The Bicycling World, Vol 11, No 5
Articles in this issue
- The unheaded leader welcomes the road race as a popular institution after the Decoration Day successes but cautions promoters that racing on Massachusetts highways violates the six-mile-an-hour law and survives only by official indulgence; further paragraphs chide the Cyclist Annual for crediting Cortis with 2.41 1/2 for the mile, demand better dressing-room security at race meetings, and warn that claimed records will be carefully sifted.
- A satirical letter to the editor from L.A.W. member No. 2542 describes 'The Advertiser Bicycle', a machine with paint and ink in its hollow handles, a brake-spoon paint brush that letters advertisements along the road tire, and a frame convertible into an umbrella.
- Trade department leading with the Paradox Oil Can by H. B. Hart of Philadelphia, whose stopper is linked to the spout so it cannot be lost; also C. E. Duryea's tire heater, detachable tandem frame and locking brass tool case for the St. Louis Wheel Company, the Coventry Machinists Company's new repair basement on Columbus Avenue, Dr. L. S. Copper's patented saddle, and a letter from A. H. Overman promising prompt delivery of Victor bicycles.
- Preparations for the L.A.W. meet at Buffalo: the Buffalo Club's annual tournament joins the League races on 3 July, special rates are secured over the Hoosac Tunnel, West Shore and Michigan Central lines, hotels are booked for 1,200 wheelmen, Bull and Bowen's western New York road book covering 1,200 miles is in press, and the club has rented a new headquarters house.
- 'Daisie' argues that women should not race, urging her lady readers to ride inconspicuously in flannel without corsets or crinoline, dismisses Mrs. King's proposed costume as fit only for Dr. Mary Walker, and praises English makers for housing tricycle steering-gear that has ruined many skirts.
- A humorous account signed L. R. H. of conspiring with a fat clubmate to spring the first convertible tandem on the Boston Club, covering two hundred miles in two weeks, and gradually suspecting the rear rider of coasting at the writer's expense — resolved by changing seats.
- Novice's Column instalment by L. E. E. explaining bicycle construction: solid, hollow and fluted front forks, the head, neck and backbone, back forks, and the varieties of ball and roller bearings with their adjustment for wear, with tricycle frames promised a separate chapter.
- Foreign notes: Cambridge University's George Gatehouse hailed as another Cortis, the Deutscher Radfahrer-Bund's 3,099 members across eighty-two district associations, Hungary's eleven cycling clubs and crack riders Emil Philipovich and Ludwig von Vermes, and sixteen-year-old W. A. Illston's scratch handicap win at the Birchfield Club races.
- The fourth annual meet of the League of Essex County Wheelmen at Beverly on Decoration Day put one hundred and sixty wheels in line behind the Thorndike Bicycle Club; Frank S. Winship of Lynn was elected president and J. Fred Adams of Haverhill vice-president at the meeting in Odd Fellows' block.
- Short notes: Wheel World's June lithograph and sketch of Thomas Stevens, the forthcoming nuptials of Andrew Lester Fennessy, riders lifted off their machines by a storm at Cheltenham, and a sealskin-bound photograph album presented to Chief Consul Frank W. Weston by the American division of the C.T.C. through Consul Charles H. Potter.
- A rambling column in praise of the 'Kicker' as the lubricant of progress — citing Luther, Washington and Lincoln — with observations on the forgotten League uniform, a Cheylesmore tricycle sale at Gaskell's, Singer's goods at Everett's, a plea for decent drinking cups at town pumps, and a call for a two-story tricycle tool bag.
- The Ramblers' Club tournament at St. Louis on 23 May drew nearly two thousand spectators; George Webber took the three-mile race for a Spalding bicycle offered by the Simmons Hardware Company, with Cola E. Stone, N. H. Van Sicklen, John S. Rogers and John G. Hitchcock among the other winners.
- Racing News report of the Capital Bicycle Club's spring races at Athletic Park, Washington, D.C., on 25 May: B. W. Hanna won the new one-mile District of Columbia championship in 2.59 4/5, W. E. Crist took the Flint Challenge Cup five-mile with a 37-second last quarter, and a Club Tandem beat a Meteor Sociable.
- Full report with checking-point times of the Cambridge Bicycle Club's fifty-mile road race from Cambridge to Beverly on Decoration Day: E. P. Burnham (54-inch Victor) won in 3h. 54m. — revived by a quart of milk from a passing wagon — with F. W. Haartz second on a Rudge and L. J. Martell first tricyclist on a Victor; William Rowe of Lynn retired after a header at Salem.
- At the Springfield Club's spring meeting in Hampden Park, George M. Hendee rode a half mile in 1.17 3/4 on a Victor before 1,200 spectators despite a wet track; other events included a Rudge Safety mile won by F. R. Brown and a record-beating tandem bicycle mile by Miller and Brown.
- The Newburyport Club's first road race, twenty miles over eight laps of a two-and-a-half-mile course at Oldtown on 30 May, with Frank M. Gates starting and Milton S. Thompson as referee; adjacent items cover John S. Prince's 2.35 1/2 mile against time at which he fainted, the Aeolus Club's five-mile championship won by H. Burroughs, and the Waltham Club's Decoration Day road races won by C. E. Tracey.
- Club news: the Ramblers' Club's prize banquet at the Planters' House in St. Louis where John S. Rogers proposed a western racing circuit, one hundred and fifty bicycles parading with the New Jersey Wheelmen at Newark under Capt. George P. Williams, the Brooklyn Club's lantern parade, Harvard's election of A. D. Claflin as president, and the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's new sleeping room.
- American Division notices under Chief Consul Frank W. Weston of Savin Hill, Boston: the list of State consuls from Connecticut to Wyoming Territory, five provisional membership elections, and Canadian Division applications via chief consul Horace S. Tibbs of Montreal.
- Brief editorial replies to correspondents J. P. D. of New York, H. M. A. on a dealer dispute, A. G. C., and Kennedy-Child.
- Calendar of coming events from the Yale Bicycle Club races at New Haven on 5-6 June through the L.A.W. annual meet at Buffalo on 2-3 July, the hundred-mile Big Four road race from Cobourg to Kingston, and the September championship tournaments at Hartford and Springfield.