The Bearings, Vol 7, No 11
Articles in this issue
- President William A. Skinkle's open letter to Century Road Club of America members announces appointments to five national committees and state centurions for over 25 states, and directs that 1893 dues ($2) be paid to secretary Joseph D. Guinea at 400 Monon Building, Chicago.
- Edward Meglemery Jr. of Louisville — 28-year-old road rider, vice president of the Louisville Cycle Club, and real estate agent — is appointed to the National Racing Board to replace W.W. Watts, who resigned due to pressure on his growing law practice.
- Col. Burdett protests before the Connecticut legislature's judiciary committee against an anti-pool room bill that, as written, would prohibit cycle racing by outlawing any stakes or prizes in competition; dropping the word 'staked' may resolve the conflict.
- Zimmerman and Wheeler competed in six races at Savannah, Georgia on April 8 in strong winds; Wheeler won the quarter-mile open in :35 to Zimmerman's :35 1-5 and the one-mile handicap, though newspaper reports and the Bearings correspondent conflict on how many races Zimmerman lost.
- Willis B. Troy is made general manager of the National Cyclists' Association at its New York governing board meeting, required to be present at all race meetings; Boston is admitted to the Association and Cincinnati's application is taken under consideration.
- Boston chief consul George A. Perkins, when asked whether he would stand for L.A.W. president, declines to commit either way, citing heavy business demands from his Massachusetts division duties and suggesting Gerould would make a strong candidate.
- St. Louis cyclists banquet world-bicycle-tourists Thomas G. Allen Jr. and W.L. Sachtleben at the Metropolitan restaurant, with toasts on 'Touring on the Bicycle,' 'The World on Wheels,' and 'The L.A.W.' delivered by chief consul Robert Holm.
- Chairman Raymond completes the eastern portion of the international cycling circuit with dates from September 2 (Birmingham, Conn., Crescent Cycle Club) through September 30 (New York, Kings County Wheelmen), including Hartford, Lynn, Boston A.C.C., Springfield, New York M.A.C.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia.
- H.C. Martin of Buffalo will personally organize his second annual twenty-five mile handicap road race on Decoration Day, with a committee including sporting editors from the Buffalo Courier and Buffalo News; seventeen entries already received and a $1 entrance fee.
- The California Association of Cycling Clubs votes to hold its annual meet and excursion at San Jose on September 9, and limits medals as prizes to genuinely important events such as district or state championships or record-breaking rides.
- L.A.W. Racing Board member L.A. Miller refuses to grant a sanction for the Massachusetts division spring meet in Boston, claiming Worcester applied first; President Burdett travels to Boston to meet Chief Consul Perkins, an appeal goes to the Executive Committee, and the Bearings correspondent warns of a national assembly call if the appeal is not sustained.
- World's Fair director D.H. Burnham plans a 325-foot wooden cycle storage building inside the 62nd street entrance, divided into 20 compartments each holding 25 wheels and including a ladies' room and gentlemen's toilet, estimated to cost $3,500.
- A troupe of Beduins performing twice daily inside the Chicago Base Ball Park oval will prevent racing men from using the new cycling track for training and block a planned inaugural meet on the Fourth of July, complicating the season for Chicago's racing community.
- Five Chicago riders including Van Sicklen, Bliss, Wagner, and Werner train to Hamilton and ride the Cincinnati Poorman hill course; Bliss collides with a cow three miles from Chester Park and breaks his racing wheel, while Van Sicklen coasts brakeless down the steep Gilbert avenue hill to the astonishment of pedestrians.
- A plan is afoot among Chicago wheelmen to take visiting English cyclist F.J. Osmond over the rough average country roads around Chicago — deliberately avoiding the smoother Elgin-Aurora course — to correct English misconceptions about American cycling conditions.
- Miscellaneous Chicago cycling items: A.J. Stackpole hired as trainer to the Lincoln C.C.; the Lake View C.C. moves to new quarters at 401 Orchard street; the Polish Cycling Club renames to the Chicago Polish Cycling Club with 52 riding members; racing man Fred H. Brown marries Miss Gertrude Norton of Elkhart, Ind.
- Walter C. Sanger undergoes a four-week training regimen under Prof. Culver at the Milwaukee Boxing and Fencing Club, including light gymnastics, sparring, and a new drill; his chest expansion has increased two inches and body circumference one-and-a-quarter inches, with leg work kept minimal as his legs are considered already fully developed.
- The Bearings restates its editorial policy as a medium between manufacturer, dealer, and rider, and argues that the L.A.W.'s Wheelman Company organ contract has outlived its usefulness to both the League and the publishers and probably could not be renewed even if desired.
- Analysis of the N.C.U. licensing scheme newly adopted in Britain, noting its chief value is allowing the organization to refuse licenses to paid riders, with debate about whether unlicensed semi-professionals should also be controlled in a distinct class at two shillings sixpence per license.
- Quoting Philadelphia's 'Brakespeare,' The Bearings criticizes American cyclists Spooner and Waller for publicly announcing plans to race in England and then canceling without adequate explanation, while Waller pivots to a 24-hour American record attempt and Spooner to a transcontinental ride.
- Editorial speculates on the future of the L.A.W.'s official organ, suggesting the League may attach a supplement to Good Roads or issue a weekly bulletin, and argues that division organs emerging in Pennsylvania and Kentucky represent a natural evolution away from a single national cycling newspaper.
- The Bearings retracts its previous week's criticism of L.A.W. Secretary Bassett, now assured from a reliable source that he supported the Wheelman Company not out of favoritism but to demonstrate the value of a weekly cycling organ to League members.
- Editorial praises President Skinkle's thorough and careful Century Road Club appointments, noting he has begun correspondence with non-member states, is planning traveling centurions and a relay ride, and brings earnest ambition to the presidency despite heavy business commitments.
- New regular miscellany column covering J. Wade McGowan's dual role as national rules committee chairman and Pennsylvania division vice-consul, commentary on gaudily colored cycles, Henry Sturmey's error about L.A.W. membership requirements, Zimmerman's early-season form at Savannah, the March Good Roads magazine, St. Louis road races in Pike County and Forest Park, G.P. Mills' attempt on the Land's End to John o'Groats record, and southern L.A.W. members threatening to secede at Brunswick, Ga. over the color-line vote at Philadelphia.
- Column by 'Bovay' noting the surprising prevalence of spectacle-wearing cyclists on Chicago's Cycle Row in spring, followed by a humorous meditation on the pleasures and frustrations of overhauling an old bicycle — barked knuckles, diabolical chains, and the satisfaction of reinflating the tire after reassembly.
- London correspondent C.W. Hartung reports on the Stanley Club's 33-member Easter tour through Derbyshire visiting Chatsworth House, Castleton's mines and caves, and Haddon Hall; separately, Atkinson, Bates, and Fred Cooper complete a 60-mile Hydrocycle trial on the Thames from Goring to Moulsey in 10:10, aiming to beat the existing Oxford-to-London sculling record of 22:30.
- Denver correspondent reports thousands of cyclists out daily, the annual 25-mile road race promising a Gerwing-vs-Boles contest for the L.A.W. division championship, new clubs forming at Fort Collins and Boulder, and the legislature's appropriation of $98,000 for roads and bridges pending the governor's signature.
- Pueblo, Colorado correspondent reports that after two months of testing, riders are switching back from elliptical to round sprockets: the elliptical has failed to climb Second Street hill (where the round succeeds geared to 54-63 inches), twisted crankshafts in six machines, and left riders generally dissatisfied after centuries and long hilly runs.
- Kansas City, Missouri correspondent reports that new light machines are making ladies' cycling clubs a real possibility, thirty Kansas City Cyclists rode to Waldo and Raytown on Sunday, and B.C. Howard and C. Douthat completed a century to Lawrence, Kansas, with Howard riding the last 23 miles on one foot after breaking a pedal, both using Imperials.
- Omaha correspondent reports the Y.M.C.A. Cyclers are building a quarter-mile track at the old ball park and the Tourist C.C. has opened a new club house; the state meet will be at Lincoln, and the Omaha Wheel Club will hold a road race on May 30.
- The Wilmington-Philadelphia road race has taken tangible shape and will likely run late next month; the Century Wheelmen of Philadelphia appoint a committee to establish a monthly club paper, and the Philadelphia Item donates a silver cup for the club with the most runs and largest attendance.
- A prominent Salt Lake City ticket broker offers a Lady Cleveland bicycle to the most popular lady rider in the city, with Miss Emily Kaatz leading at 5,345 votes and Miss Lottie Levy second at 4,936; Mr. Cameron of the Rapid Transit Co. is negotiating with Chief Consul Emise to build a cycling track.
- Indiana cycling column by 'Punch' of Crawfordsville covering the disappointing expulsion of Birdie Munger's amateur status, Chief Consul Thomas Hay's doubled March business, the Indiana legislature's defeat of a bill requiring cyclists to dismount for horse-drawn vehicles, and Lou Keck of H.T. Hearsey & Co. now serving as dog-catcher for his employer's kennels.
- Argues that cycling time records made with pacemakers are legitimately comparable to horse-trotting records made with drivers, since both man and horse respond most powerfully to human example and encouragement, and neither achieves peak performance alone.
- International cycling news: F. Howard Harvey of Baltimore breaks Maryland's 24-hour record at 186 miles; Zimmerman to open the new Brussels track; G.P. Mills recently covered 14 miles on the road in 39 minutes while training for his Land's End to John o'Groats attempt; Bay State B.C. plans $3,000 in prizes for Worcester meet May 29-30; Diamond Wheelmen of Detroit organize with 70 members.
- Humorous fictional sketch by 'Bro. Stainkorth' depicting a meeting of the Boneshaker Bicycle Club — a Black cycling club — at Farmer Jobson's barn, where president Elliptic Scoggins announces the treasurer has absconded to Toronto with the cash box containing thirteen dollars, laundry checks, pawn tickets, and a plan of a neighbor's hen roost.
- Technical note arguing that track riders position cleats toward the toe for greater ankle throw and sprinting power, while road riders position them toward the middle of the foot for greater thigh power; riders who cross between track and road should move their cleats half an inch accordingly.
- Report that George Lacy Hillier's latest experiment on the Ripley road is a disc-wheeled front-driver with a very long backbone, drawing crowds of curious onlookers and described by Wheeling as resembling a garden-roller being dragged along by its handle.
- Race and meet calendar for May through September 1893, including the 50-mile road race at Clarksville, Mo. on May 8, the Pullman road race and Martin road race on Decoration Day, the L.A.W. Annual Meet in Chicago August 5-12 alongside the International Race Meet, and the Hartford Wheel Club's September tournament at Charter Oak Park.
- Editorial argues that of L.A.W.'s 35,000 members fewer than 10,000 are likely immediate purchasers and the great majority of sales go to people who never subscribed to cycling papers, urging average manufacturers to prioritize independent papers with genuine voluntary subscribers over organ-distributed publications.
- Denver dealers organize a bicycle insurance scheme to protect themselves and buyers against the city's high rate of wheel theft, particularly targeting wheels on which dealers hold chattel mortgages; the idea is considered equally applicable in Chicago after a buyer's wheel was stolen within two hours of purchase.
- Judge Grosscup of the Federal Court in Chicago sustains lower court decisions imposing a 45 percent import duty on manufactured metal bicycle rims, defeating rim makers who had been paying under protest hoping for a full refund; the effect on future rim imports remains to be seen.
- Trade news: Ariel Cycle Co.'s Charles H. Parker marries Miss Mamie Shaefer; Monarch Cycle Co. opens a downtown Chicago branch at Wabash and Van Buren; L.M. Richardson places the Monarch agency with Milwaukee Buggy Co.; J.E. Poorman of Cincinnati moves to a six-story building on west 5th street after May 1; San Francisco trade is dull with W.J. Kenny selling the Elliptic from C.F. Marwedel's store.
- Judge Dallas refuses the Garford Mfg. Co.'s request for a preliminary injunction against Bretz & Curtis Mfg. Co. of Philadelphia over the Solid Comfort saddle; president George R. Curtis of Bretz & Curtis denies any infringement, though Garford notes the refusal does not reduce its chances in the main suit.
- Trade reviews and catalogue notes covering Denver's booming Cycle Row dealers led by the Overman Company; B.W. Cole climbing Colorado Springs' Second Street hill on a Victor Model B round sprocket geared to 54; C.L. Barker of Pittsfield, Mass. finding a perceptible uphill gain with the elliptical sprocket; and catalogue assessments for James Cycle Importing Co., Rouse Hazard & Co. (3,300 cycles in stock), Rouse-Duryea's Scorcher Sylph, Bradshaw's Young America boys' wheel at $15, and Remington's 42-pound women's safety.
- Frank Douglas of Kenwood Mfg. Co. provides a detailed mathematical and mechanical rebuttal of Lt. Parker's defense of elliptical sprockets, demonstrating a net gain of 7 lbs. 4 oz. for round gears through the most effective portion of the stroke, including an endorsement by W.H.V. Rosing, mechanical engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, who concludes the elliptical's days are already numbered.
- An English Pneumatic Tire Development Co. with capital of $50,000 has been formed not to manufacture tires but to acquire conflicting tire patents — including the Lovelace, Manhole, and Holt designs — and sell or license them to the trade.
- Kansas City trade notes: Premier agency awarded to American Bicycle Co.; Inter-State Bicycle Co. open a new store for Cleveland and Victor; Quinton Scorcher sold for the first time by Kansas City Bicycle Co.; Luburg Mfg. Co. now running their factory day and night to meet demand for ball-bearing pneumatic-tired baby carriages and invalid rolling chairs.