Vol 8, No 21
Cite this issue
Citation
The Bearings 8, no. 21 (1893). cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/magazines/the-bearings/vol8-21/
Page numbers are pages of the PDF, which can differ from the numbers printed on the page.
Articles in this issue
- Feature on the Chicago area's hundred-mile cycling route through Elgin and Aurora, describing the Century Road Club and notable members including J.W.E. Kinkead.
- Brief editorial meditation comparing the passing cycling year to a milestone on the great road race of life, written as an introduction to the Christmas number.
- Proposes a fraternal order for cyclists modeled on existing secret societies, tentatively named the 'Ancient Order of Mystic Wheelmen' or 'Knights of the Golden Wheel.'
- Regular department column with items on the southern Negro cyclist, upholding the licensing scheme, record breakers versus champions, and the disbanding of the Rambler team.
- Humorous Christmas serial set in the fictional western town of Sockdolager City, featuring two cycling characters Charley Horse and Bloat Face Bill in a slapstick holiday adventure.
- Comprehensive annual review of the 1893 racing season, opening with Arthur Zimmerman's 101 first-place finishes and profiling Sanger, Windle, Tyler, Johnson, Bliss, Dirnberger, Taylor, Githens, Meintjes, Osmond, Bald, Crooks, Banker, and Rhodes.
- Signed 'Brakespeare'; defends American treatment of visiting English rider Schofield and American race-timing methods against British criticism.
- By 'Wheeler B.'; first-person account of a harrowing brakeless descent near St. Louis with a broken crank, ending in a wild uncontrolled plunge down the hill.
- Signed 'The Prophet'; argues that time-trial world records are less meaningful than championship victories in open competition.
- By C.G.S. Andy Magnus; Christmas memoir-story featuring anecdotes about professional cycling managers Tom Eck and Billy Rhodes.
- Profile of Judge Lewis E. Reed of Ripon, Wisconsin, a cycling enthusiast whose sons won at the Wisconsin state meet.
- Multi-page illustrated ballad about Dorothy Maguire and two rival Rambler tandem riders competing for her attention at a cycling club ball.
- First-person touring narrative of riding from Oregon's Willamette Valley over the Coast Range to Tillamook by bicycle.
- Review of Washington D.C. cycling including the Capitol Bicycle Club (founded January 31, 1879, worth $80,000), the Arlington Wheelmen, and the growing number of lady riders.
- By Isaac B. Potter; argues that bicycle manufacturers should financially support road improvement advocacy rather than leaving the burden to individual riders.
- Brief practical note on methods for securing pneumatic tires to wooden rims using cement, heat, or rubber solution.
- By S. Wallis Merrihew; reviews the NCA's first professional season using cash prizes, assessing winners and controversies of the new system.
- By George L. Sullivan; reviews the 1893 Boston cycling season including the Waltham track and key local riders.
- By Henry E. Harris; reviews the 1893 cycling season in Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin, covering club activities and road conditions.
- By E.W. Ballard; reviews California cycling in 1893 including the Bay City Wheelmen's cement track and Frank Waller's 24-hour world road record.
- Short illustrated verse celebrating the graceful riding style of a young woman cyclist named Margery on her golden wheel.
- By P.E. Dalpin; history of the Canadian Wheel Association (founded September 22, 1882), champion Will Hyslop, and a table of championship records from 1883 to 1893.
- By 'Tommy Dod'; satirical story about an honest bicycle salesman who refuses to recommend a wheel he would not ride himself.
- By A.D. Smith; argues that cyclists possess ideal physiology for speed skating and offers winter training advice for wheelmen.
- Travel essay comparing road quality in France, Spain, Italy, and England, arguing that French roads are ideal for touring cyclists while English roads are the worst.
- Translated French cycling anecdote about Marius, a Provençal man who races his cousins by bicycle to reach a dying relative's bedside, winning the race by a nose.
- By 'Barry Hecla'; optimistic prediction essay forecasting the continued growth and professionalization of cycle racing in America and Europe.
- Travel narrative 'Through Aztec Land with a Bicycle' describing cycling on the Paseo de la Reforma and up to Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City.
- By H.H. Lambton; Australian cycling feature covering racing in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney, the Austral Wheel Race ($1,000 prize), and track racing under electric lights.
- By Tommy Don; satirical story about 'Simon Pure,' a supposed amateur cyclist who accumulates $19,438.65 in prizes over his career while professing strict amateurism.
- Untitled fiction about Pet Demar, daughter of French-Canadian mill watchman 'Cranky Pete,' who saves a young woman from runaway horses but dies of her injuries; bicycle serves as a key plot element.
- Short affectionate sketch of Sadie Schaffner, a waitress beloved by Chicago cyclists at Winter's restaurant on the waterfront.
- Untitled fiction about Mrs. Gordon, an 87-year-old anti-cycling grandmother converted to the wheel after her great-grandson Harry is saved when Jennie Gordon fetches Doctor Tom Hudson by bicycle in an emergency.
- By Edward H. Elwell Jr.; traces the 1878 arrival of Maine's first bicycle, a 48-inch Excelsior from Coventry ridden by C.H. Lamson, who later designed the LAW badge.
- Brief item noting that the tandem safety bicycle, now adopted by English riders for pacemaking, was originally an American invention.
- By Edward H. Elwell Jr.; account of a 50-day, 1,000-mile bicycle tour of France by 25 American cyclists, starting at Boulogne and riding through Amiens, Peronne, and St. Quentin on superior French roads.
- History of The Bearings' founding in January 1890 by N.H. Van Sicklen and Geo. K. Barrett, its growth into the 'cycling authority of America,' and a tour of its Isabella Building offices and composing room.
- By Brudder Stainforth; humorous dialect piece about a rustic cycling club meeting in Farmer Jobson's barn, featuring a delinquent treasurer, a disputed poem, and an interrupting rooster.
- By Harold Quill; three-part English cycling story in which a journalist meets tramp Will Watkins on Farningham hill and is later warmly welcomed into the Watkins family home in Rotherhithe.
- Short profile of H. Kanaska, a 16-year-old Milwaukee NCA professional racer who had a notable 1893 season.
- Obituary tribute for H.H. Lambton, the Australian cycling journalist who wrote 'Ten Thousand Miles Away' for this issue and died in Chicago before it was printed.
- Editorial forecast for the 1894 bicycle market, predicting conservative manufacturing practices, price reductions across many lines, diamond frame dominance, and lighter average wheel weights.
- By John F. Palmer; reviews five years of pneumatic tire development, covering detachable fastening systems, puncture-closing devices, and Palmer's own patented self-closing fabric tire.
- Multi-page history of the Rambler bicycle manufacturer from Thomas B. Jeffery's 1879 Chicago start through international expansion and R. Philip Gormully's Supreme Court patent victory over the bicycle trust.
- Profile of Charles F. Stokes, Chicago bicycle dealer who sold 8,500 wheels for $650,000 in 1893, also president of Union Cycle Mfg. Co.
- Profile of the Stearns bicycle manufacturer of Syracuse, N.Y., known for expert manufacturing; W.C. Johnson rode a Stearns to a mile record of 1:55 3/5.
- Feature on cycling development in Texas, profiling dealers in Sherman (E.W. Hope), Houston (H.D. Spore & Co.), Waco (W.A. Parker), San Antonio (W.E. Roach, France & Theile), and Dallas (Ott & Trieller, Dallas Cycle Co.).
- Profile of Col. Pope's Hartford Columbia bicycle factory, covering the popular Model 30 and Model 32 for 1893, the 19-pound racer, and the trade's anxious anticipation of the unannounced 1894 list price.
- Profile of Victor bicycle maker Overman Wheel Co. of Chicopee Falls, Mass., noting globe-trotters Lenz, Allen, and Sachtleben all rode Victors, and the company's 1894 list price announcement of $125 ahead of other big makers.
- Extensive two-page factory tour of the Cleveland bicycle plant capable of 100 machines per day with 1,000 workers; profiles all six 1894 Cleveland models (Nos. 7-12) from 32-pound roadster to 20-pound racer with removable-tube Cleveland thread tire.
- Detailed profile of the Union bicycle's 1894 improvements, 44-inch wheelbase, 27-28 pound stripped weight, crimson enameled rims, plus biographical sketches of staff including superintendent George Wood and salesmen Alfred Stainforth, L.A. 'Airtite' Howell, W.J. Greer, O.W. Temple, F.L. Warner, and J.J. Fecitt.
- By T.I.L. Forbid; two-page editorial on effective bicycle advertising, arguing for frequent copy changes, simplicity of diction, avoidance of scripture-quoting or competitor-baiting, and concentration of spend in high-quality paid-circulation cycling papers.
- Profile of Holmes Co. of Boston (Edwin and John Holmes), manufacturers of Union underwear and bicycle athletic garments since 1885, now capitalized at $200,000 and supplying the U.S. military.
- By W.C. Smith of Ariel Cycle Mfg. Co.; editorial arguing that bicycle manufacturers should maintain quality and resist jobber pressure to cut prices, as skilled labor and proper capital investment cannot be eliminated without sacrificing the product.
- Profile of Ariel Cycle Mfg. Co. of Goshen, Ind., covering W.C. Smith's design philosophy and key staff including secretary E.H. Wilcox and Chicago store manager C.H. Plumb, a veteran since the Indianapolis Bicycle Club days.
- Factory tour of Rich & Sager Co.'s saddle plant in Rochester, N.Y., a five-story, 15,000-square-foot facility producing 400 saddles per day under superintendent J. Harry Sager, inventor of the Beauty child's bicycle seat.
- By Charles E. Duryea; engineering article comparing longitudinal, diagonal, and transverse-thread pneumatic tire fabrics, concluding that transverse-thread construction offers superior resiliency and speed by allowing each thread to flex independently.