The Bearings, Vol 7, No 25
Articles in this issue
- The Racing Board's mail vote reinstates the amateur standing of John S. Johnson and F. H. Tuttle: the vote stood 3-3 on Johnson's purity and was unanimous for Tuttle, resolving their controversy with the National Cycling Association.
- A New York daily alleged that H. C. Wheeler received $500 to join the NCA rather than competing for purses; the New York letter also reports that the Metropolitan Association of Cycling Clubs has not yet secured a track for its planned September tournament and criticizes handicapper F. P. Prial's poor work this season.
- J. W. Linneman of the Press Cycling Club of Buffalo wins the Atalanta Wheelmen's 100-mile road race over the Newark-Princeton course in 5:48:45, setting a new American road record; six other riders also broke the previous record of 6:54:59, and the Newark Wheelmen won a piano for bringing in 32 finishers.
- Boston will see no NCA professional racing this season after W. B. Bradstreet declined to fund the venture and franchise holders Morse and McGunnigle lacked capital; the Maiden Bicycle Club will hold an electric-light meet at Waltham on July 24, featuring Zimmerman, the McDuffees, Porter, Taylor, and Windle; Guy Gary's letter describes how he beat John S. Johnson in the mile open at a recent western meet.
- The second annual Como road race over 25 miles at Como Park, St. Paul, attracted 7,000 spectators; Berney B. Bird won the time prize in 1:13:03 3-5 with George T. Biggs doing most of the pacemaking, while Charles J. Turnquist of Minneapolis took first place prize.
- At the Waco Wheel Club tournament, R. M. Tidd of St. Louis defeated Tom Parker of Waco in the five-mile open in 13:37 1-2, breaking the southern record; the Waco board track also established new southern records for the quarter-mile (:32 1-2), half-mile (1:13), one-mile (2:37), and two-mile (5:35).
- The Telegram Cycle Club of Milwaukee charges that a Milwaukee Wheelmen member wrote to L.A.W. official Irwin asking him to withhold sanction for the Telegram's July 29 race meet, which conflicted with the Wheelmen's own August international meet; Irwin granted the sanction anyway and prizes worth $1,600 including bicycles and a $500 piano have been assembled.
- At Rockville, Conn., A. A. Zimmerman was beaten by Tyler and Windle in the half-mile open and failed to win the one-mile handicap; Walter Sanger had followed Zimmerman to the meet but declined to race on the poor-condition track, prompting questions about whether he feared testing his speed against Zimmerman.
- A. T. Crooks won the time prize in the second annual Queen City Wheelmen's road race in Toronto in 1:01:43 over a 20-mile course, while W. R. Hensel won the overall race with a 4-minute handicap; 136 of 173 entries started and 100 finished.
- Three members of the Pittsburg Century Club—Edward Locke, G. E. Williams, and W. J. Brant—completed the 588-mile ride from Pittsburgh to Chicago in fewer than eight and a half days, averaging 112 miles per day and breaking the previous record.
- Editor Barrett presents F. W. Gerould's defense of the L.A.W.'s contract with the Chicago Base Ball Club: Gerould argues no suitable Chicago land was available at reasonable cost, the ball club's South Side lease had already lapsed, and the five-year deal secured $30,000–$40,000 in improvements to an enlarged plot.
- Reprinted in full from Philadelphia Cycling, an appeal for all wheelmen to attend the international L.A.W. championships at Chicago in early August, arguing that the World's Fair and the prospect of racing between the fastest American and foreign riders make this an unmissable week of pleasure.
- Editor Barrett's column retracts endorsement of a Harry Leeming letter that disparaged the English cycling press (Sturmey, Hillier, et al.); discusses England's 'England for the English' calls to bar Zimmerman and Sanger from N.C.U. championships after four successive foreign wins; and questions whether Sanger's refusal to race at Rockville betrayed a faint heart.
- George Lacy Hillier's essay from Bicycling News defends the N.C.U.'s conditional license scheme as a practical remedy for trade-supported amateurism, arguing it has successfully deterred prominent riders from being absorbed by the trade while the N.C.U. exercises its authority judiciously.
- Captain Slusser of the Lincoln C.C. inspired nineteen-year-old Miss Grace Smith of Saginaw, Mich., one of the city's leading lady riders, to write a poem set to the tune of 'After the Ball' about his Pullman course ride; the first stanza and chorus are printed.
- The Maryland division L.A.W. mile championship was awarded to Walter Wilmer of the Clifton Club after original winner J. M. White failed to renew his league membership; the Gentlemen's Pleasure and Cycling Club opened its new clubhouse on the old Pimlico road on July 15 with plans to build a third-mile track.
- Third installment of Edward H. Elwell Jr.'s cycling tour: the party visits Senlis with its newly excavated Roman arena, 27 old stone churches, and the hotel room once occupied by John L. Sullivan before his fight with Charley Mitchell, then proceeds to Chantilly where the Duc d'Aumale's chateau grounds display elaborate French landscape gardening and the famous carp swarm under the bridge.
- Handicapper M. J. Fleck discovers the Prince Wells road race course was 8.25 miles rather than the 10 miles he assumed when setting handicaps, arguing the additional 1.75 miles would have bunched four or more riders at the finish and that it was not his duty as handicapper to act as surveyor.
- T. J. Pomeroy, an American resident of Guadalajara, Mexico, introduced a bicycle to the city after ordering one from Chicago; the mayor approved so strongly that he ordered the public square cleared each evening for bicycle riding, and demand for wheels has made Pomeroy's American bicycle business profitable at $300 Mexican money per wheel.
- Signed G.K.B., a detailed guide for race meet organizers covering track preparation, date-setting to join a circuit, attracting crack riders with prizes and sub-rosa expenses, press relations, programme design limited to eight or nine events with three open scratch races and time limits to prevent loafing, and a sample programme with $2,400–$2,700 in prizes.
- A comic verse by 'Effibi,' reprinted from Bicycling News, written in the voice of a cheap bicycle that bends, buckles, squeaks, punctures, and smashes—a parody of Tennyson's 'The Brook' applied to the tribulations of a poorly made cycle.
- A Bolton (England) Wheeler correspondent reports an interview with Laurens Meintjes, champion of South Africa and holder of the one- and two-mile American road records, who complains that no one welcomed him on arrival in England but now that he holds records everyone is ready to bow and scrape.
- The Bearings recommends Windsor Park, a lakeside suburb just south of the World's Fair grounds, as the ideal destination for Chicago club runs, describing its water toboggan slide, Lake Michigan bathing, open-air concerts, and macadam road access; captains of the Lincoln C.C. and Cook County Wheelmen have agreed to lead runs there.
- At Herne Hill on July 8, South African L. S. Meintjes broke R. L. Ede's one-hour record (24 miles 384 yards in 60 minutes) and U. L. Lambley's 25-mile mark (1:01:51 2-5); London correspondent C. W. Hartung also covers F. W. Shorland's N.C.U. conditional license appeal and E. Dance's world-record 100-mile Surrey ride of 4:43:58 1-5.
- The Bearings publishes weekly circulation figures for January through June 1893, showing a 26-week total of 254,361 copies averaging 9,783 per week, with May and June averages exceeding 10,000—figures the paper claims rival publications dare not print.
- Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. circular to agents declares no reduction in the $150 list price of the 1893 Rambler will follow the Warwick company's cut to $85, citing stable trade, full-capacity production, and a promise to rebate dealers if 1894 catalogue prices fall.
- Workpeople of the Quinton Cycle Works, Coventry, presented Princess Victoria Mary (Princess May of Teck) a bespoke lady's bicycle as a wedding gift: enameled in olive green with real gold striping, ivory handle grips, pneumatic tires, silk dress guard, and all fittings enclosed in crimson Lyons velvet-lined morocco.
- Profile of R. M. Woodhead, director and mechanical genius of the Raleigh Cycle Co. of Nottingham: a self-made man who began as a mechanic at Humber & Co., saved money while working in America, co-founded Raleigh, and invented the so-called Humber frame and the changeable sprocket-wheel.
- Race calendar listing events from July 21 through September 27, including the Cuca Cup 24-hour race at Herne Hill, the Hilsendegen 25-mile road race at Detroit, the Telegram C.C. meet in Milwaukee, the Illinois division and international L.A.W. championships at Chicago (August 7–12), and the Hartford Wheel Club's annual tournament.
- The Western Wheel Works, whose factory at Wells, Schiller, and Sigel streets is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the country, displays 19 patterns of cycles and baby carriages in the north end of the Transportation Building at the World's Fair, with looking-glass backdrops, large arches, and a cozy central pavilion office.
- W. Herrick ('Billy,' the 'Pink Centurion') delivers a testimonial letter from H. H. Wylie praising the Sterling bicycle: Wylie finished ninth in the Atalanta 100-mile Newark race in 6:15:20 on a 22-pound Sterling with M.&W. tires—the only back-mark wheel to complete the race unscathed while Waller, Van Wagoner, Blauvelt, and both Coffin brothers suffered mechanical failures.
- Cycle exhibitors in the Transportation Building gallery report improved attendance after Chief Willard Smith posted directional signs and added band music; highlights include the Yost Mfg. Co. selling five Falcons on one Tuesday, Gormully & Jeffery displaying the world's largest pneumatic tire (10 feet in diameter), and a home trainer where a boy attendant challenges all comers.
- Trade dispatches: the Hill Cycle Mfg. Co. is building a 17-pound racing wheel; Woodrough & Hanchett Co. report their largest sales of the season; Mr. Hazlewood of Warman & Hazlewood has arrived from England; the senior partner of March-Davis Cycle Co. is mourning his wife's sudden death; and promoters are seeking to form a giant combine of Coventry cycle makers.
- Comprehensive tables of current American track records in competition (quarter-mile to 25-mile) and best track records against time, listing holders including A. A. Zimmerman, W. W. Windle, W. C. Sanger, Hoyland Smith, and J. S. Johnson, plus road records in competition from 15 to 100 miles led by W. B. Hurlburt (Detroit, June 24) and J. W. Linneman (Newark, July 15).