The Bearings, Vol 8, No 2
Articles in this issue
- Day-by-day account of the 1893 LAW and International Championship meet in Chicago (August 7–12): Zimmerman won the mile and 10-kilometre international championships and the one-mile national; J.S. Johnson defeated Zimmerman in the five-mile national; Tyler set track records; Windle beat Zimmerman in the mile open final (declared no race for slow time); Sanger was badly injured in a third-mile heat fall; and Meintjes (South Africa) won the gruelling 62-mile (100 km) endurance championship.
- Editorial lamenting that despite organising the International Cyclists' Association, England sent only one token rider (Osmond) to profit-share rather than compete; Italy, France, and Mexico failed to appear, leaving Canada as the sole genuine foreign member nation represented.
- Editorial arguing that the LAW Racing Board should be elected by members from geographic districts rather than appointed by the president, whose patronage power is corrupted by the appointment and whose appointees are less accountable to the racing membership.
- Editorial calling for the introduction of pacemakers in important LAW races to guarantee fast times, citing the mile open final in which Windle won in 2:45 (above the 2:40 time limit) and both he and Tyler then refused to ride a re-run.
- Brief editorial praising Zimmerman for riding in every race at the international meet regardless of form, contrasting his sportsmanlike conduct with other stars who dodge difficult fields.
- Column of brief commentary: urges annual mixed amateur-professional championships to identify the world's fastest rider; condemns English conditional licence rules as indefensible; notes French papers organising ladies' bicycle races at the Buffalo track; and explains how Shorland secured his NCU licence by threatening a £10,000 lawsuit via his employer, the Humber Co.
- Interview with Racing Board Chairman H.E. Raymond: calls foreign non-attendance at Chicago 'scandalous,' says England's Osmond only entered to claim a share of profits; explains that a secret Bulletin contract prevents Racing Board members from speaking publicly about C.M. Murphy's suspension; states the LAW's position on Zimmerman and the NCU is final and irrevocable.
- G.E. Osmond (brother of Frederick J.) broke the safety bicycle hour record at Herne Hill on August 2, covering 25 miles less 43 yards in 1:00:04, besting L.S. Meintjes's mark by three-quarters of a minute; also notes the Columbia Wheelmen's Elgin–Aurora relay attempt failed when relief rider Erickson failed to appear, and C.M. Fairchild rode four centuries in three days covering 352 miles to St. Louis in 56 hours.
- Wednesday through Saturday race results at the international meet: J.S. Johnson won the five-mile national championship in 12:41 over Zimmerman; Tyler won the half-mile national; Dirnberger and Crooks set a new record of 2:20 2-5 in the tandem two-mile national; Meintjes won the 100-kilometre endurance championship and broke the world 50-mile record (2:11:06 4-5); Bliss won the mile invitation then awarded the prize to Tyler after Tyler slipped a pedal.
- Miscellaneous items from the international meet: Sanger's injury leaves the Zimmerman–Sanger rivalry unsettled but predicts Sanger will dominate for two or three years; J.S. Johnson's five-mile win was the crowd's favourite despite Zimmerman's excuse of a slightly soft tire; Brandenburg's loose handle-bar caused a crash that injured C.M. Murphy; A.T. Crooks praised as the meet's best handicap rider.
- London correspondent's dispatch (July 29) reports a batch of Herne Hill records: the Ilsley brothers rode a tandem safety mile in 2:11 2-5, breaking the Zimmerman-Bradbury mark; Bramson reduced the flying quarter tricycle record to :32 3-5; and G.E. Osmond broke the safety hour record with new marks from three to twenty-five miles.
- Detailed race report (byline C.W. Hartung) on the 24-hour Cuca Cup at Herne Hill (July 22): Frank Shorland (North Road Club) broke the world record with 426 miles 440 yards, surpassing the French record of 418 miles; F.T. Bidlake finished second on a tricycle with 398 miles; both used Palmer tires throughout, and 15,000 spectators attended the finish.
- Reader letter from 'President' Bates (Grand Rapids, Mich.) arguing that England's class-based amateur rules—which excluded working-class champion Schofield while a lord's son doing the same things would be a 'pure amateur'—have destroyed English cycling supremacy; urges America to keep rules liberal, allow racers to sell prizes, and not restrict travel expenses paid by manufacturers.
- Full text of the constitution and racing rules of the International Cyclists' Association governing the amateur world championships: covers membership eligibility for the nine member nations (USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium), championship distances of 1 mile, 10 kilometres, and 100 kilometres, venue rotation, prize structure, and 31 detailed officiating rules for starters, judges, umpires, timekeepers, and lap-scorers.
- Paris correspondent Albert G. Roux (July 28) reports: Charron of Humber-Paris attached Nicodemi's winning wheel after a Buffalo track race, claiming it was a rebadged Humber frame; Stephane is training for a 24-hour attempt against Shorland's new world record; Dubois and Fournier are matched for a one-hour race for $200 a side; and at the Buffalo track, Fournier won the 30-kilometre race in 52:25 4-5.
- Brief items from the racing circuit: A.J. Nicolet, Sid Black, and Roy Keator paraded Fort Wayne streets on unicycles; Bliss beat Lumsden twice at Fort Wayne; Tyler rode a quarter-mile flying start in :26 1-5 at Springfield; and Birdie Munger showed poor form at Detroit, attributed to yacht sailing rather than track training.
- Racing Board Chairman Raymond decided to delegate all Maryland racing matters to the local division board; sanctions will henceforth be refused for Bay Ridge and Tolchester tracks, which have been running slow 'loaf' races that discourage the public.
- Feature on the Garford Manufacturing Co. in Elyria, Ohio—a 40×100-ft brick factory with a 150-horsepower engine producing 1,000 saddles per day—profiling founder A.L. Garford (a self-made banker who patented his first saddle in 1886 and became the world's largest saddle manufacturer by 1893) and his vice-president H.S. Follansbee and secretary-treasurer F.N. Smith.
- Editorial column signed 'Bolav.' on the depressed state of the bicycle trade in 1893—an unprecedentedly bad year for makers and dealers alike—urging manufacturers to set aside jealousies, form a trade association, establish standard list prices and discounts, and act collectively to prevent the complete collapse of the American bicycle industry.
- Reprinted from the Irish Cyclist ('Old File'): a long-distance rider describes the difficulty of training at a uniform pace on public paths full of sprinters, and proposes an ideal lap-pacing watch with two independently adjustable hands to allow a rider to hold precise lap times without a separate timekeeper.
- Results from the initial tournament of the Associated Cycling Clubs of Baltimore at Park Cycle Track (August 5): W.J. Espey won the one-mile novice final, E.E. Clapp took the quarter-mile open and half-mile handicap, Bert Morrison won the one-mile open in 2:49 2-5, and H.B. Schumacher took the two-mile state championship in 5:51 4-5; spectators complained that the finals were ridden as loafs.
- Humorous poem reprinted from the Irish Cyclist, written in the style of Hamlet's soliloquy, satirising the racing cyclist's dilemma between pacing for the bunch or sprinting out and risking accusations of having sold the race to the man behind him.
- H.C. Wheeler dominated both days of the N.C.A. cash prize meet in Milwaukee (August 5–6), winning the mile open and half-mile open; C.E. Kluge won the mile handicap on day two in 2:37; small crowds attended and the management lost money on the second day.
- List of recent U.S. bicycle patents (nos. 501,054–501,454 plus reissue 11,350) reported specially for The Bearings by attorney W.C. Aughinbaugh, Washington, D.C., covering driving mechanisms, cycle wheels, bicycle saddles, pneumatic tires, electric bells, ball-bearings, bicycle gears, and a spring rim by John B. Dunlop Sr. and Jr. (Dublin).
- Editorial arguing that wooden rims, already proven stronger and lighter than steel rims and less prone to going out of true on racing machines, deserve serious investigation for road bicycles; notes manufacturing is still imperfect but costs will fall with scale.
- Pope Mfg. Co. and Overman Wheel Co. withdrew from the World's Columbian Exposition bicycle exhibit after chairman John Boyd Thatcher refused their demand to remove Irving Miller (son of late Chief Justice Miller) from the expert judging committee.
- Practical tips column signed 'Nibs.': recommends square-head nuts over hexagonal to resist rounding by monkey wrenches; notes felt washer limitations; advocates square-head chain bolts to eliminate the need for a screwdriver at roadside; and warns that hollow seat rods raised more than four inches risk bending under riders over 150 pounds.
- Savannah, Ga. correspondent reports on the LAW 'color line' fight: the Kentucky division secured 108–101 votes at the February 1893 Philadelphia assembly for an amendment inserting the word 'white' into the national constitution, and plans to push it through at the next meeting; also reports that Colonel Burdett declared the Southern Wheelman (adopted by Kentucky as its official organ) in violation of the Bulletin contract.
- Race calendar for August–September 1893 listing upcoming meets: Milwaukee Wheelmen's international circuit (August 14–15), Wisconsin division meet at Ripon (August 16–17), Minneapolis international circuit (August 19), Kansas City Cyclists' meet (September 1–2), Hartford Wheel Club tournament at Charter Oak Park (September 4–5), and Springfield B.C. annual meet (September 13–14).
- Column of extracts from the English and Irish cycling press: the English Umpire on England's failure at Chicago and the NCU's self-defeating handling of Schofield; Wheeling on Harley Brothers' sand-blast process for cleaning brazed bicycle frame joints; British Sport calling for annual mixed amateur-professional championships; and Cycle Record on a tradesman who donated race prizes and then entered the competition to win them back.