The Bicycling World, Vol 3, No 25
Articles in this issue
- Short paragraphs of wheel news: the Bay State Bicycle Wheel Club's run to South Framingham, the organisation of the New Haven Tricycle Club on 15 October 1881 as the first tricycling club in America, and a Blue Mound, Illinois subscriber cancelling his paper because the roads are unfit for 'self-propeling vehicles of any gender'.
- Personal notes including H. S. Kempton giving up the bicycling department of the Boston Sunday Herald, President Pratt stirring a hornet's nest with his views on League badge possession, Buckeye Bicycle Club president W. H. Miller of Columbus visiting Boston, W. Gaylord Bell of Cheyenne breaking his arm in a header, and a Boston Club run to Bailey's Hotel, South Natick.
- Leading editorial on the new League of American Wheelmen badge design adopted at the last quarterly meeting, noting that manufacture rests with design patentee Mr. Lamson, arguing that a badge is no proof of membership, and recommending the League abandon its claim to reclaim badges from resigning members.
- Seventh instalment of the ongoing tricycle review series, examining the Delta tricycle's mechanical design including its underslung crank shaft for steadier steering and a front-wheel brake that engages both driving wheels, with comparisons to the previously reviewed Salvo model.
- Correspondence department opening with 'Newburyport Gossip' from 'Ellsworth', cataloguing Newburyport's nine machines (Special Challenge, Standard Columbias, Harvard, Mustang), runs to Rowley, Ipswich and Amesbury, and attic and fence-riding mishaps; followed by a Canandaigua, N.Y. letter from club captain 'A. G. C.' on a Watkins-to-Geneva trip and a combined Excelsior cyclometer and King-of-the-Road lamp mounting he devised.
- Letter from 'Bluenose' of Halifax, N.S., reporting a visit from Windsor L.A.W. consul C. H. Dimock, races planned at Truro after the Dominion exhibition's trotting track proved too rough to race on, a thirteen-mile club run to the Lakeside, and a fortnight's trial of a Burley skeleton saddle against the Columbia suspension.
- Humorous letter from 'K. K.' recounting the Montreal 'Big 4' — ''Arry,' 'Geawge,' 'Jingling Johnny' and 'Macspecs' — riding at Sweetsburg for two-mile race medals, won by Jingling Johnny in 12 1/2 minutes despite stopping to oil a pedal, plus a tall tale of a man sunk to his head in Montreal's muddy streets.
- Chicago letter from 'Steno' describing the Chicago Bicycle Club's new quarters in the South Side Natatorium at Michigan Avenue and Jackson Street, Mr. Fairfield's riding school under Prof. Rollinson, manufacturer Mr. Jeffery's novel tricycle, and Mr. Craig's club mile record of 2.55.
- Rambling letter from 'C. E. P.' after a south-western trip: grade-riding on the Bushnell Park asphaltum walk in Hartford, corrections to the League race report, Washington drill and trick riding by Rex Smith, Hansall and Mears of the Pegasus Club and H. H. Duker's gun drill, Philadelphia clubs' jubilation over freedom of the Park, and a call on recovering L.A.W. ex-vice-president T. K. Longstreth.
- Letter from 'Carl' of Boston on the proper pronunciation of 'bicycle', reporting that Good Literature of New York rules the y short ('bi-sick-le') and asking whether classical Boston should surrender its long-y pronunciation to popular usage.
- Road notes by John H. Taylor and Albert Thorndike, Jr. for bicyclers touring the Continent: a stage-by-stage route from London via Dieppe, Rouen, Paris, Fontainebleau, Dijon and Geneva to Chamounix, then down the Rhine through Heidelberg, Frankfort and Cologne to Aix-la-Chapelle, with distances and graded hotel recommendations.
- Letter from G. F. C. Smillie, L.A.W. Director for New Jersey, arguing that the $2.00 badge deposit is a pledge under Rule 34 and members returning League-owned badges are entitled to their money back, urging the Board to act honourably regardless of the roughly three hundred badges outstanding.
- Long letter signed 'Bicycler' attacking the muddle over old and new League badges — insisting the League must redeem the old 'ham-and-griddle' pattern out of its $1,117.36 balance — deploring the prominence given to racing after the New York race fizzle, and defending the Massachusetts Bicycle Club against stale 'pious' and 'church-going' sneers.
- L.A.W. membership applications forwarded by corresponding secretary Kingman N. Putnam, including Robert S. Kingsbury of Xenia, Ohio, additions to the Montreal, Yonkers and Essex bicycle clubs, and the officers of the newly listed Jackson (Mich.) Bicycle Club under president and captain Guy E. Holcomb.
- Club notes: the San Francisco Bicycle Club plans a Thanksgiving Day tournament and thanks the San Mateo and Santa Clara Agricultural Society, the Chelsea Bicycle Club adopts an expulsion by-law for unpaid assessments, and the Harvard Bicycle Club elects J. H. Storer president and S. Williston captain and opens membership to any University man.
- Coming events at the Manhattan Athletic Club, Hartford Wheel Club, the postponed Baltimore Oriole races at Druid Hill Park and Beacon Park, Boston; results including H. G. La Mothe's half-mile win at Ottawa, Gideon's three-mile win for the Germantown Club at Philadelphia, and W. W. Stall of the Boston Bicycle Club lowering the American amateur mile record to 3m. 7s. at Beacon Park alongside English professional J. S. Prince and H. D. Corey.
- Letter from Prof. K. S. Rollinson of Chicago, self-styled Champion of America, answering J. S. Prince's challenge to any professional rider and proposing world and American championship races — possibly in the Chicago or Boston Exposition buildings — should Messrs. Keen and Cooper consent to compete.
- Reader notes including two defences of the Crescent Club against 'Meteor's' charge of being 'stuck-up', an itemised account by 'A.' of the cost of shipping a bicycle from London to Boston (35 per cent duty plus a $10 Pope Manufacturing Company royalty), and 'Another Outrage' — a teamster named Fred Strike crowding four riders off a Waltham street.
- Article reprinted from the Cyclist contending that manufacturers should not wait for an established demand before producing tricycles designed specifically for women, arguing that adequate supply will itself create the market and bring a brisk trade.
- Brief literary reviews including notice of the November 1881 issue of The Century (formerly Scribner's Monthly), observing that the change in title and publishing firm has brought no perceptible change to the magazine's quality or familiar cover design.