The Bicycling World, Vol 4, No 13
Articles in this issue
- Editorial assessing the League of American Wheelmen's performance against its constitutional objectives — promoting cycling's general interests, defending wheelmen's road rights, and facilitating touring — arguing the League deserves more credit than critics like 'Cyclos' allow, despite admitted shortcomings in publishing legal decisions and touring information.
- Brief editorial review of the 'Wheelman's Annual,' praising its stories, papers, and specifications for an ideal bicycle contributed by leading riders, with commentary on rear-wheel size preferences and a novel handlebar-length rule proposed by W. W. Stall.
- Editorial warning about rising assaults on cyclists — particularly in England — urging American riders to pursue swift prosecutions under existing assault laws, arguing that a few successful cases would establish that cyclists hold equal road rights with other travellers.
- Upcoming race calendar and detailed reports from two Boston indoor meetings (Mechanics' Fair Building, 25 January; Mechanics' Institute Building, 28 January) and a bicycle-versus-pedestrian match in Providence (26 January); includes lap-by-lap accounts and finishing times for amateur and professional events featuring Prince, Corey, Frye, and others.
- Correspondence by 'Cyclos' rebutting Ex-Secretary Parsons's defence of the League of American Wheelmen, charging that the L.A.W. has failed to publish legal decisions protecting cyclists' road rights, wasted dues money on races rather than touring infrastructure, and has left its own constitutional objects substantially unmet.
- Letter by 'Ixion' defending the Invincible bicycle against a correspondent's report of persistent spoke-snapping, attributing the fault to defective metal in that particular machine rather than the design; also recounts a conversation with champion John Keen about the trade-offs between heavy and light wheel rims.
- Correspondence describing daily bicycle commuting through Boston's winter streets — including snow and ice — arguing the machine is practical year-round; includes an account of riding a bicycle among a White Mountains excursion party and outpacing four-horse coaches up a 60-foot-per-mile grade, with a detailed monthly mileage log for 1881 totalling 1,945 miles.
- Correspondence from 'Ixion' presenting a detailed monthly riding log for 1881 — 3,139 miles over 253 days on four different machines including Harvard and Yale models — noting a longest single-day ride of 100½ miles on 27 August.
- Letter by Frank W. Weston reporting on the abrupt departure of English champions Keen and Vesey from Boston before a scheduled rematch with Frye and Prince, quoting a Boston Herald criticism of the incident, and including a letter from Vesey expressing regret and his hope to race Frye again on an outdoor track in September.
- Description of U.S. patent No. 251,395 granted to James Amess of Guelph, Ontario — a treadle-powered bicycle with lever and crank mechanisms — along with claims from patent-holder John Hogan that the machine reaches 32 mph on rough roads, weighs 65 lbs, and affords the rider better protection from headers than the ordinary rotary-crank bicycle.
- Comprehensive record tables of official bicycle racing times in England, Scotland, and America for distances from 440 yards to 176 miles, covering professional and amateur categories, with performances by J. Keen, H. L. Cortis, C. D. Vesey, D. Stanton, W. S. Clark, and others through late 1881.
- Brief club reports: the Capital Bicycle Club (Washington, D.C.) appoints a new secretary; the Dubuque Bicycle Club (Iowa) elects new officers; and the Louisville and Falls City clubs vote to merge as the Kentucky Bicycle Club, with dissenting Falls City members continuing their own organization.
- Reader questions on equipment and maintenance, including requests for a recipe for viscid oil suited to back-wheel ball bearings, advice on fastening rubber ball handles to a handlebar, and guidance on whether a rider with a 31-inch leg can safely move from a 48-inch to a 50-inch bicycle.
- Short literary notices covering the February issue of The Century magazine (featuring Longfellow, Emerson, and Cable) and the children's periodical Our Little Ones; a note on the Berlin cycling journal Das Velociped; and a humorous verse by Ixion on the fashion for English bicycle trade jargon.
- Forthcoming events calendar listing the Boston Bicycle Club's fourth annual dinner (6 February), the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's annual meeting (7 February), and a New York bicyclers' ball (20 February); also notes that the Prince of Wales has ordered a tricycle for one of his daughters, and that a South Bend letter-carrier uses a bicycle to cut his collection round from one hour to twenty minutes.
- Detailed technical description of Pope Manufacturing Company's new Expert Columbia bicycle, reprinted from advance catalogue sheets, covering all component improvements — hemispherical ball steering, elliptical weldless-steel hollow forks, detachable cranks, Columbia ball bearings, vulcanite handles, parallel pedals, and spring spoon brake — with prices from $123 to $152.50 depending on wheel size and finish.