The Bearings, Vol 6, No 3
Articles in this issue
- Humorous first-person column by "William Swinkle" on Zimmerman's triumphant return from England — his luggage, his polished accent, and the unresolved question of who paid his expenses, which the Racing Board may yet have to adjudicate.
- Report on a meeting at 291 Wabash Avenue where World's Athletic Association president D.L. Short offers to build wheelmen a free half-mile track with a $50,000 bond and $10,000 for prizes; Thorne, Van Sicklen, Randall and Sheridan debate board versus cement surfaces against the rival Chatham Fields Company plan.
- Editorial calling on the clubs and the trade to jointly fund a permanent Chicago bicycle track, with endorsements from L.A.W. vice-president Thomas Sheridan, Chicago Cycling Club president W.F. Tuttle, and Charles Randall, who all suggest the old cricket ground at 37th and Indiana Avenue.
- The North Chicago Wheelmen, organized July 1 on the North Side, already has 80 members and a club house at 1717 Belmont Avenue.
- Pope Mfg. Co.'s Columbia pneumatic-tired bicycle sulky wheels — 28-inch, $100 a set — sell out instantly in Chicago for the Washington Park trotting meet; at Buffalo on August 6 bicycle sulkies won 13 of 15 heats, most in record time, and old-guard horsemen are rapidly converting.
- J. Malcolm Forbes' mare Nancy Hanks takes both the kite and oval trotting records from Sunol and Maud S at Washington Park, doing the mile in 2:07 driven to a bicycle sulky fitted with pneumatic tires — the first time a regular bicycle wheel has been used on a sulky.
- Race report from Sarnia, Ontario: Zimmerman breaks the Canadian mile record in 2:26 and the two-mile record; Milwaukee newcomer W.C. Sanger beats Zimmerman in the half-mile handicap (1:07 2-5) and wins the quarter-mile flying start in :32 (Canadian record), with full race summaries.
- H.C. Tyler is reported to have ridden a private mile in 2:09 at Springfield, Mass., but no record claim can be made; George G. Scott of the Riverside Wheelmen has retired from the racing path to join the New York Sunday Mercury's cycling department.
- L.A.W. Racing Board chairman H.E. Raymond tells the Louisiana Division he cannot exclude Black members in the North, but notes each division may pass its own prohibitory laws; Louisiana's delegates to the national convention will fight the issue there.
- Editorial praising the Clinton Daily Age for devoting its entire August 4 issue to road improvement and outlining Judge Thayer's plan for Iowa to issue $5 million in 3 per cent bonds and build 4,000 miles of all-weather roads; Iowa cyclists are urged to agitate at county level.
- Editorial attacking the Bicycling World for not printing L.A.W. applicants' full addresses, quoting the Baltimore News, which publishes complete address lists weekly so that members can screen undesirable applicants the distant Boston secretary cannot recognise.
- Editorial arguing that English riders' ox-like endurance will ultimately reclaim all long-distance records; warns Western 24-hour aspirants that no American has yet matched Shorland's feat of vaulting onto a geared ordinary after 20-plus hours of racing.
- Editorial on cyclist George Adams, who fractured the skull of deaf pedestrian Mrs. Martha Tuthill on a narrow Long Island sidewalk; quotes the New York Sun's proposal for a prison treadmill purpose-built for sidewalk cyclists.
- Portrait and profile of Wm. J. Unverzagt, secretary-treasurer of the Maryland Division L.A.W. and a staunch Chesapeake Wheelman, now serving his second term and described by chief consul Mott as a right-hand man beyond compare.
- Anecdote-rich account of George Bidwell's rise from Buffalo post-office clerk to trusted advisor to Colonel Pope, whose wife he lobbied at the dinner table to overrule the colonel; reveals that Bidwell and W. Sheldon Bull first pitched Pope the scheme that became Good Roads magazine.
- Short items: Klipfel of Buffalo completes his 13th century of the season; missionary Ashe cycles to his post in Uganda; the Syracuse A.C. plans a five-story stone clubhouse on Jefferson Street; L.M. Richardson's four-year-old daughter has been cycling for over a year and has ridden four miles without fatigue.
- Two-day race report from the Toronto B.C. meet before 7,000 spectators: Zimmerman lowers multiple Canadian records on day one, winning the quarter-mile (:32 3-5), half-mile (1:08 4-5) and one-mile handicap (2:28 2-5); on day two he is over-handicapped and Hyslop beats him in the half-mile, though Zimmerman wins the one-mile scratch.
- French cyclist Dubois sets world's records from 100 to 500 kilometers on the Buffalo track in Paris on July 27, covering 230 miles in 12 hours and lowering Shorland's 100-mile record by 2:16; he becomes exhausted before 20 hours and cannot complete the 24-hour attempt.
- Iowa Division business meeting and race results at Sioux City, August 11: John Johnson wins the half-mile and one-mile open; A.B. Edmands takes both state championships; T.S. Morrison rides a quarter mile without handle bars in 32 2-5 seconds, paced by Johnson, and claims a world's record.
- First annual Mount Vernon Wheelmen meet at the Tioga Athletic Association, Philadelphia: Carl Hess of the M.A.C. beats W.W. Taxis by a yard in the one-mile open in 2:30; Taxis then rides 2:26 1-5 against time, beating the track record; first prize was an upright grand piano, attendance 2,000.
- Second annual Cook County Wheelmen meet at Parkside, Chicago: Peironnet wins the two-mile and five-mile handicaps; Thompson slips a pedal in the one-mile; the club clears $200 above expenses from a large attendance.
- Brittingham of Danville dominates the Danville, Illinois meet of August 12, taking the quarter-mile dash, one-mile handicap and five-mile handicap on a fine-condition track before a large attendance in perfect weather.
- L.B. Graham's August 11 meet in Chattanooga, Tennessee proves a great success before a large crowd; a heavy wind spoils times and Denegre, Loyd and McKee take top honours, with McKee winning the 25-mile race in 1:30:00.
- Cleveland A.C. annual games: E.C. Johnson falls in the first race and is badly scratched; both Johnson and Rands of Detroit are too heavily handicapped to win; Goetz and Collings take the top spots.
- Central Illinois Wheelmen races at Piatt County fair grounds, Monticello, August 16: Bert Myers of Peoria wins the one-mile open (2:41 1-2) and two-mile handicap; Roy Keator of Chicago gives a unicycle exhibition; Donn Piatt wins both Piatt County events.
- Charles D. Cutting of the Cook County Wheelmen lowers his own Elgin-Aurora century record to seven hours flat; after his racing wheel broke he traded to a 50-pound machine and then to a lighter wheel and still finished by 12:10 p.m.
- Three Chicago-area men are training for 24-hour track record attempts: C.K. Smith of the Columbia Wheelmen (recently rode 200 miles on the boulevards in 17 hours), J.B. Woolas of the Minnette Cycling Corps (this year's Pullman race winner), and H.M. Gardiner of the Lake View Cycling Club, targeting Parkside track in September.
- Frank Shorland cuts the 100-mile record to 5:05:03 2-5 on a geared ordinary in the Cuca Cup race; on July 26, W.H. Wilson at Jarrow, England, sets a new safety record of 5:14:49 1-5, nearly five minutes below James's prior mark, with per-ten-mile splits given.
- Joe Stilwell wins the McConnell medal for the third consecutive year over the Lake View course, Chicago, in 14:45, badly beating Pullman-race winner J.B. Woolas; Woolas's Minnette C.C. club mates reportedly lost over $500 betting against Stilwell.
- Account reprinted from Cycling (London) of Zimmerman's last day in Liverpool before sailing home on the City of Paris: a party of local cyclists sees him off and the ship captain gives him a warm welcome on board; Zimmy leaves disappointed at not having met Osmond.
- Portrait and profile of J.S. Johnson of Winona, Minnesota, who has been sweeping track events throughout Iowa and the Northwest and placed strongly from scratch in the Waukesha road race, marking him as one of the best scratch men in the region.
- Short racing items: Zimmerman never wears a printed race number; English cycling celebrities watched the Buffalo track at Paris; John Chase sets a new Janesville-to-Beloit 14-mile record at 49 minutes; Pueblo, Colorado plans a 22-mile Labor Day road race; Roy Donaldson lowers the Springfield camp-to-city record to 17:00.
- C.W. Hartung reports from London: the Southern Counties Cyclists' Camp at Dorking (349 members, 3,000 day visitors) and the Harrogate camp are the season's highlights; Stephane's Paris 24-hour record is disputed and F. DeCivry offers a £100 wager to settle it; J.G. Sames, aged 47, wins a 100-mile veterans' road race on the North Road in 6:51:29; London circles are discussing laying a cement track.
- Reprint from Cycle Record arguing that English sport welcomes all competitors regardless of race — contrasting with American prejudice against competing with "gentlemen of color" — and calling for the best man always to win.
- At an obstruction race in Wichita, Kansas, July 6, Charles Kindervater rides his Imperial over a telegraph pole at a 2:50 clip, rising on his pedals to clear it without slowing; the crowd goes wild, ladies scream, and Kindervater wins the race with the wheel undamaged.
- Full prize listings for three major upcoming tournaments: the Cleveland Wheel Club (Aug 26-27, headlined by an $800 piano for the two-mile lap race, with Zimmerman confirmed); the Columbus Columbian tournament (Sep 5-6); and the Hartford Wheel Club (Sep 5-6), with bicycles, diamonds and silver among the awards.
- Ex-chief consul W. Sheldon Bull of Buffalo reminisces about refereeing the notorious Springfield piano race where the time limit of 2:23 2-5 was missed by one-fifth of a second, causing pandemonium; he defends letting the result stand and argues for reasonable, fixed limits.
- Illustrated page depicting the leading Chicago racing cyclists of the 1892 season: Gus Steele (Lake View C.C.), W.F. Peironnet (Cook County Wheelmen), Fred Nessel (Columbia Wheelmen), Geo. A. Thorne (Chicago C.C.), Roy Keator (Lincoln C.C.), Jos. J. Oakley (Illinois C.C.), and J.B. Woolas (Minnette Cycle Corps).
- Coverage of simultaneous road improvement conventions: at Chillicothe, Missouri, practical road-building demonstrations and bicycle races draw thousands; at Des Moines, Iowa, Governor Boies attends, Judge Thayer's plan for six east-west and six north-south county roads is adopted, and the Permanent State Better Roads Association is formally constituted.
- More than 1,200 cyclists ride an illuminated parade through Denver during the Knights Templar conclave on August 10, drawing massive crowds; L.A.W. members who left their wheels at home rent from local agencies, and the spectacle is declared finer than a similar Washington parade three years earlier.
- Proposal before the Chicago Cycling Club to house non-resident members near the World's Fair grounds for $1 per day, using the present club house with new plunge bath and gymnasium; the Tribune cycle editor calls it ethically awkward but concedes he would take the deal himself.
- Ennis, Texas cyclists respond to a new bell-or-gong ordinance by parading en masse with cowbells and gongs attached to their wheels, creating a charivari-like spectacle that mocks the law and widens rather than resolves the conflict with the city council.
- Chicago policeman Schweig is fined $10 and costs by justice Whitney for assaulting cyclist Joe Guinea without just provocation; Schweig appeals to the criminal court, prompting the comment that Chicago policemen may have to learn that the cyclist has rights.
- Prof. Harry Park descends Pike's Peak in 4:10:00 on a single wheel of an ordinary sans saddle, handlebars and pedals, steadying the wheel with a steel bar through the hub; he is left with a sprained ankle, blistered hands and feet, and cramped arms for over a week, calling the ride foolhardy.
- Announcement of the Century Road Club of America's September 4 annual run on the Elgin-Aurora course; 371 started last year, and 800 riders are expected this time with large delegations from Milwaukee, Peoria and St. Louis.
- Thomas C. Allen and William L. Sachleben, who left St. Louis nearly a year ago to ride bicycles around the world, report from Vierny, Russia; a Russian officer persuaded them to cross China via its extreme western point at Kuldja, and they covered 305 miles from Vierny to Kuldja in five and a half days.
- Miss Ada Graves rides Chicago to Elgin and back (nearly 80 miles) in 6:05:00; the Misses Stahl of the West Side ride 55 miles to Fox Lake on cushion-tired machines in 6:03:00 and return two days later at the same 12 mph average.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago quietly defers the Chicago Colored Cycling Club's membership application by referring it to a committee of Erwin, Graham and Salter; at the same meeting the A.C.C. accepts the Chatham Fields Company's offer to manage national and international cycling races at the World's Fair.
- G. Paulsen of the Columbia Wheelmen becomes the first person to complete a Chicago-Milwaukee-Chicago double century, riding 200 miles in 20:15:00 on Sunday August 7, unaccompanied for 175 miles.
- Description of W.B. Thompson's pendulum-based inclinometer for measuring road gradients from a bicycle, inspired by the French Declivometer described in a previous Bearings; the editors call it more convenient than a spirit level but doubt it will find a commercial market.
- Fictional first-person monologue of an ordinary (high-wheel) bicycle from racing glory days through cellar neglect, successive owners and discount sales, to a final comeback re-geared to 61 inches that puts its rider back among the leaders on road and track.
- C.W. Hartung describes England's two cycle trade bodies: the Cycle Manufacturers' and Exhibitors' Association (formed 1889 at the Crystal Palace, with 80 firms signing a Stanley Show boycott bond in 1891) and Henry Sturmey's Cycle Agents' Mutual Protection Association (1888), which stamps hidden marks on hired machines and publishes theft notices in the Cyclist.
- Buffalo Cycle Co. fills growing orders for special 28-inch sulky wheels with pneumatic tires after a trial pair delighted a local horseman; cycle manufacturers are urged to capture the trade before carriage makers move in, and air-tired sulkies are seen as superior to high-wheeled sulkies on curves.
- Report on the collapse of Moffat Cycle Co. of Chicago: a receivership application is denied, the property is sold at sheriff's sale to director Hill on a $8,992 judgment note, and several trade creditors — including Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. and the Wheelmen's Gazette — file an intervening petition claiming the Hill judgment was without consideration and the sale fraudulent.
- Manufacturing process description: bicycle bearings are turned on a lathe to exact dimensions, packed with chemicals into capped gas-pipe tubes, heated to white heat in a gas retort, then shaken onto boards and quenched in water before final polishing.
- Short trade news items: A.P. Castle of Louisville Bicycle Co. visits Chicago; W.A. Rhodes joins Morgan & Wright; English cycle trade is stagnant; the Bison Cycle Co. opens in Buffalo; Roth-Kasten of Milwaukee secures Rover and Speedy agencies; the Derby Cycle Co. announces a 25-pound racer and 30-pound scorcher for 1893.
- Description of the Ariel Cycle Mfg. Co.'s new 32-pound scorcher from Goshen, Indiana — the first '93-pattern wheel off the line, targeted to reach 29 lbs — and their geared ordinary with a curving backbone and ram's-horn handlebars, for which several orders have already been received.