The Bearings, Vol 9, No 14
Articles in this issue
- Philadelphia correspondent covers the upcoming New York Times-sponsored relay race from New York to Philadelphia (150 miles, six-man state teams); also reports the Park Avenue Wheelmen's financial collapse and Sheriff's sale, and St. Paul Cycle Club's effort to secure a three-lap track near Como Park.
- A Bearings representative intercepts Gen. Coxey near Washington and secures an interview in which Coxey urges wheelmen to join his march, advocates $500,000,000 for good roads, and regrets that cyclists never 'came through' with his army.
- Boston correspondent reports in detail on the Massachusetts Division L.A.W. spring meet program for May 30—parade led by Overman's bugle corps, Waltham races featuring Sanger, Tyler, Johnson, Taylor, and Uirnberger—plus 150 entries for the Linscott road race; Philadelphia clubs also meet to arrange the June 9 Newark–Philadelphia century; the French U.V. will send a delegate to the Belgian Antwerp congress on amateur vs. professional racing.
- T. W. Eck's racing stable—Johnson, Callahan, Murphy, Taylor, Dawson, and Newsome—emerges from Savannah training with Johnson doing a flying half-mile in 1:02; London correspondent C.W. Hartung also reports that Chas. Terront is preparing a Rome-to-Paris ride of 1,000 miles and that the English season opened at Kensal Rise with 350 entries despite a rain deluge.
- London dispatch by C.W. Hartung on the Essex Cycling Union's Kensal Rise meeting: 2,000 spectators, G.E. Osmond reaches the half-mile final; notes the National Crystal Palace show set for December 6–11 and a London clubs meeting at the Mansion House for Hospital Saturday charity sports.
- Louisville correspondent reports that Kentucky distillers have donated 72 gallons of 1880 sour mash and 25 lbs. of plug tobacco as prizes for the Owensboro meet, previews the June L.A.W. Kentucky division annual meeting with Edward Newhaus favored for chief consul, and notes that 18 of Louisville's 70 letter carriers now deliver mail by bicycle.
- Editorial by editor Geo. K. Barrett distinguishing cyclists' good-roads motives from Coxey's industrial demands, welcoming the planned 5,000-strong wheelman march to Washington, and cautioning the public not to confuse the two armies.
- Wry editorial mocking English cycling editors' annual spring warnings to novices—identical in substance each year despite different titles—prompted by the 1894 crop of English exchanges arriving at the office.
- Brief editorial noting that over 100 riders have registered colors with the Racing Board, crediting The Bearings (which advocated the system one year ago) rather than an eastern contemporary that now claims prior authorship.
- Editorial observing that the relay-race craze The Bearings ignited two years ago has spread coast-to-coast and even to Britain (London–Edinburgh), reiterating the paper's role in demonstrating both bicycle capability and the need for road improvement.
- Miscellaneous column: the historic Van Buren/State corner building in Chicago (site of the first bicycle store, John M. Fairchild's Columbia agency, and the 1878 founding of the Chicago Bicycle Club) is being demolished; John S. Johnson's hollow $250 forfeit challenge to Zimmerman earns a sharp editorial rebuke; A.C. Edwards in Paris declares no one in the world can beat Zimmerman.
- New York correspondent: telegraph operator Eugene Drew pursues suspected robbers by bicycle near Nanent, N.J., with a comic outcome; Fred C. Graves expected to contest the time prize against W.F. Murphy at Irvington-Milburn on Decoration Day; John Bensinger (Kings County Wheelmen) attempts the Irvington-Milburn record on May 19; Atlantic City spring meet results with Walter Edge winning the city mile championship in 3:24.
- Denver correspondent: Harry Tyler reports no ill effects from altitude after six weeks' training alongside Sanger, with both men expected in fine shape for Waltham on Decoration Day; the L.A.W. meet promoters report enormous western enthusiasm and one-fare round-trip rates secured; fraudster Lawrence Temple arrested for soliciting Denver businesses under false pretenses; the Denver Cyclists' Union debates between a D.A.C. track proposal and a five-year Denver Tramway Co. offer.
- Report on the Metropolitan Association of Cycling Clubs' April meeting in New York: 28 delegates; three new clubs admitted (Lexington Wheelmen, Washington Wheelmen, Tourist Cycling Club of Paterson, N.J.) bringing total to 36; Irvington-Milburn souvenir badge time limit cut from 1:28 to 1:20; race meet rescheduled from June 30 to July 28; association to incorporate under New Jersey law.
- Paris correspondent A.G. Roux surveys the 1894 French racing season: the rebuilt Buffalo track is two seconds faster; Lumsden (Scotland) wins the opening 25-mile paced race in 1:01:21½ and Barden (England) takes the 2-km final; at the rain-interrupted second meeting Edwards wins the 10-km scratch and Farman the quarter-mile final over Harris; Harry Wheeler, hampered by influenza and an ill-chosen 70-inch gear, finishes behind the bunch on both occasions.
- Milwaukee correspondent reports all local clubs have scheduled road races for 1894 after last year's track tourneys lost money; events include the Cedarburg-Milwaukee race (June 16), Waukesha (July 4), and Racine-Milwaukee (July 21); police fine cyclist Leonard Heine $1 for sidewalk riding; Milwaukee Wheelmen celebrate their ninth anniversary with a social at Recreation Hall.
- Brief profile of thirteen-year-old Clarence Reel of Lima, Ohio, mentored by champion trick rider Sid Black; his feats include riding over ladders placed across a donkey's back and descending the Lima courthouse steps on a bicycle.
- Humorous miscellaneous column: the editor's colleague J.M. Erwin departs for Paris to uphold American journalism; comic story of a poetic wheelman whose rhapsodising ends when his wheel rips eight spokes from his friend's machine; an amusing account of being ejected by actress Miss Marie Wainwright after defending cyclists; a forceful argument against bananas as racing diet; and a French girl visitor's acerbic observations on American women's cycling costumes and the country's lack of roads.
- Brief death notice: Louis A. Schoeninger, president of the Western Wheel Works and son of founder Adolph Schoeninger, died at Davos, Switzerland, where he had gone seeking to restore his health.
- Report on the U.S. Circuit Court ruling (Judge A.J. Ricks, Cleveland) in favor of the Shelby Steel Tube Co. of Shelby, Ohio: Swedish charcoal-process hollow blooms used in bicycle manufacture are dutiable at $22 per ton under McKinley Act paragraph 136, not at 1.6¢ per pound as Collector Gary had assessed.
- Comprehensive survey of bicycle dealers and manufacturers in Cleveland, Toledo, Springfield, and Sandusky: Cleveland trade healthy with new firm Collister & Sayle holding a 'royal flush' of six brands; the Lozier Mfg. Co. in Toledo produces 100 wheels a day from 125,000 sq. ft. of factory floor; Gendron Wheel Co. employs nearly 600; Springfield Wheelmen run a unique 25-member no-dues club with $300 surplus; the Royal Flush Cycle Co. is a promising new Toledo entrant.
- Survey of the Texas bicycle market in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, Dallas, Sherman, and Paris (Tex.): Overman and Pope Mfg. Co. each have men visiting every town over 1,000 inhabitants; Ramblers dominate Houston while Sterlings and Columbias compete statewide; R. Phillip Gormully passes through San Antonio; a discussion of curbstone agencies and their net effect on legitimate trade.
- Product announcement for Hunt Mfg. Co.'s new Style EE pneumatic saddle weighing only 18 ounces with a replaceable inner rubber case, priced at $6 (down from $9); the company has issued infringement notices to two competitors who have copied its patented construction.
- New York trade column: Alex Schwalbach's free 'I ride the Liberty' cap promotion drew over 5,000 caps distributed to a Brooklyn mob; Amos Shirley opens a Harlem branch for Columbias and Hartfords; 'Patriots' Day Disasters' recounts multiple wood rim failures among Boston riders on April 19, with only Eagle aluminum-rim riders escaping unscathed.
- Technical product description of National Cycle Mfg. Co.'s (Bay City, Mich.) crank bearing: parallel ball races connected by a central tube provide narrow tread, wide bearing surface, removable inspection, constant-oil chambers, and a dust-proof oiler cap.
- Letter from Knapp & Spalding Co. (Sioux City, Iowa) alerting manufacturers that small rural papers are trading advertising space for bicycles and then selling the machines at below-market rates, urging The Bearings to publicize the practice to manufacturers.