The Bearings, Vol 8, No 7
Articles in this issue
- Sanger breaks the one-mile competition record to 2:08 1-5 and the two-mile record to 4:46 1-5 on the first day of the Springfield tournament; Harry Tyler also lowers the one-mile mark to 2:10 1-5 before Sanger improves it minutes later.
- Full report of the second day at Springfield, where L.S. Meintjes shatters the five-mile record in 11:06 1-5 assisted by Zimmerman and Rhodes as pacemakers, and Sanger beats Zimmerman by a length in the mile international while Zimmerman wins the half-mile open.
- Comprehensive tables of current American track records in competition and best against time, and road records in competition, updated to reflect the record-breaking performances at Springfield in September 1893, with L.S. Meintjes holding all long-distance marks.
- Humorous Biblical-style parable contrasting the healthy, early-rising cyclist with the sluggardly non-cyclist who stumbles to his office and grows poorer daily, reprinted from the Canadian Cycling paper.
- Brief editorial questioning whether critics who claimed the Milwaukee track was short after Sanger's 2:09 4-5 will now make the same charge about Springfield, where he has just done 2:08 1-5.
- Editorial arguing that maker-funded promateurism has demonstrably boosted American racing speeds and attendance, and that sport would be better served by honest rules acknowledging paid riders than by whispering denial while English cycling stagnates.
- Editorial on the upcoming special L.A.W. National Assembly called on charges against President Burdett, noting a growing sympathy shift toward Burdett and urging delegates to set aside prejudice and judge on the merits of the evidence.
- Editorial arguing that promoters should replace most scratch races with handicap events offering special time-based prizes for top riders, so fans can watch stars like Zimmerman riding from scratch against a field—the most exciting form of racing.
- Department of miscellaneous racing anecdotes: the origin of the phrase 'second to the bunch' from F.J. Fanning at Hartford in 1891, C.H. Peck sprinting at a railroad bell thinking it was the bell lap, Zimmerman's bicycle-label trick, and other short items.
- Announcement of a major October 6–7 meet at Chicago's ball park track, featuring a $500 challenge cup, a flying-start mile record trophy from F.W. Morgan, a 25-mile paced race aimed at the hour mark, and a half-mile open barring the top stars.
- Report that prominent Chicago cycling figures are organizing an elite banquet in Cleveland after the racing season to honor Zimmerman's outstanding year, with invitations restricted to 'the elite of the cycling world.'
- Humorous poem by 'Snodgrass' comparing a new father's tender kisses for his wife and infant to his cursing of his bicycle when the tire deflates, noting that both wife and wheel have 'been delivered of a little air.'
- Report from Fort Dodge, Iowa, where theater manager George Paige paid $55 to settle suits after his comedian mocked society man Charles Crawford's bicycle riding on stage; the public apology at a packed opera house contained many sarcastic thrusts.
- Start of a recurring humorous feature following the fictional Mr. Wouldbe at a country fair race meeting.
- Final-day report: Tyler beats Sanger and Zimmerman in the mile international, Sanger sets a new world two-mile competition record (4:31 2-5) with Windle and Bliss on his wheel, Tyler equals the half-mile record twice (1:00 2-5), and Meintjes completes 26 miles 50 yards in the hour—a new world record.
- Department including Meintjes' mile-by-mile pacemaking log for his hour record, W.M. Jenkins' new Pacific coast five- and ten-mile road records, Sanger's new Springfield B.C. colors, the Consolidated Order of Pot-hunters seeking a team race challenge, and a call for Chicago wheelmen to petition the mayor over Michigan Avenue's wet roads.
- Report of the Alpha Wheel Club meet at the Norwalk, Conn. driving park on September 4, witnessed by 6,000 people, where C. Ford Seeley attempted the six-mile world record and the ten-mile handicap drew 32 starters; race summaries included.
- Paris correspondent Albert G. Roux reports on the U.V.F. one-kilometer championship at the new Velodrome de la Seine, won by Cassignard before 15,000 spectators over Medinger and Cottereau, Nicodemi's victory in the 100-kilometer road championship in 3:11:55, and a proposed 24-hour match among Mills, Cottereau, Shorland, and Stephane being arranged by M.D. Rucker of Humber.
- Humorous account by Bill Nye (reprinted from the daily press) of his misadventures learning to bicycle: crashing into barn rafters, fending off the machine with a heavy club, and failing to locate a puncture hole eleven miles from home in a bed of sand in the rain.
- Profile of Columbus, Ohio rider Conn Baker, who showed strong form at Chicago, Cleveland, and Indianapolis in 1893 and rode 33 miles in Meintjes' 62-mile race before retiring with a broken saddle.
- New York correspondent reports that professional champion Harry Wheeler refused to race at Eastern Park for N.C.A. purses under $40; also covers New Jersey L.A.W. division leadership changes, Isaac Potter's return from an English road tour, Queens County races, a failed cycle dealers' tournament at Manhattan Field, and N.C.A. cash prize race results.
- Signed letter from E.W. Ballard of Chicago humorously protesting that newspaper reports have credited him with second-place finishes at Ottawa, Saginaw, and Ansonia while he has been sitting at home reading of his 'victories' and outgrowing his new fall derby.
- Race report from the Benton County fair in Boswell, Ind., where an unknown rider from Morocco, Ind. on a custom 92-inch-gear bicycle with nine-inch cranks gained 300 yards in the first half-mile before the field caught him in the sprint finish.
- Trade note reporting that J.I. Warman of Warman & Hazlewood has formed a new partnership with C.H. Schuh to operate the Warman-Schuh Cycle House at 108–110 Dearborn Street, Chicago, handling Coventry Crosses, Cataracts, and medium-grade wheels in jobbing and retail.
- Boston correspondent reports Zimmerman broke his wire-promised commitment to race at the A.C.C. meet on September 9, infuriating Boston fans and the press; Sanger won the mile international in 2:19 57-60, while E.C. Bald threatened the track record in the handicap; L.A.W. Chief Consul Perkins personally removed three professional gamblers from the train.
- Profile of 22-year-old professional Harry C. Wheeler, who opened his N.C.A. season by beating Zimmerman twice in Savannah, has never lost a professional scratch race, and holds the fastest five-mile competition mark (12:04 1-5).
- Brief report of the Canton, Ill. fair races on September 8, where Chicago riders swept the events—James Levy winning the half-mile open, one-mile handicap, two-mile handicap, and sharing the team race—with full race summaries.
- Coverage of the World's Fair Transportation Building parade, where cyclists in historical costumes drew great applause, highlighted by Gormully & Jeffery's twelve 'copper-colored braves' on copper-rim Ramblers with competitors' scalp locks at their belts and M.J. Budlong as Columbus on a Columbia.
- Washington, D.C. correspondent reports that cyclist Wahl covered 273.9 miles in 24 hours on the Conduit road, setting a district record, and notes the Arlington Wheelmen and Washington Road Club plan an old-time run restricted to solid-tired high wheels.
- London correspondent C.W. Hartung reports J.W. Stocks at Herne Hill covered 25 miles 690 yards in the hour and beat Meintjes' Chicago records to 50 miles in 2:05:45; A.W. Harris lowered the one-mile record to 2:07 2-5; F.W. Shorland won the North Road 24-hour race with 370 miles; and R.A. Vogt won the Scottish 100-mile championship at Hampden Park.
- Standing department listing Century Road Club officers, committee chairmen, and state centurions across 30 states and several foreign countries including England and France, with current membership applicants.
- Letter from Miss Lizzie Hegerty of Fulton, Ill. to Secretary Templeton describing her two-century ride with Miss Porter from Chicago to Clinton, Iowa and back via Addison, Dixon, Sterling, and Morrison, completing 200 miles in two days with only one puncture each.
- Melbourne correspondent 'Early Bird' reports that the Austral Wheel Race program for December 2 and 9 has been well received, the Melbourne Bicycle Club is trying to entice Zimmerman to race in Australia, and a new Australian cycling paper will launch shortly.
- Brief report from Newark, N.J. that James Willis of the Elizabeth Wheelmen set a new ten-mile road record of 27:26 at the Associated Cycling Clubs of New Jersey team road race, which the Elizabeth Wheelmen won with 48 points.
- Interview with J.I. Warman of Warman & Hazlewood predicting that the list price of high-grade bicycles will settle at $125, blaming trade depression for current discounting and calling for a cycle trade association, with Chicago as the preferred site of the next show.
- Report that N.A. Gilbert of the Shelby, Ohio Steel Tube Co. argued before the Ways and Means Committee that the 40 per cent duty on Swedish steel billets—the only steel suitable for seamless bicycle tube drawing—imposes an unfair burden on American manufacturers who have already paid over $38,000 in duties.
- Description and field test of the Quadrant Cycle Co.'s new puncture-proof band—a silk tube filled with rosin-treated cotton inserted between the two tubes of a pneumatic tire—which a Bearings reporter found impenetrable to pins, tacks, and a knife.
- Full investigation of World's Fair awards clerk E.B. Miller's claim that Lozier Co.'s Fred Ensworth attempted to bribe him at the Chicago exhibition; Lozier and Ensworth deny the allegation, a witness corroborates Ensworth's account, and The Bearings concludes Miller's charges are unfounded and appear retaliatory.
- Feature on Captain Alphons B. Smith's patented single-wheel horse cart, which inventor and partner Arthur Plate claim minimizes friction over the two-wheel pneumatic sulky, cannot overturn unless the horse falls, and has attracted over a dozen users in California; an aluminum version weighs 32 pounds.
- The Raleigh Cycle Co. cables that Lawrence Fletcher rode 1,000 miles over British roads in 4 days 23 hours 30 minutes on his Raleigh with Dunlop tires, knocking 6 hours 19 minutes off the previous record.
- Profile of Chicago's new cycle supply firm formed from the dissolution of Parkhurst & Wilkinson, with Roger McMullen and Ned Oliver as partners acting as U.S. selling agents for the Union Drop Forge Co., Indianapolis Chain, Garford, Hunt, Snell, and Mannesmann Steel Tube.
- Brief industry items: a Bombay surgeon requests a Raleigh agency in exchange for three wheels; Countess d'E— buys ten Raleighs for her chateau guests; J.I. Warman rides a front driver; a Belgian one-hand handlebar; German rider registration numbers; and Gormully & Jeffery shipping clerk George Trim arrested for stealing two Ramblers.
- The St. Louis Refrigerator & Wooden Gutter Co. responds to English press questions about their aluminum cycle, claiming advantages over steel in lightness (25–50% reduction), simplicity (no joints or brazed connections), resiliency, corrosion resistance, and permanent finish.
- Rumor reported that the Coventry Machinists' Co. will close their Boston and Chicago stores on October 1 and withdraw from the American market; Chicago manager A.J. Marrett declined to comment.
- St. Paul correspondent reports that Minneapolis plans a 25-mile track handicap at Minnehaha around September 30, and the St. Paul Cycle Club will hold members-only short races on September 16 at the Kittsondale track, both aimed at making the Twin Cities the cycling center of the Northwest.
- Criticism of a recent Pittsburg 24-hour road race called a 'great fiasco' by a local paper because some riders covered portions of the route by wagon and train and then claimed the distance; The Bearings concurs the event was fraudulent.
- Standing department listing 23 recent U.S. patents related to velocipedes, cushion and pneumatic tires, brakes, ball bearings, mud-guards, speed-gearing, crank shafts, and accessories, with patentee names, locations, and filing dates.