheelmen, Barber and Canary in fancy riding, home trainer races among local clubs, and local amateur boxing contests.
- City correspondence from riders and clubs in Colorado (Denver Cyclists' Union board election, worst cycling winter in nine years), Illinois (Chicago C.C. athletic entertainment at Rosalie Hall, forming Drexel Bicycle Club), Indiana (Purdue University Cycling Club officers), Iowa (new Y.M.C.A. Cyclers in Des Moines, Sioux City state championship plans), Louisiana (Washington Club of New Orleans), Missouri (St. Louis C.C. smoker, Forest Park road race plans), New Jersey (Plainfield club hustling and Crescent League rivalry), New York (Syracuse Century C.C., Brooklyn Kings County Wheelmen eleventh reception, Buffalo Martin thirty-mile road race and Cleveland relay preparations), Ohio (Cleveland Lakesides, Columbus C.C.C. open house for L.A.W. Assembly visitors, Casner's patented bicycle rack), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia South End Wheelmen 'Hard Times' smoker, mayor's asphalt pavement stand on Broad Street), Tennessee (Memphis C.C. 100-mile road race with entries promised by Cason of New Orleans and Jefferis of Louisville), and Wisconsin (Milwaukee Wheelmen, Oshkosh reorganization for 1892 state meet).
- Detailed account of A.A. Zimmerman's reinstatement on February 3 and sailing for England February 6 to ride a Raleigh with J.B. Bowden, analyzing whether Chairman Atwater's summary expulsion violated the A.A.U. alliance requiring a joint trial committee of three, with Atwater's own self-defense quoted from the Washington Star.
- Recurring column of open questions about Chicago and national cycling prospects for the coming season, asking about Ned Oliver's wedding, Pullman road race entries, relay times from Chicago to New York, John O. Blake's bicycle-theft arrests, and whether Nashville riders will come north to compete.
- Miscellaneous news briefs covering Tom Stevens rejoining Outing, the first California centuries of 1892 (Turner and Lemon of San Diego Wheelmen, January 13), the New York Recorder's voting contest for most popular wheelman (prize an Ormonde Clincher-pneumatic), and the spread of cycling columns in major newspapers including Sport, Music and Drama of New York.
- Major feature tracing cycling in Columbus from the pioneer Buckeye Bicycle Club (founded 1880 by W.H. Miller, the first L.A.W. president) through the Columbus Cycling Club Company (75 members, club house at 46 West Gay Street), Buckeye Ladies' Cycling Club, Royal Cyclers, Columbus Century Club (L.A.W. 373), and newly formed Columbus Bicycle Protective Association, with portraits of Miller, F.B. Everett, Carl S. Erb, and K.D. Wood.
- Short editorial arguing that Kentucky's chartered toll-road system has produced more miles of good road than any other state twice its size, and urging that properly regulated toll-road companies be established in every state as a practical complement to L.A.W. road improvement efforts.
- The Bearings announces plans to manage a ~1,000-mile relay ride from Chicago to New York in 1892, targeting completion in 100 hours, and publishes the full list of relay stations from Chicago through South Bend, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester to New York.
- Note on the 1891 Australian Wheel Race at Melbourne, reproducing an excerpt from the Melbourne Bicycle Club's 123-page official programme with a 200-sovereign first prize, noting that Australian riders are identified by colored jerseys fastened at the handlebar rather than back numbers as in America.
- Mixed briefs including the Century Road Club passing 500 members, Arthur Du Cros's planned autumn visit to America to race, the Velocity Mfg. Co.'s new 'Derby' wheel, 'Cyklista' the Bohemian cycling journal published at Prague, and The Bearings's practice of separating trade matter from general reading now being adopted by the Irish Cyclist, Scottish Cyclist, and Bi-News.
- Report on the Milwaukee Wheelmen's February 8 meeting, where the most important action was drafting a resolution for the Milwaukee Real Estate Board to co-operate with the L.A.W. on road improvement at the national real estate congress in Nashville, February 17–19, arguing property owners share wheelmen's interest in better roads.
- Wheeling's Manchester correspondent reports on Christmas and Boxing Day cycling in Cheshire, noting that slippery Boxing Day roads favoured riders on solid tires over pneumatics, with cyclists finding welcome shelter at the Angel at Knutsford and Massey Harper's at Congleton.
- Scheduled events from February through September 1892 including the Columbus L.A.W. Assembly (Feb. 15), Philadelphia Cycle Show (Feb. 15–22), Rochester Bicycle Exposition (Feb. 29–March 5), Madison Square Garden six-day race (March 7–12), Pullman road race (May 30), and Ohio Division meet at Dayton (July 4–5), plus Chicago club indoor ball and social fixtures through March.
- Trade column by 'Epicyclic' recounting how a shrewd eastern dealer bought substandard factory wheels at a deep discount and resold them as 'special order' machines at ten dollars above list price; also reflects on geared ordinary experiments in England and the proliferation of over 1,300 tire patents.
- Short trade items on Stokes Mfg. Co. personnel, Worth Mfg. Co.'s 100-spring-frame order, Sercombe-Bolte's decision to increase Chainless Telegram output tenfold, and John Jay Ross taking charge of the Monarch Cycle Co.'s cycle department; closes with 'Who Will Get the Medal?', questioning whether World's Fair prize judges will have the cycle expertise needed for a fair decision.
- Report on A.G. Spalding & Brothers' $4,000,000 New Jersey incorporation consolidating their Chicago (A.G. Spalding & Bros., Geo. Barnard & Co., Spalding Mfg. Co.), Philadelphia, and New York houses; cycling has reportedly advanced from fifth to first place among the firm's business lines, with nearly $200,000 in New York and New Jersey cycle sales.
- Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co.'s six-answer Q&A from September 1891 defending protective tariffs, asserting that American bicycle workers earn about 50% more than their European counterparts and that cutting the duty would reduce those wages.
- Report on the Lockport, N.Y., trial of Francis H. Salt and Cataract Wheel & Supply Co. vs. Sheriff Nathan D. Ensign, arising from Deputy Kinney's seizure of fifty Meteor bicycles at Niagara Falls—bicycles sent by Banker & Campbell Co. of New York as partial payment on a $27,000 debt; Salt's counsel claims $5,000.
- Notes on the March 7–12 six-day race and cycle show at Madison Square Garden, with trick rider Minting expected to perform on a 60-foot spiral twelve inches wide, and confirmed exhibitors including Union Cycle Co., Moffat Cycle Co., Gormully & Jeffery, The Wheel, The Bearings, and The Referee.
- News of John F. Palmer's Chicago patent for a puncture-resistant pneumatic tire using a compressed raw-rubber canvas liner inside the air tube; Palmer has punctured a trial tire fifty-six times without deflation and will display it at booth No. 55 at the Philadelphia cycle show.