The Bearings, Vol 9, No 10
Articles in this issue
- A.A. Zimmerman confirms turning professional after receiving a $10,000 French guarantee and will sail for France on April 15 with manager George A. Banker; he states he will race champion Johnson for $5,000–$10,000 at any time, and Frank Shorland has reportedly been offered $3,500 per day for a Paris six-day race.
- The spring St. Louis County Tour drew over 300 riders to Clayton, where nearly $500 was raised in fifteen minutes for an international tournament fund; athletic events were dominated by Bert Harding and L.D. Cabanne, and two new clubs—the Ramblers and the Crescent Cycling Club—were formed.
- Deposed Michigan Division Chief Consul Bresler visits L.A.W. President Luscomb in New York threatening to withhold the division's books and papers until restored to office; Luscomb refuses to reconsider and warns that the entire Michigan membership may be expelled from the League.
- The Associated Cycling Clubs of New Jersey reschedule their century run from Newark to Asbury Park for June 23; Carl Von Lengerke expects 600 riders at $1 each, with solid gold medals for 'lady survivors' and silk banners for the three clubs with the greatest numbers finishing.
- Harry Leeming, who arrived in New York last summer nearly penniless, has returned transformed—diamond-ringed and silk-hatted—to serve again as trainer for the Springfield Bicycle Club, with Tyler and Sanger among his riders for the coming season.
- Chicago Justice Wheeler fines the Garden City Sponging Co. $50 after its driver F.C. Nelson ran down a cyclist and smashed his wheel, warning that drivers must henceforth go around rather than over bicycle riders.
- A report from Ashland, Wis. claims inventor A.T. Firth's winter cycle—an ordinary bicycle frame fitted with runners—covered a mile in 1:44 3/5 and five miles in 10:38 over Chequamegon Bay ice, with George W. Gifford as rider.
- L.A.W. Racing Board Chairman Raymond publishes the full 1894 national circuit calendar running from July 4 at Waltham, Mass. through September 29 at Wheeling, W.Va., anchored by the National Meet in Denver August 13–17; several additional sanctions are granted to clubs across the country.
- Washington, D.C. cycling notes include the Georgetown Cycle Club's planned bicycle fox hunt with a paper-flag trail and an eight-minute head start for the 'fox'; L.A.W. district officers secure 50-cent dinners for cyclists at Great Falls, and the Columbia Athletic Club plans a new quarter-mile track at the Van Ness grounds.
- Annual banquet of the Metropolitan Association of Cycling Clubs at New York's Columbia Hotel draws nearly 100 wheelmen; L.A.W. President Luscomb preaches League membership growth, Isaac B. Potter champions New Jersey good roads progress, and Racing Board Chairman Raymond addresses prize integrity and the Class B amateur rule.
- Editor Geo. Barrett's leader bids farewell to Zimmerman's amateur halo, arguing that 'maker's amateurism is a farce today' and that professional bicycle racing is an inevitable next step; he wishes Zimmerman all success as a champion in France.
- Editorial on a New York Assembly bill to authorize toll cycle paths alongside state highways, predicting that every major road in city and country will eventually have its own dedicated cycle path as cycling becomes the vehicle of the multitude.
- Editorial praises the L.A.W. Executive Committee's decision to ignore road racing entirely, freeing Class A and B riders to compete together on the road without restrictions, expected to make road race promotion far more viable than it has been.
- Short editorial clarifies that the newly passed 'White amendment' bars only new applicants of color from League membership; existing colored members remain in good standing as long as they pay their annual renewal fees promptly.
- Miscellaneous opinion column reprinting a sarcastic Chicago Herald editorial mocking cyclists' demand for road rights after Justice Wheeler's ruling against the Garden City Sponging Co., and excerpting the English Cyclist praising America's Class B rule as producing purer amateurism than any other country.
- Cleveland wheelmen are furious that official handicapper W.F. Sayle was replaced by Bliss of Columbus, allegedly because Sayle voted for 'Pop' Brewster over Mergenthaler at the Louisville Assembly; Sayle himself takes the practical view that the change actually benefits him now that he is in the bicycle trade.
- Fred Turner, 20, an employee of the Cleveland General Electric Co., collapses and dies of heart disease during a ride toward Wickliffe with companion Cramer; Turner had only recently acquired his wheel and this was his longest ride.
- Kansas City Athletic Club annual meeting will focus on cycle racing at Fairmount Park; approximately 40 letter-carriers, most barely able to ride their new wheels, made a disastrous Sunday tour of asphalt streets with several minor accidents—some sixty post office employees now own bicycles.
- E.C. Stearns & Co. and manager Thomas W. Eck are assembling a large racing stable at Syracuse including Johnson, Murphy, Tuttle, Callahan, and several promising young riders from Whitehall and Willamantic, with five tandem teams to compete against each other during training.
- The Riverton Ball Club, eight miles from Philadelphia on the Delaware River, plans a third-of-a-mile clay bicycle track backed by representatives of the South End, West Philadelphia, and Century Clubs, intending to ensure Philadelphia-area wheelmen have a racing path if the financially troubled Tioga Athletic Association track closes.
- Pennsylvania Division Chief Consul Boyle proposes a joint meet with New Jersey and Delaware at Asbury Park; several Philadelphia clubs are preparing racing teams, with Charles Lagan carrying Century Wheelmen colors and R. Parker Rich representing the Quaker City Club.
- Worcester Athletic Club and Bay State Bicycle Club explore consolidation that would yield a new four-lap track at Lake View Park; Bay State cannot hold its Decoration Day tournament as horsemen have secured the horse track.
- Boston city letter: Arthur K. Peck rebutted Mr. Teamoh's League statements in the Boston Post; L.A.W. Secretary Bassett reluctantly prepares to move to Chicago; the A.C.C. is resurfacing the Waltham track for the May 20 meet, where Tyler, Sanger, and McDuffee will race.
- P. Walden of the Century Road Club of America's Road Records Committee publishes partial American road records from five miles (A.L. Leonhardt, 13:30, Lake View Course, Chicago) through one year (C.M. Shadbolt, Brooklyn), covering courses from Detroit to Denver to Springfield.
- Milwaukee Wheelmen plan a bigger July 4 Waukesha–Milwaukee road race, possibly finishing at the state fair grounds, while the city is unlikely to join the National Circuit; the Englewood Cycling Club is near collapse after member resignations over boxing matches led to a $90 electric bill dispute and a bailiff being placed in the clubhouse.
- Americans Martin, Waller, and Ashinger competed in the Paris eight-day race; Martin and Waller withdrew within the first three hours, but Ashinger stayed the course to finish fifth, with Harry Wheeler serving as pacemaker.
- Opinionated cycling column: laments the inevitable decline of the Century Road Club since founder Bill Herrick dropped out; attacks a pending Massachusetts bill requiring cyclists to ring bells near pedestrians as unenforceable and unjust; celebrates outlaw 'Wild Bill' Cramer who escaped Ottumwa police by buying a bicycle and cycling calmly out of town.
- London correspondent's trade letter covers a visit to the Whitworth bicycle factory in Birmingham; reports growing demand for two-speed gears; Ormonde Cycle Co. reconstructed as New Ormonde under A.J. Buckingham; Dunlop purchases Scott's Non-Slipping Device; the Clincher–Macintosh patent trial adjourned for expert evidence.
- Frank T. Fowler resigns as secretary and general manager of Hill Cycle Mfg. Co. after making the Fowler bicycle nationally known, largely through his innovative 'Fowler Truth' newspaper-format advertising insert in The Bearings; he is considering several new offers from the trade.
- Springfield, Mass. has nine bicycle agencies open in 1894's early season with all dealers reporting brisk business; Haradon & Son handle Sterling, Fowler, and Crescent; Geo. M. Hendee (recently returned from England) sells his Silver King at $85–$90; A.O. Very Cycle Co. opens a Worthington Street branch with Warwick and Eclipse.
- A Minneapolis bicycle firm auctioned surplus and second-hand wheels in rival St. Paul to avoid depressing its own market; 200–300 attended and most buyers were inexperienced, paying prices local dealers could have matched on better terms, outraging St. Paul trade.
- Louisville bicycle dealers report a record March 1894 despite terrible weather: Jefferis Bros. sold 53 Victors, Prince Wells sold 103 Ramblers from January through March, and Martin & Dressing sold 27 wheels including Lu-Mi-Num aluminum models; cash purchases were twice as common as in any previous period.
- New York trade notes: Overman Wheel Co. renovating its store in bronze-green and gold with velvet-carpeted bay window for Victor display; Spalding's 33-cents-per-day installment plan drawing crowds; H. Strugnell creates convertible cycling costumes for women; Liberty Hall Brooklyn formally opening with Liberties on display.
- General Joe Poorman of Cincinnati invents the 'Poorman Umbrella,' an adjustable umbrella attachment for bicycle handlebars to protect riders from sun and rain during long rides and century runs.
- Brief trade catalog notices covering Hart Cycle Co. (half-tone store views), A.O. Very Cycle Co. (Warwick and Eclipse leaders), Warwick Cycle Co. (mailed-knight cover with Bryant quotation), and Simonds Rolling Machine Co. (compendium of complimentary manufacturer letters).
- John F. Palmer reports the English factory producing 4,200 pairs of tires per week with new agencies placed in Bombay, Calcutta, Melbourne, Sydney, Christchurch, Buenos Aires, and Valparaiso; Palmer expects to ship 150,000 sets of tires for the full 1894 season.
- Carbo Alumina Metal Co. of St. Louis submits a lengthy rebuttal to The Bearings disputing the St. Louis Refrigerator & Wooden Gutter Co.'s public statements; President Stark's sworn affidavit denies that his company holds or ever held any $4,000 note from the rival concern.
- Humorist Melville D. Landon ('Eli Perkins') comically declines to endorse a prospective Raleigh Cycle Co. installment customer, explaining that as a member of the Anti-Bicycle Club he cannot vouch for anyone who 'desires to ride the instrument of torture.'
- R.L. Coleman reports the Crescent factory running overtime at 300 wheels per day with 1,500 workers; demand for the Scorcher prompted an additional order of 5,000 Palmer tires; traveling man George Brooker reports that bicycles are rapidly displacing broncos across Texas.
- The Gendron Iron Wheel Co.'s Buckeye tire features a laced outer cover split into eight sections (so only one need be unlaced after a puncture), double anti-creep teeth, and a flanged valve stem hole; a contract with S. Toomey & Co. of Canal Dover, Ohio covers sulky tire supply for the season.
- Full 1894 specifications for Raleigh's five models: 'AA' Special Racer (18.5 lbs., $160, with changeable gear), Model A road racer (22–26 lbs., $150), Model G ($140), C Roadster (34 lbs. stripped, $125), and Ladies' Wheel ($140, with oblique-cord dress guard and new detachable brake).
- Step-by-step instructions from the Yost Mfg. Co. of Toledo, Ohio for detaching and reattaching the Yost metallic tire using its binding wire and locking fastener; riders are advised that one binding wire at a time is sufficient and that proper tension prevents creeping.
- E.C. Stearns & Co.'s 1894 racing bicycle—finished in orange with black and carmine striping and orange rims, weighing 16–20 lbs.—will be ridden by John S. Johnson, who made the Stearns name famous in 1893.
- Short trade notes: Boston park police order 1894 Columbia bicycles; Eastern Rubber Mfg. exports Cyclone, Rex, and Climax tires to Germany and Austria while running day-and-night shifts; Raleigh Cycle Co. opens San Francisco branch under B.W. Spitler; Chicago police officer L.A. Rose receives $50 reward for recovering a stolen Columbia; League Cycle Co. ships chainless bicycles to Central America.