The Bicycling Times and Touring Gazette, Vol 6, No 15
Articles in this issue
- The editor reports on two key events of the week: preliminary steps at the Mercantile Club to form a committee for a metropolitan bicycle track (with share subscriptions open to all riders, not just club members), and a unanimous delegates' meeting at the Guildhall Tavern that resolved to hold a Hampton Court monster meet in 1880.
- A miscellany of short items and gossip, including road conditions on the Portsmouth Road (3½ hours for 23 miles in wet gravel), Harry Dibble of the Ripley 'Anchor' inn and his narrow escapes in Afghanistan with the 9th Lancers, and Simpson & Son circulating coloured almanack pictures to bicycling inns.
- Brief reports from metropolitan and provincial clubs covering opening runs, annual general meetings, and officer elections at clubs including Alert, Arrow, Atalanta, Bedford Amateur, Birkenhead, Brixton Ramblers, Chichester and District, City of London, Clarence, Fulham, Greenock Amateur, Hammersmith, Highbury, Huddersfield, Kildare, Lombard, Middlesex, Pickwick, Shakespeare, Stanley, St. George's, Surrey United, Sydenham, Temple, Twickenham, and York.
- Short items of club news: the Arion plan an Easter tour to Havant, Arundel, and Brighton; the Kensington B.C. have joined the Bicycle Union with Harry Swindley as delegate; and Arthur Woodin is re-elected Captain of the Rovers while Hon. Secretary Huron Short resigns.
- Notices of two new accessories: Butler's Registered Rat-Trap Pedal Slipper (J. Butler, 63 Queen's Road, St John's Wood), which clips to a rubber pedal to prevent slipping in wet weather or convert it to a racing rat-trap; and the 'Acme' Dressing Case from Maynard, Harris & Co. of Leadenhall Street, a leather tourist toilet case priced at half a guinea.
- Announcement of competitors selected for the Six Days' Bicycle Race at the Agricultural Hall (commencing 15 March), including Charles and Jules Terront of Paris, W. Cann of Sheffield, and H. Higham of Nottingham; followed by results of a five-miles bicycle handicap at Myers's Circus, Birmingham, won in the final by W. Phillips in 32 min. 38 sec.
- Specially reported account of the delegates' meeting at the Guildhall Tavern on 24 February, attended by 135 representatives of metropolitan clubs, which unanimously resolved to hold a monster meet at Hampton Court on 22 May 1880 at 5 o'clock, elected J. W. Beningfield as chairman and Lamartine C. B. Yeoman as honorary secretary, and chose a sixteen-member organising committee by ballot.
- Account of M. Albin, a performer known from the Alexandra Rink at Derby and the Agricultural Hall, London, who rode his eight-foot 'monster bicycle' through Derby to great public wonder and is announced to give further performances at the Rink.
- Announcement that William Wood, onetime Middlesex B.C. member who won the 1873 London-to-Brighton-and-back inter-club race, has opened a learning, practising, and repair ground adjoining the Stamford Bridge running grounds, with bicycle housing and agency services for machines by leading makers.
- Report of the Athenæum Bicycle Club's annual dinner at the Holborn Restaurant, with Vice-President A. R. Forrest in the chair; Captain Farmiloe noted the club's touring across the South Coast, Wales, and France, and a closely contested annual championship; toasts included the Army and Navy, the Athenæum Club, the President (Forsyth Q.C. M.P., absent through illness), and the Press.
- Report of a meeting at the Black Horse Hotel, Horsham, chaired by Mr. Reeves, at which bicycle riders unanimously resolved to form a club with an annual subscription of 5s., and adjourned to the following Thursday to elect officers.
- Brief column of provincial observations: makers in the Black Country are turning out machines as fast as possible; C. A. Palmer of Birmingham is expected to challenge London amateur riders this season; and Lacy Hillier was prominent at the Stanley B.C. entertainment at Camden Road.
- Letter signed 'Trebor Nattirb' arguing that the Bicycle Union and the Bicycle Touring Club serve complementary purposes and should cooperate rather than merge; the writer also rebukes the editor of the Bicycling News for conducting a personal vendetta against the Union and its officers, and urges all bicyclists to support the Union's advocacy work.
- Letter from H. Houghton, Hon. Sec. of Bold Heath B.C., warning of the danger of bicycle accelerator devices: his unit weighed over 2½ lbs and, after four miles at eight mph, a rod broke and jammed in the spokes, throwing him over the handlebars.
- Letter enclosing a press cutting showing that the Hornsey Local Board dismissed with laughter a request from the Bicycle Union's Dangerous Hill Committee to erect enamelled-iron warning signs on steep hills; the editor notes that William Pye-English disputes the accuracy of the report and the matter has been referred to committee.
- Letter from T. Cowell Berington, V.P. of Norwood B.C., advising against a bicycle meet at Brighton on Easter Monday 1880 because crowds will attend the Volunteer Review on the Downs; he proposes instead a properly organised Whit Monday gathering on 17 May.
- Letter signed 'Verb Sap' urging all bicyclists to carry lamps or signals when riding at dusk, arguing that riding without lights in suburban streets endangers pedestrians and gives opponents of cycling grounds for complaints against the sport.