The Bearings, Vol 7, No 19
Articles in this issue
- Eastern L.A.W. divisions led by Massachusetts and Connecticut push for a special National Assembly session over the $11,000 Good Roads Bureau deficit, with President Burdett of Connecticut expected to face calls to resign.
- A special cable reports Zimmerman won the mile open at Dublin and broke the Irish quarter-mile record, but was thrown against the rails in the 25-mile championship, knocking out three teeth and ending his racing for some time.
- The Pullman road race referee and judges adjust several placements, and prize winners assemble at 271 Wabash Avenue to select awards ranging from Columbia bicycles to a cord of wood and sets of Dickens.
- A special dispatch from Hartford reports the Connecticut Senate has amended the Pool Bill to allow race purses and entry fees on regular tracks, saving the Columbia Cycle Club's July 4 race program.
- Charles M. Murphy wins the half-mile open in 1:17 2-5 and the two-mile handicap at the New York Athletic Club games at Traver's Island, continuing his form from the Irvington-Milburn road race.
- The National Cycling Association of America announces a 39-day professional race schedule covering New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and other cities from July through October, with $1,000 a day in prizes at Manhattan Field.
- John S. Johnson of Minneapolis defeats Willie Windle and the field at New Haven's Ansonia track, winning the half-mile and mile open, then ties Zimmerman's track record of 2:19 4-5 for the mile in a special trial paced by Tuttle, Rich, Windle, and Wheeler.
- New York cycling roundup: Campbell returns his contested L.A.W. championship medals and is reinstated after being overlooked by race promoters; police headquarters orders cyclists arrested for exceeding six miles per hour; the Brooklyn Bicycle Club flourishes with the largest membership in the metropolitan district.
- Tom Roe prepares to depart New York on a transcontinental record attempt on a Union P.D.Q. with Dunlop tires and a Sager saddle, aiming to reach Chicago in eleven days and cover the full distance in 55 days, with C.G. Sinsabaugh filing weekly reports for The Bearings.
- Correspondent Nadja humorously recounts the Des Moines Decoration Day road race and the hostile editorial response of a local Iowa newspaper editor who denounced participants as 'hoodlums' for racing on a day set aside for the dead.
- Chicago's new International championship track at the World's Fair grounds is formally accepted from Dolese & Shepard; training tickets go on sale at $2 per month from F.W. Gerould at 108 Madison Street, with morning and evening training hours.
- Boston's cycling week opens with club runs, culminates in the opening of the fast new Waltham track, and closes with a Hyde Park Rovers five-event tournament won by D. Connolly and W.S. Reynolds in the handicap finals.
- W.P. Distler wins the Peoria Bicycle Club's sixth annual ten-mile handicap road race in an exciting wheel-to-wheel finish over George Odell, who makes the fastest actual time on the course and earns a special subscription time medal.
- Eighteen-year-old W.A. Graeper of St. Louis dramatically catches race leader H. Wood in the final yards of the first annual Kansas City road race to win; C. Kindervatter of Kansas City takes the time medal in 30:21, a record west of the Mississippi.
- The Bearings states its editorial mission as a paper serving both the trade and the rider, arguing that this dual role has produced a circulation surpassing every other independent cycling journal.
- A farewell editorial pays tribute to departing editor Louis J. Berger, whose two-year guidance made The Bearings an unqualified success, wishing him well as he joins the staff of a competitor, Cycling Life.
- The editorial condemns reckless cycling after nine-year-old Kate McGlynn is killed on a New York boulevard by a silent rubber-tired bicycle ridden by a man named Clausschmidt, calling on cycling clubs to police their own members rather than rely on municipal ordinances.
- Inter-journal warfare: Lewis of the American Wheelman publishes a snide piece speculating on the backers of Cycling Life, and editor Wardrop fumes back; The Bearings reprints both exchanges and promises to 'cook the goose' of the American Wheelman's editor.
- Department of anecdotes: Tom Eck is alleged to use a doctored stopwatch whose second hand runs slow to manufacture record-breaking times for his riders; a bicycle salesman is left holding a dishonored draft after being swindled by a foot-runner friend in Chicago.
- An English racing man confesses to participating in an arranged half-mile handicap on a wet grass track, losing his entire betting stake when the agreed winner slipped at the last corner and he accidentally sailed in as winner.
- Louis J. Berger advises road racers to avoid toe clips, arguing that the frequent dismounts of road events cost more time than the clips save, and prescribes rat-trap pedals and blockless shoes for novices who ride with their heels in the air.
- Biographical profile of the departing editor: born in Havana, Ill. in 1864, Berger served as private secretary to George Pullman, converted entire office forces to cycling, built the DeSoto road into a cycling landmark, and held the editorship of The Bearings for two years before joining Cycling Life.
- A Denver paper calls road reformer S.T.K. Prime of Dwight, Ill. 'a chucklehead in the employ of Pope, the bicycle builder'; The Bearings takes it as a lesson that good-roads advocates who wade into unrelated political controversies invite exactly this kind of attack.
- New York racing roundup: Frank Waller was unknowingly close to a time prize at Irvington-Milburn; Johnson's sprint has transformed dramatically; Windle's form is declining and he refuses further meetings with Johnson at Worcester and Ansonia; Tuttle is rising rapidly.
- Grand preparations for the L.A.W. New York State meet on June 16-17 in Syracuse, including Johnson attempting to lower Zimmerman's competition record in the 25-mile championship and a novel 40-mile road race converging on the city from Pulaski, Cortland, Lyons, and Utica.
- The newly formed Centaur Road Club of Portsmouth holds its first race, a quarter-mile scratch at 5 a.m. on June 1 at Hon. Frank Jones' grounds, won by J.F. Turner in 37 seconds over J.B. Card in a contest described as the most exciting ever run in the state.
- Forty Atlanta cyclists are arrested for sidewalk riding and riding without lanterns at night after a long-dormant city ordinance is resurrected; they are released with nominal fines and warned to obey the law in future.
- The fourth annual Poorman road race from Hamilton to Cincinnati's Chester Park on July 4 offers a diamond-set time medal weighing 2.5 ounces and costing $157, plus six bicycles; last year's best time was W.C. Rands' 51:32.
- Racing board chairman Schroeder expects nearly 400 entrants and 300 starters in the Waukesha road race with over $1,500 in prizes; Captain Fred Pabst plans a new half-mile bicycle track at Whitefish Bay six miles north of Milwaukee on Lake Shore Drive.
- Historical account of New York cyclists' struggle to enter Central Park, where they were forced to pass an examination and wear a badge; they secured the 'Liberty Bill' declaring bicycles to be carriages, here reprinted in full, by wording it so that horsemen did not understand it until too late.
- A letter from L.A.W. member no. 23,126 attacks the Bicycling World as worthless—going each week from the club table straight to the waste basket—and urges against any proposal to merge Good Roads with it.
- Theodore Smith, Chief Scorcher of the 2:50 Club, returns home on a Saturday evening to find his widowed mother dead, caught in a folding bed and her neck broken; The Bearings extends its sincere sympathy.
- The Chicago Cycling Club will hold a one-day meet on the new World's Fair track on July 1 at 2:30 p.m., with five events including a mile open; the management hopes to secure Osmond for an exhibition half-mile or mile so grandstand spectators can see the great English rider.
- The Prince Wells Road Race and Auditorium Cycle Derby on June 24 in Louisville will draw outside wheelmen to the much-improved gravel course; a two-day tour follows to the Kentucky division meet at Harrodsburg for further racing.
- Dealers Fred McEwen of Elgin and George Webb of Aurora canvas the idea of a 25-mile race on the sand-papered road between the two cities, expected to attract Chicago's top riders and put the 25-mile road record beyond eastern reach.
- Jockeys at the Hawthorne race track embrace cycling to control their weight, declaring it superior to Turkish baths and long walks; Penny is said to be the keenest, insisting the bicycle keeps him at racing weight.
- The Bearings Publishing Company gives Berger a farewell dinner at the Grand Pacific Hotel on June 1, attended only by members and ex-members of the staff; Van Sicklen presents him a gold watch engraved with The Bearings heading in colored enamel, and the dinner toasts are listed in full.
- The Harlem Wheelmen and Manhattan Bicycle Club each have fewer than 100 members, suggesting New York's large athletic clubs—with their broader amenities—will eventually absorb bicycle organizations; in contrast, four Brooklyn clubs are in a healthy, flourishing condition.
- Denver cyclists return from the Brighton run through a dust storm blowing from behind; the Cambridgeport Cycle Club holds its annual 15-mile road race won by Ed Kehew in 47:20 from the limit mark, with Tom James setting the club time record from scratch in 45:10.
- Fifteen-year-old George N. Adams of Jacksonville, Fla., dominates the Cumberland Island meet near Atlanta, winning the one-mile open in 2:17 by 100 yards, the two-mile in 6:20, and the quarter-mile in 36 seconds—finishing 200 yards clear in the mile.
- The long-running elliptical sprocket controversy is settled by a letter from Hartford's F.S. Luther, who argues the sprocket shape is theoretically immaterial to power output and that only riders—not computers—can judge any practical advantage.
- Baltimore news: the Chesapeake Wheelmen lose their treasurer amid internal conflict; Bay Ridge resort on the Chesapeake Bay plans a first-class cycle track; the B.&O. pattern makers schedule a race meet for June 12.
- The Detroit Wheelmen protest The Bearings' coverage of their May 30 road race: F.H. Herrick rode 25 miles in 1:14:00 flat, breaking the world's competitive record, and eleven riders all broke Hoyland Smith's previous mark.
- Brief items: a theatrical company of six men and two women will cycle from New York to Chicago taking in towns along the way; His Highness Jagajit Singh Maharajah of Kapurthatla exercises on a tricycle powered by two natives.
- Comprehensive European racing report covering Zimmerman's victories across Scotland and England—including a new Scottish flying-quarter record at Celtic Park and wins at Newcastle—and Sanger's Continental campaign including a win at Brussels.
- Detailed report on the Hospital Charity Sports at Herne Hill before 15,000 to 20,000 spectators including the Lord Mayor; Sanger wins his heat but finishes third in the second round of the half-mile, and his saddle fails in the five-mile race ultimately won by Lewis Stroud of Oxford.
- Special correspondent G.W. Hartung accompanies London County Cycling Club's 27-strong party to Ghent and Brussels; Sanger wins the King's prize in the international mile open at Brussels, presented in person by King Leopold, and sets a new English and Continental record for the last quarter in 28 3-5 seconds.
- Veteran English trainer Harry Leeming disputes credit given to Sturmey and Hillier for the use of whistle-signaling in racing, delivers a scathing attack on both men's integrity, and reveals that Mecredy's celebrated 25-mile tricycle championship win came only after Leeming revived the faltering Irishman with half a pint of warm brandy—an act Mecredy never acknowledged.
- Directory of Century Road Club officers and state centurions, listing representatives from President W.A. Skinkle in Cleveland through state centurions in Alabama, Colorado, England, France, and more than twenty other states and territories.
- A passage reprinted from Outing by Grace E. Denison describes the recklessly fast cycling culture of Dublin—hooters, bell-ringers, and speed merchants scattering pedestrians—contrasted with the more decorous pace of Canadian wheeling she had returned to.
- Captain Root of the Chicago Cycling Club hires noted sprinter Ed Moulton as trainer for the coming season to develop the club's strong pool of racing talent.
- Feature on the cyclists' training retreat in Indianapolis founded by L.D. 'Birdie' Munger and run by Harry Leeming: an eight-room house with portraits of cycling celebrities, a cycle stable and gymnasium at the back, and meals of two-inch steaks with chickens kept live on the premises for two weeks before serving.
- The Bearings analyzes the Warwick and Majestic price cuts, concluding the Warwick reduction from $150 to $95 signals financial distress rather than a general market shift; Hilarion of the Chicago Post argues the public cannot be sure quality would survive a major price reduction.
- Reprinted from the Cycle Trade Journal: two unnamed inventors have developed a self-closing air tube treatment and an impenetrable cotton-wool non-puncture pad; a Dunlop tube riddled with pins and nails showed no air escape, and the journal prophesies a great future for both inventions.
- M.A. Woodbury of Bradford, Pa., offers an automatic dry chain lubricator and duster weighing half an ounce and retailing at 25 cents, said to keep the chain clean and lubricated without rattling, oil-scattering, or risk of damage to the machine.
- G.B. Cooper of Sparbrook Cycle Co., Coventry, demonstrates flat-sheet steel stampings pressed into shape as a lighter, cheaper replacement for drop forgings in cycle construction, with sets priced from 10 to 85 cents; the main limitation is ensuring reliable brazed joints.
- Philadelphia's Bretz & Curtis Mfg. Co. announce they are relinquishing the bicycle trade entirely to focus on their Solid Comfort Saddles, transferring the Quinton-Scorcher agency and wholesale business to Pennsylvania Bicycle Co. at 1343 Arch Street.
- Trade report from Portsmouth: seventeen agencies now represent 28 makes of machine with Clark & Co. dominant in Victors and Ramblers; a local mechanic has patents pending on a chainless safety he claims can reach 35 miles per hour.
- Twelve James bicycles, all under 26 pounds, finished the second Pullman road race without a single breakdown; George Emerson won the third time prize on a James track racer.
- Stearns bicycles score at New Haven with Johnson winning the half-mile open in 1:17 and the mile open in 2:28 over Tuttle, both on Stearns racers; W.H. Wells rode a Stearns 'A' road wheel to fourth-fastest time at Irvington-Milburn, covering the last five miles in 14:20.
- Walter Scott of Lafayette, Ind., poses a practical puzzle from his Raleigh racer: changing from a 64-inch to a 72-inch elliptical sprocket requires only one extra chain link, the same as for a 68-inch round sprocket, and asks experts to explain the mechanical reason.
- S.D. Mott of Passaic, N.J., argues that ordinary brakes are inadequate for pneumatic tires and proposes an illustrated combined brake-and-mud-guard device that applies retarding force over a larger surface area, reducing destructive pressure per square inch on the delicate tire.
- List of recently issued bicycle-related patents from inventors across Detroit, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Chicago, covering umbrella attachments, vehicle wheels, a tire-tightener, a polycycle, a bicycle stand, and wheel tires.