The Bicycling World, Vol 13, No 20
Articles in this issue
- An extra edition presents full results of the 1886 Springfield Tournament, including the World Championship Promateur heats and finals, with Hendee winning the 10-mile A.C.U. promateur championship on a Victor bicycle.
- First-timer and novice bicycle races were well contested, with the editors praising them as the best starting ground for the amateur racers of the future.
- Detailed heat-by-heat and final results for the promateur division are given, noting tactical riding and the dominance of Victor machines across all distances.
- The 5-mile professional handicap at Springfield was won by Neilson, with full times and placings given for each heat and the final.
- Hart won the 5-mile amateur race restricted to riders in the 16:30 class, with full results showing times and riders from across several states.
- Open tricycle race results are reported, with placings and times given for the various classes, including both scratch and handicap events.
- The editors praise the Springfield Bicycle Club for the smooth running of the tournament, the quality of the judges, and the excellent accommodations provided for visiting cyclists.
- A reader letter from James A. Spead advises that bicycle rattles are almost always caused by loose joint bolts at the fork ends, not loose ball bearings, and warns that wrongly tightening the bearing cones instead will grind them to ruin.
- Reprinted from the Springfield Union, this story traces the premature graying of professional racing cyclist Tom Eck to a terrifying childhood ordeal at sixteen, when two companions drowned after their boat capsized in a Lake Ontario storm.
- The editors announce they will publish a special Friday Extra edition to deliver full Springfield tournament results without delaying the regular weekly issue, calling it a stroke of enterprise.
- Correspondent "The Idler" offers on-the-ground observations from Springfield, noting the fine grounds, the regretted absence of English riders, the likely temporary nature of the promateur class, and anticipating the showdown between Hendee and Rowe.
- New York correspondent covers the Harlem Wheelmen's inaugural race meet—notable for close multi-man finishes—and details the Ixion Bicycle Club's ambitious all-handicap tournament planned at Roseville in October with $195 first prizes.
- Reports W.H. Huntley's near-successful 24-hour road record attempt near Boston, during which he covered 140 miles in 11 laps and broke the 100-mile American road record en route, before a stone placed in the road threw him and ended the attempt.
- F.B. Hawkins of the Brooklyn Bicycle Club covered 202 miles in 24 hours over a measured course starting from the club rooms on St. Felix Street, with pace-makers throughout, despite his crank breaking at 192 miles.
- A miscellaneous column mixing cycling correspondence, rider testimonials for the New Rapid bicycle, gossip about the contested Rowe–Ives result at Pittsfield, and club news from Boston, New York, and the Midwest.
- Reports proposed ordinances in Orange, West Orange, and South Orange, New Jersey, that would require all vehicle riders—including cyclists—to give audible warning of approach to pedestrians and to carry lighted lamps from one hour after sunset.
- A roundup of domestic and international racing notes covering recent results at Pittsfield, the upcoming East Hartford Wheel Club meeting, and commentary on the form of professionals Ives, Rowe, Wood, and newcomer Crocker.