The Bearings, Vol 5, No 23
Articles in this issue
- Front-page column of cycling humor squibs — jokes about a bicycle thief given six months for carrying the joke too far, an Oregon cow panicked by a wheelman in blue tights, a tire salesman promising a customer's objections will 'gradually wear away,' and satirical verses including 'Lines on a Pneumatic.'
- Weekly news column covering New York Division officers expected to stand for re-election; the Twin City Century Club's August relay ride from St. Paul to Chicago; Otto Praeger's harrowing return from Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains — escaping brigands by bicycle after nineteen days among bears and wolves — and his reception in San Antonio; Frank G. Lenz's world-tour stopover in Chicago (he earns space rates from Outing, not salary); the North Road Club's 200-mile London-to-York run; Miss Nellie Hunter of Pittsburg profiled as an all-around athlete; and the Cook County Wheelmen's unanimous resolution to bar the Chicago Colored Cycling Club from the Associated Cycling Clubs.
- Miscellaneous short items from clubs and cities: cycle thieves very active in Philadelphia; Oconomowoc, Wis. banning sidewalk riding; the Chicago Colored Cycling Club filing incorporation papers to seek L.A.W. and A.C.C. membership; the Flower City Wheelmen of Rochester disbanding after treasury mismanagement; Joe Stillwell of Chicago touring through Kentucky and Ohio on a safety of his own manufacture; John West of the Minnette Club planning a twenty-four-hour track record attempt at the West Side ball park in August; and the Illinois Cycling Club expecting a new West Side cinder track backed by Morgan of Morgan & Wright.
- Editorial lamenting that cyclists, once indulged on sidewalks, now face speed limits, lamp and bell ordinances and license schemes in Chicago and elsewhere, urging wheelmen to fight every restriction beyond the reasonable lamp law.
- Editorial mocking the grotesque flapping pantalettes forced on racers by referee Garden under the L.A.W. costume rule at the Springfield, Ill. meet, calling for a sensible jersey costume.
- Editorial rebutting an English paper's sneer at American banquet oratory, arguing the relay ride from Chicago to New York and the big Chicago banquet won cycling far more recognition than England's lone 'Cycling and Politics' article.
- A run of short dispatches covering the Taylor–Zimmerman record rivalry: Zimmerman broke the half-mile record at Herne Hill in 1:05, paced by Bradbury and Mercy; won both runnings of a two-mile race at the Liverpool police sports before an immense throng and received a silver cup from the mayor; G. F. Taylor rode a flying-start mile in 2:13 at Hartford; and at Charter Oak Park, Hartford, Taylor then rode the quarter mile in 32 1/5 seconds, paced by George Banker, to take both the American and world standing-start records from Zimmerman.
- At the League meet in Stockton, Calif., coast records fell in the half-mile safety and ordinary; winners included C. K. Melrose, L. S. Upson of Sacramento, W. W. Needham of San Jose and Austin Sperry.
- At the Canadian Wheelmen's Association meet at Kingston, Ont. on Dominion Day, records fell to E. M. Wells, C. M. Carman and W. Hyslop of Toronto before some 800 wheelmen.
- 'Birdie' Munger of Chicago failed to place in the ten races of the Asbury Park, N.J. tri-state circuit; winners included Harry Martin, W. W. Taxis, George Banker and F. Hawley of the K.C.W.
- At the sixth annual Kansas Division meet at Wichita, W. R. Millison of Wichita swept the first day; later days saw St. Louis riders O. L. Rule, R. M. Milford and H. A. Canfield, and A. J. Henley of Wichita, win events.
- At Kingston, Ont., Carman won a twenty-five mile road race in a doubtfully reported 1:10:06, which the paper thinks was likely 1:19:06.
- Before 8,000 at the Connecticut Division races at Hartford, P. J. Berlo set a :28 4-5 flying-quarter world's record paced by Karl Hess; next day Hoyland Smith narrowly missed Ede's twenty-four-mile record and Taylor and Tyler cut quarter-mile marks.
- At the L.A.W. state meet at Bay City, Reichle of Saginaw dominated the track and W. B. Hurlburt of Detroit won the sixteen-mile West Bay City road race; Detroit took seven of the twenty-two prizes.
- About 13,000 watched the Ohio Division races at Dayton, where E. C. Johnson of Cleveland covered himself with glory; the meet was hosted by the Dayton Bicycle Club.
- H. E. Anderson of Cincinnati won the third annual Poorman road race from Hamilton to Chester Park; W. C. Rands took the time medal in 51:03 and N. H. Van Sicklen was third, with the afternoon Porkopolis Wheelmen's meet following.
- John Johnson, champion of the north-west, won every race he entered at Winona, Minn., including the open mile, two-mile and five-mile, with Otto Neuman and C. Peterson placing.
- At the Missouri Division annual meet at Springfield, Mo., a poor track slowed times; Harding lost the two-mile championship and Cox and Sanders of the St. Louis Cycling Club won several events.
- 1,500 saw the second annual races of the Watertown Cyclers at Watertown, N.Y.; John Wilkinson of Syracuse and C. W. Inslee of Oneida won events and E. P. Hinds of Oneida took the ten-mile road race.
- C. W. Hartung reports Zimmerman becoming the first man to win two N.C.U. championships in a day, the mile and five-mile safety, at Headingley, Leeds, in slow crawling races settled by electric spurts; the Cuca Cup twenty-four-hour race at Herne Hill is fixed for July 22-23.
- The first annual meet of the Tourist Cycle Club of Paterson, N.J. was held at the Clifton track, with W. W. Taxis, G. A. Beckwith and A. B. Rich among the winners.
- The state championship tournament at Rahway, N.J. saw George C. Smith of the Riverside Wheelmen, H. C. Wheeler of Orange and C. W. Osborne win events over two days.
- A. L. Banker won both the one- and two-mile races at the Fourth of July celebration at Schenley Park, Pittsburg, before 25,000 spectators, beating W. M. Breckenridge and C. K. Gibson.
- The Elyria (O.) Bicycle Club's ten-mile road race from Elyria to Ridgeville was won by B. Cuddeback in 35:54; Fred H. Brown of the Cook County Wheelmen later beat the field's time for a $5 hat.
- Walter C. Sanger took both the one- and two-mile handicaps at the Fourth of July races at National Park, Milwaukee, beating M. Martin.
- On the new Alameda track, W. F. Foster won the Pacific Coast two-mile championship and B. C. Lund the five-mile ordinary championship.
- At the Denver Athletic Club's Fourth of July meet, O. E. Boles won the two-mile handicap in a state-record 5:29 1-2 after Rutherford and Pynchon crashed.
- The twenty-five-mile handicap road race at St. Paul ended in a disputed finish between H. H. Hodsdon and George Cremer, while B. B. Bird was awarded best time in 84 minutes.
- F. E. Spooner of the Chicago and Lincoln Cycling Clubs announces an attempt to ride 400 miles in twenty-four hours at Parkside — averaging seventeen miles an hour — with W. C. Thorne as referee, a full panel of timers including George E. Lloyd and R. D. Garden, and the field's leading riders as pace-makers; Spooner previously covered 302 miles in twenty-four hours on the road on solid-tired ordinaries.
- Wide-ranging column of short racing intelligence: W. C. Rands won the one- and two-mile scratch races at the Allegheny A.A. meet in Pittsburg; C. D. Cutting swept all four races at Elgin, Ill.; Fred Vorweck won the twenty-eight-mile Lemars–Sioux City road race in 1:55:28; English clubs voted 21–13 to continue organised road racing; Allard won the 622-mile Paris–Nantes–Paris race in 68:28; Charron broke the French mile record in 2:24 2/5; Charley Dorntge will train on the Tonawanda track to try for Taylor's five-mile record of 13:40; 'Birdie' Munger's Eastern circuit has yielded nearly $1,500 in prizes on an eighty-inch gear despite a fall at Manhattan Fields; and Worcester cleared $2,600 on its recent meet.
- A long illustrated report of the Illinois Division's ninth annual meet at Springfield, Ill. over July 3-5, with over 500 wheelmen attending; covers the chartered Chicago train, a wheelmen's church service, the business meeting under chief consul Gerould, and Chicago Cycling Club men Munger, Barrett, Lumsden and the Thornes sweeping the mile track, Lumsden reputedly clocking a 1:03 half-mile.
- Reprinted from Wheeling, an editorial arguing that T. A. Edge's Land's End to John o'Groats ride deserves far more recognition than it has received, as it stands among the most notable cycle rides on record and a rigorous utilitarian test of the Peregrine and Clincher tire.
- A Western Union telegram displayed by the Stover Bicycle Mfg. Co. reports Frank Waller of the Acme Bicycle Club setting a new world twenty-four-hour track record of 363 miles, 1,474 yards on the Alameda track, surpassing M. A. Holbein's previous mark of 361 miles, 1,447 yards made at Herne Hill.
- An illustrated feature on cycling in Washington, D.C. ahead of the national L.A.W. meet, describing the city's many riders and its five clubs (Capital, Washington, Columbia, Arlington Wheelmen and Nomad) and dealers, with portraits of chief consul F. L. Dyer and committee men.
- Profiles two Pope Mfg. Co. travelling men: E. A. DeBlois, former Connecticut Division secretary-treasurer who built its membership from 357 to over 2,100, and James Joyce, Jr., the young Irishman now representing the company west of the Mississippi.
- Brief Chicago trade notes: the Marble Cycle Co. opened a retail store, the Stover Cycle Co. opened an Eastern branch under George S. Atwater, Parisian-style tinted bicycles are spreading, and Chas. F. Stokes booked numerous orders in New York.
- The race calendar of upcoming July-October meets nationwide plus Chicago fixtures, including the Riverside Wheelmen's meet, the national L.A.W. meet at Washington July 18-20, and Chicago club runs and tournaments.
- Reports that the New York law firm of Isaac B. Potter (Potter, Baldwin and Miner) is incorporating a Cycle Dealers' Board of Trade; a prominent tradesman objects to a New York headquarters, and THE BEARINGS reiterates its case for a national trade association against price-cutting and unfair freight classification.
- The McIntosh-Huntington Company of Cleveland has bought the Speedy Cycle Mfg. Co.'s Chicago plant; president H. J. Winn says the Speedy will continue and the firm may now build its Sunol there.
- A tour of New York cycle houses: the George R. Bidwell Cycle Store and riding school on West 59th street, the Bidwell (Thomas) tire factory on West 67th street turning out 400-500 tires daily, Schoverling, Daly & Gales with the Humber, Wilson Myers & Co.'s 'Bogie Man' racers, R. V. Coleman & Co. with the Blackhawk, and Gormully & Jeffery's new Broadway store.
- A shake-up in the New York retail trade: the Banker Cycle Co. gave way to the Raleigh Cycle Co., the Stover Company opened a Phoenix depot at 1773 Broadway under George S. Atwater, and the Keating Cycle Co. of Holyoke opened a Broadway branch.
- Milwaukee trade items: Wm. Ludwig's curious seventy-five-pound home-built safety, the Reitzner-Pritchard Cycle Co.'s trade in Derby, James, Liberty and Temple Scorcher wheels, and Charles Mortimer joining P. H. Sercombe's business.
- In the London chancery court, an application to amend Dunlop's first pneumatic-tire patent by removing a comma and adding a disclaimer was opposed on the grounds that it might make single-tube and built-up tires into infringements; the comptroller withheld his decision.
- A Memphis letter reports the new firm Deupree & Brodnax selling twenty-six high-grade wheels since May 1 and praising the geared ordinary as faster than a safety except against a headwind; a novel election wager has the Western Wheel Works taking a New York Press half-page for eight Sundays — free if Cleveland wins, double rates ($1,500) if Harrison wins; and Casper M. Sanger of Milwaukee is introducing Dunn's patent indestructible steel-plated air tire, tested at the Milwaukee tournament by John Schmidtbouer.