The Bearings, Vol 8, No 12
Articles in this issue
- Major feature on planned record assaults: John S. Johnson will attempt records at Minneapolis and Nashville using a horse-paced aluminum cowcatcher shield built on top of the track fence, while Zimmerman prepares a procession of singles, tandems, triplets, and a Winton quadruplet at Hartford; Eck's aggregation expects a mile inside 1:50.
- Theodore Kirchner of the North Side Cycling Club, with a nine-minute handicap, wins the Milwaukee Wheelmen's 12-mile road race and a $250 piano, finishing a full furlong ahead of the field while scratch riders Osmun and Peck fail to gain; E.W. Roth of Milwaukee Wheelmen takes first time prize in 36:37.
- A.W. Harris reduces the English mile record to 2:04 1-5 at Herne Hill, paced by tandem safeties; C.G. Wridgway then wins the Anchor Shield 12-hour race at Herne Hill with 240 miles 690 yards—a world record—with Horton second and Arthur Linton third; Robertson also sets a new Brighton-and-back tricycle record, cutting 10 minutes 54 seconds off Bowen's time.
- Jimmie Clark is still awaiting his $450 second-time prize from Detroit dealer George Hilsendegen after the Belle Isle road race, having been shown a fine buggy and harness in a store window only to receive a ramshackle substitute; a compromise watch has never arrived and Clark threatens suit for the full prize value.
- A two-day cycle meet at Mitchell, South Dakota, on a smooth half-mile trotting track; B.B. Bird of Minneapolis dominates the open events, winning the two-mile open in 7:07 and the five-mile open in 15:16, while R.N. Riblet of Aberdeen takes the state quarter-mile and one-mile championships; strong winds hamper times on the first day.
- Milwaukee's Walter Sanger and trainer C.R. Culver have split after 'more or less friction'; Sanger denies he was out of condition on his eastern trip, citing close finishes with Tyler and Windle on bad Pennsylvania tracks, while Culver blames candy-eating and lack of conditioning and plans to open a Springfield gymnasium.
- E.V. Miner of Indianapolis defeats J.P. Bliss and O.S. Brandt at the Lockwood Cycling Club meet in Jacksonville, Illinois, winning the one-mile open in 3:24 2-5 and the two-mile handicap in 5:21 3-5, catching Brandt off guard with a powerful rush into the stretch.
- Ed H. Crominger of Covington, Kentucky, rebukes anonymous attacks in the Southern Wheelman on division officers W.W. Watts and Johnson, arguing their $60-each expense claim for the Philadelphia L.A.W. assembly was reasonable and that their fight to draw the color line in the national constitution brought Kentucky national standing.
- At Springfield, Mass., Windle lowers the two-thirds-mile record from 1:24 2-5 to 1:16 1-5 and clips the three-mile record to 6:43 before stomach trouble forces him to stop; McDuffee and Clark also lower the flying half-mile tandem record from 1:00 1-5 to :58.
- Willis B. Troy, veteran newspaper man and cycling expert and former manager of Zimmerman's New York Athletic Club team, will represent The Bearings in New York and the East from November 1 at Room 5, 21 Park Row.
- Editorial argues that the current slashing of bicycle prices will benefit the sport long-term: second-rate makers with first-rate prices have been driven out, quality wheels are now affordable to buyers who previously could not spend $150, and more machines have been sold this summer and fall than ever before despite dull times.
- Editorial attacks Springfield partisans who circulated dispatches claiming John S. Johnson had repudiated his Independence, Iowa records; Mr. DeVore of the Freeport Bicycle Co. accepts the blame for not filing proof with the Racing Board and promises to send a man to Independence to gather signatures.
- Weekly column: the Irish Cyclist declares NCU licensing a failure against 'makers' amateurism'; Rudyard Kipling describes a tricycle as a 'devil-carriage'; 'Quilly' Rich retires from cycling to join his father's paint business; the editor defends Zimmerman as champion of champions over distance specialists Shorland and Bidlake; Sam Clark of Baltimore won sixty of sixty-two patent suits brought by Colonel Pope; and a story of how C.H. Plumb earned himself a job managing Clark's Washington store.
- Profile of Wilbur Edwards of San Jose, who rode a mile in 2:15 at Sacramento despite suffering from boils, cutting the Pacific coast record by 11 4-5 seconds and proving himself champion of the coast; 5 feet 3 inches, stocky, quiet, and unassuming.
- Satirical fiction in which Stuyvesant De Lancey Hennessy threatens to trade his tandem for a lightweight road racer after Veronica Cleopatra Hannigan's father insists she marry wealthy young Mr. Trader; the threat of losing their tandem century runs persuades her to consent.
- A Black cyclist joins the rear of the St. Louis county tour and Chief Consul Bob Holm confirms he has as much legal right to the road as anyone; younger riders plan harassment but the man quietly disappears into a lane; the editor draws a sharp parallel with India's Sudra caste forced to yield to Brahmins, concluding 'we are infinitely worse than the Pharisees.'
- Humorous story from a cycling party's road-hog tales: eight wheelmen near Naperville dismount and prepare for a confrontation with an oncoming buggy driver, only to find he politely turns out and pleasantly enquires about their run, leaving the cyclists 'a complete and ornate set of jackasses.'
- Satirical sketch of Frank Egan's comically failed attempt in broken franglais to recruit French amateur cyclists for the National Cycling Association's Cash Prize League; the Frenchman grasps only 'cash' and 'grand prix' before noting he has never won a prize race—explaining why the N.C.A. will have no French amateurs next year.
- Profile of Chicago racing cyclist Gus Steele, who debuted in the 1892 Pullman century on a heavy Columbia, trained at Hammond, Indiana, and swept pot-hunting meets at Grand Rapids, Ionia, and Adrian in 1893 after a strong showing on the circuit; small, lively, and a crowd favorite.
- Essay on the doubling of women cyclists this season: with pneumatic tires and chain guards eliminating vibration and weight, women now ride faster and farther than ever; the author and the wheelmen she has consulted agree that the only satisfactory solution to the costume question is knickerbockers, jacket, and hose—abandoning the skirt entirely.
- The Cyclist of England donates a $275 bronze repousee shield for the International Cyclists' Association world championships, bearing the arms of eleven nations; also short items on a planned Chicago indoor meet at Tattersall's, C.R. Curtis winning the Lincoln Cycling Club ten-mile road race in 32:06, and Duke Hill of Louisville riding 228 miles in 17 hours on the road.
- Profile of 21-year-old Julian Pye Bliss—subject of the colored supplement portrait—who stands 5 feet 3 inches and weighs just over 120 pounds; as a Rambler team member in 1893 he has led all teammates in wins and is dubbed the 'Little Zimmerman,' described as at all times 'a perfect gentleman and a credit to the sport.'
- At the Kansas City Athletic Club October 11-12 meet, Johnson rides a mile in 2:14 4-5—record for a quarter-mile track—and wins the half-mile final; Tom Eck overrules referee Brewster to have two races that exceeded time limits stand after threatening to withdraw Johnson; Burt surprises Eck by outsprinting both Knisely and Johnson in a pacing role.
- The Metropolitan Association of Cycling Clubs seeks to have Central Park's east and west drives illuminated at night after many near-accidents between cyclists and carriages in the dark; police are rigidly enforcing the lamp ordinance even for accidental extinctions; the editor rejects Casper Whitney's claim that Racing Board Chairman Raymond protects shamateurs, citing the Taxis and Murphy cases.
- Tom Eck plans to protest Tyler's flying quarter-mile record of :25 4-5 at Hartford, arguing the horse track is about two feet four inches short of a true quarter-mile on the inside line, and that timers took Tyler's body rather than his front wheel crossing the quarter pole.
- Nominations announced for the Illinois Division of the League of American Wheelmen: A.A. Billingsley of Springfield and Charles E. Randall of Chicago for chief consul, Burton F. White for secretary-treasurer, and eleven candidates vying for four First District representative seats; ballots to be mailed shortly.
- At the Oskaloosa, Iowa cycling club's first meet, Iowa state records fall in the half, one, and two-mile events; L.C. Sutherland wins the half-mile novice in 1:09 3-4, C.W. Ashley wins the one-mile open in 2:29 1-2, and Russell Condon takes the two-mile handicap from scratch in 5:01.
- Regular column: Sanger now weighs 205 pounds; Louis Block lowers the Colorado mile record to 2:24 1-4 at Colorado Springs; Lacy Hillier defeats J.E. Dixon in a walking match; Fred Werner rides 100 miles in 7 hours flat at Detroit, lowering the state record by 30 minutes; C.F. Henry completes a San Francisco-to-Chicago ride in 50.5 actual riding days; and the Buffalo Bicycle Club is disbanding.
- Interview with the assignee of the bankrupt Taylor Cycle Company: he predicts 1894 list prices of $125 for roadsters, $135 for medium light wheels, and $150 for racing machines; argues the bicycle business has a bright future, and criticizes large manufacturers for failing to pool $100,000 to buy up and close the plants of failed competitors.
- Editorial on the New York versus Philadelphia rivalry for the national cycle show: both Ralph Temple and Kenwood Mfg. Co., listed as New York supporters by promoter Cycle-Show-Prial, actually prefer Philadelphia; the editor warns that two simultaneous shows will produce at least one fizzle and urges the trade to back Philadelphia.
- Trade correspondent 'Brakespeare' surveys the decline of English bicycle imports to America: only the Raleigh—boosted by Zimmerman and American management under McDonald—and the Premier have made progress; English makers consistently filled home demand first, shipping unsaleable quantities to America after the season was over, losing their agents and their reputations.
- E.H. Wilcox of the Ariel Cycle Mfg. Co. of Goshen, Indiana, announces three 1894 models—a 32-pound roadster with gear case and new patent brake, a 23-pound racer, and a 30-pound ladies' bicycle—all at $150, and dismisses the industry's secrecy about 1894 prices as unnecessary and unhelpful to the public.
- John Ives demonstrates a novel pneumatic tire from the Cleveland Rubber Works: the endless inner tube carries a good valve stem, while the outer cover is laced to the rim through paired holes in upper and lower flaps with stout linen string, allowing puncture repairs without detaching the tire from the rim.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs of Philadelphia confirm the same committee that ran the 1893 show will manage 1894; supporting firms include Pope Mfg. Co., Gormully & Jeffery, Hartford Cycle Co., American Dunlop Tire Co., E.C. Stearns & Co., League Cycle Co., and Indiana Bicycle Co., among thirty named exhibitors.
- Regular trade column: the Detroit Cycle Co. files a $14,126 chattel mortgage in favor of Gormully & Jeffery; J. Jay Ross praises the southern cycle trade's conservative dealers in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida; The Cyclist of England is skeptical about the Lu-mi-num vs. Stearns aluminum-vs.-steel frame test; and the Luburg Mfg. Co. announces a new cement-free pneumatic tire.
- Frank T. Fowler of the Hill Cycle Mfg. Co. states the Fowler bicycle will remain at $150 for 1894, denies reports of price-cutting this season, and says no retail store is planned; also notes John Palmer sailing home after six months promoting the Palmer tire in England, and Arthur Lumsden returning to the Pope Mfg. Co.