The Bearings, Vol 6, No 21
Articles in this issue
- Short editorial noting that Dr. Chas. Zimmerman Bahl of Philadelphia covered 278 miles on the road in twenty-four hours while consuming six milk punches, eight cups of coffee, fifty oysters, and sundry other provisions, disproving medical objections to eating during long record rides.
- The editor recounts a supper conversation with Charles E. Duryea of the Rouse-Duryea Cycle Co., who argues that human flight is achievable by imitating soaring birds — using adjustable planes, captive-balloon training for novices, and pedal or gas-heat propulsion — drawing parallels with learning to swim or cycle.
- Brief editorial calling on the L.A.W. Racing Board to act against amateur riders who have carelessly allowed their expenses to be paid, implying professional activity, and warning that inaction makes a mockery of the Board's purpose.
- William Twinkle's humorous advice column answers letters from J. Charley Chancy of Willawee, Mich., and G. Pembroke Kew of Nashville on which bicycle to buy, deflecting both with comic digressions on bicycle-salesman hyperbole and the superior merits of ecru-coloured rims.
- Two old-timers share cycling histories: Dr. George E. Blackham of Dunkirk, N.Y., traces his rides from a 52-inch Columbia in 1879 through various safeties, while Henry E. Ducker of Buffalo recalls the camaraderie of high-wheel days and urges current wheelmen to support the L.A.W.
- The Bearings announces its move from 57 Plymouth Place to rooms 335-336 in the Manhattan Building, 307-321 Dearborn Street, Chicago, with a further move planned for May 1 to the new Isabella Building on Van Buren Street.
- Editorial accusing amateur racing men in Nashville — operating under a professional trainer apparently in the pay of a large cycle manufacturer — of willingness to break L.A.W. law by receiving pay for racing, creating fraudulent records, and soliciting the Bearings' editor to accept such records as valid.
- Editorial criticising Bicycling World for uncritically accepting a manufacturer's denial of sponsoring the Nashville racing colony and for defending riders who violated L.A.W. amateur rules by having their expenses paid at Milwaukee.
- L.A.W. Racing Board Chairman H.E. Raymond writes aboard the S.S. City of Paris after international cycling meetings in London, reporting full teams promised from England, France, and other nations for the 1893 international racing circuit and urging immediate action by Chicago's cycling interests on securing track facilities.
- A Bearings representative interviews Raymond in Brooklyn on Dec. 14 after he disembarked from the City of Paris; he describes English amateurs' payment practices (£1–3 per race placement), condemns the Paris cement Vendome Buffalo track as a failure for American conditions, and stresses the urgency of Chicago securing race-track facilities for the 1893 international circuit.
- City correspondents from Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Omaha report on 1892 cycling growth: new pavement and three clubs in Detroit, rivalry among Indianapolis clubs, the doubling of Cleveland's Wheel Club membership, and Omaha's four clubs with 1,000 cyclists and nearly 30,000 miles of club touring.
- Mixed cycling news covering the Ohio Division's selection of Sandusky for its July 4th meet, the death of Columbus Cycling Club captain Carl S. Erb, cycle track inquiries from St. Louis and San Antonio, Milwaukee's G.O.O. run to Whitefish Bay, T.A. Edge's defence of the ordinary bicycle, the growing National League for Good Roads, and reports that bicycles are cutting into street car revenue in San Antonio and New England.
- Editorial quoting Louisville Courier-Journal editor G.E. Johnson's letter calling the Christmas Bearings "typographically and journalistically perfect," with additional notes on the Minneapolis Cycle Track Association's plan to raise $10,000 for a racing venue and on reckless Philadelphia scorchers.
- The Bearings reprints and endorses a Milwaukee Sentinel editorial arguing that professional men's reluctance to ride is mere convention, and that so long as cycling is kept away from gambling and professional sports — as when Mr. Sercombe offered a trophy rather than a wager — it will win over even preachers.
- Trade Supplement editorial quoting P.T. Barnum's advice to Bridgeport citizens that consistent newspaper advertising builds public confidence, with the implicit message that steady trade advertising in cycling papers pays dividends.
- Trade editorial by "Traveler" on widespread misconceptions about bicycle manufacturing costs, citing a prominent manufacturer who assumed material cost was 20 cents per pound; argues that skilled labour — not weight — determines price, and that lighter machines actually cost more.
- Technical essay by "A Practical Mechanic" examining whether the geared ordinary can supplant the safety bicycle, concluding it cannot: the safety's fundamental advantage — distributing weight between two wheels and lifting loads over obstacles at half the power required by the ordinary — is a mechanical principle no geared ordinary replicates.
- Survey of Chicago cycle manufacturers' 1893 plans: Gormully & Jeffery will make nine patterns including a 23-pound Rambler racer; Hill Cycle is introducing the Fowler in spiral tubing at 26 and 32 pounds; St. Nicholas expects to double output to around 24,000 wheels; and Morgan & Wright plan 100,000 pairs of pneumatic tires, with many other makers reported in detail.
- Trade Supplement survey of 1893 opinions on wheel base, tires, and weights from Rochester Cycle Mfg. Co. (42-inch base, M.&W.-pattern tires), Ralph Temple of Chicago (advocating road machines over racers on the road), and Union Cycle Mfg. Co. of Highlandville, Mass. (warning that the long-base fad is overdone and that 1893 will be a day of judgment for overly light bicycles).