The Bicycling World, Vol 12, No 11
Articles in this issue
- Unheaded leader paragraphs report a compact among Boston dealers and manufacturers establishing a reserved list of prominent riders to end bidding wars of gratuities and discounts, dismiss Boston daily-press talk of war between the two Boston clubs after President Hodges' public denial, and tease Brother Nairn of the Cyclist for disclaiming all knowledge of the Springfield records.
- Plans for the three-day L.A.W. meet in Boston include hiring the Massachusetts Charitable Association building, suburban runs and a harbor steamer sail on the sociability day, the annual meeting on day two, and a Back-Bay parade plus championship races at Beacon Park mile track prepared by Justin Sackett, with Mr. Ducker promising boxed lunches and a free grand banquet; reprinted from the Springfield Republican.
- Henry E. Ducker, president of the Springfield Bicycle Club, cautions all clubs and rink owners against J. S. Moulthrop of New York, whose touring fancy-riding entertainment falsely claims to be under the auspices of the Springfield Bicycle Club — a use of its name Ducker brands a base fraud and gross misrepresentation.
- A note on the week's full-page picture, reproduced from Wheel World by permission of Iliffe & Son, showing a rider on a single scorching with two riders on a tandem.
- Correspondence: Herbert M. Snow of Detroit praises the Bicycling World as the best paper devoted to the sport, commends its columns for staying clear of gush and sentiment, and asks for more full and impartial machine criticisms during the winter.
- A correspondent submits the 1885 tandem mileage records of three pairs from the Orange Wanderers — Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Douglas, and Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Porter — averaging 5,082 miles per pair, and challenges any other three pairs to match it.
- 'Keystone' argues that despite the variety of cradle, swing, suspension and bifurcated saddles on offer, the ideal saddle meeting all requirements of hygiene, stability for rough roads and coasting, and adjustability has yet to be produced, and invites free discussion to hasten its arrival.
- Correspondent '43' continues the safety-bicycle debate, asking why the Facile cannot be criticised, doubting the geared safeties after London W.'s account of their tendency to slide out on slippery ground, and declaring the simple ordinary with three-inch rake and cow-horn bars still holds first place.
- A letter answering the World's query as to who was first to ride in 1886, claiming the honor for the New York Club as the senior club.
- John S. Prince, champion of America, defends professional riders against the L.A.W. Bulletin's charge of gulling the public in skating rinks, arguing that thirteen-lap rink tracks handicap the bicycle enough to make races against skaters like Skinner square and exciting, though he agrees rink records should not be accepted.
- 'Inquirer' asks why the Star bicycle gets no attention in the safety debate despite Frazier's 1883 Springfield 25-mile win, W. W. Stall's Corey Hill climbs, and Weber's track feats, and poses four questions to practical road riders on the Star's brake reliability, weight reductions, and which pattern — 1883, Pony, Special Improved or Light Roadster — is best for the road.
- A Boston press report describes a rowing tricycle invented by H. E. Kempster of Eastport, Maine, with a sliding seat worked like a racing shell, tried by oarsman George H. Hosmer and timed at a mile in 3.09; Kempster promises a race at the Institute rink for professionals such as Hanlan, Teemer, Wallace Ross, Hosmer and Gaudaur.
- John M. Verhoeff, the student arrested and fined for riding in the streets of Princeton, Kentucky, states in the Argus that Mr. Aaron has offered League help via Mr. Pratt, and that public sentiment favors repealing the ordinance, making assistance likely unnecessary.
- F. Warner Jones of England has patented a new 'Saddleback' giving the body a rigid purchase for hill climbing, fixed below the tricycle spring or hinged on a bicycle backbone so it can be raised or lowered and held by a spring like a penknife blade.
- Chief Consul J. A. Chase announces the Rhode Island Division L.A.W. committees: finance under Chase with H. L. Perkins and George C. Newell, touring under L. A. Pope, racing under George C. Newell with George R. McAuslan and A. H. Littlefield Jr., plus rights-and-privileges and rules committees.
- Jeweler Lakin's gold cyclometer for the amateur covering the greatest distance in the season is likely to go to bank clerk Goodnow, whose sworn record of 5,056 miles was ridden before and after banking hours, mostly within six months despite three weeks lost to a broken machine.
- F. De Civry, champion of France, publishes a defiance in the France Chevaline betting £80 against any French trotter over 7,260 metres — two turns of the road round the Longchamps hippodrome — with a 200-metre start, aimed at the trotting amateurs who scoffed at cycling after his wins at Bordeaux.
- A review of the Wheeling Annual finds its chronology of 1885 and records useful but its thirty-odd portraits of leading English and American wheelmen the best feature, singling out the pictures of Ducker, Burnham, Weber, Hendee and Rowe.
- President Beckwith's plan for a League touring department appoints Burley B. Ayers of Chicago as tour-master to organize and direct tours, and H. S. Wood of Philadelphia as chairman of the bureau of information, collecting road reports, maps, hotel and consul data to answer League members' questions.
- A description, reprinted from Wheel World, of W. Bown's handle-bar that locks onto an eccentric Stanley head by a socket and catch so it can be swung at right angles or totally detached in a moment without tools — saving space when a bicycle stands against a wall and deterring theft when it is left unattended.
- Number four of the illustrated series 'Queer Conceits of Inventors regarding the Velocipede' (plates on the following page) covers patents 14 to 18: Sturdy and Young's 1869 back-yard circuit machine, J. B. Root's 1878 body-swaying platform tricycle, B. A. Joule's 1879 rowing-action machine, Wm. Mitchell's 1877 fly-wheel dead-centre remedy, and P. L. Davis's 1880 combined hand-and-foot drive.
- Paragraph notes running to page 15: slow C.T.C. renewals, the Salem club's planned track, Goodnow-beating mileage claims by Philip Fontaine and Elliott Mason, the Capital Club's Fifteenth-street clubhouse lot in Washington, Van Sicklen's dog mishap and later injury, the drowning of Springfield track attendant Charles Shaffer, R. Hullam's 100-mile Tasmanian record, the two 'Genuine' Humbers, Wm. A. Rowe's Lynn Cycle Club life membership, and the Overman Wheel Company's promise to show the new model Victor on 15 February.
- Edward C. Hodges, president of the Boston Bicycle Club, answers a Boston Herald editorial on the Massachusetts Club's position over the coming L.A.W. meet, printing Henry W. Williams' reply that neither he nor his club authorized it, and denying that the Boston Club is sulking or has uttered threats.
- A racing poem by W. H. Smith, reprinted from Wheeling, narrating a five-mile track duel among the narrator, Wheeler and Lea — Lea crashing out mid-race, and the final-lap spurt that beats the 'crack' to win the shield.
- A New Year's Day two-mile road race of the Harlem Wheelmen of New York, over the boulevard from 128th street to 148th street and return, saw H. D. Cochrane win the gold L.A.W. badge and A. T. Steiner take the silver C.T.C. badge, with the club president third; from the Cyclist and Athlete.
- Club reports: the Boston Club's January meeting elects E. C. Hodges president and plans a February clubhouse reception; officer elections at the Weedsport (N.Y.) and Wakefield (Mass.) clubs; the Brooklyn Bicycle Club's memorial resolutions for pioneer wheelman Charles Godfrey Koop; the Fort Schuyler Wheelmen's annual banquet at Utica with a toast to the L.A.W. by Charles H. Metz; and the Knockabout Wheel Club of South Gardner, Mass., electing J. Myron Moore president.
- The C.T.C. department under acting chief consul C. H. Potter of Cleveland lists dues, the state consuls so far appointed — from F. A. Jackson of New Haven to C. P. Wassung of Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory — and provisionally elected membership applicants from Wilkesbarre, New York, Canton and Boston.