The Bicycling World, Vol 4, No 16
Articles in this issue
- Brief notes reporting that the New York Bicyclers' Ball on Monday evening was not a success, that the Pope Manufacturing Company has changed its advertisement, and that Boston Bicycle Club members enjoyed a musical and literary entertainment in their parlors. Dealers and manufacturers report good business prospects for the coming season.
- Editorial condemning the tactics of well-known racing men who secure easy victories through jockeying, arguing that bicycle racing in America has thus far been free of such corrupt practices and should stay that way. The editor argues that the English method of running mile heats will compel the best riders to meet each other honestly or stay out of races entirely.
- Personal narrative of a cyclist who turned to bicycle touring for health recovery, recounting how writing home for his 53-inch machine brought new life to his debilitated frame and led to daily rides through romantic country regions. The narrator describes taking his machine by rail between locations to enjoy spins in diverse scenery, and concludes with a Christmas Day toast to cycling the wide world over.
- Reports from Harvard, Abington, Rutland, Stoneham, Shawmut, and Star clubs, with a standing notice requesting all club secretaries to furnish the paper with coming races, meets, runs, and social meetings. Clubs report on officers elected, winter riding activities, and plans for the spring season.
- Letters debating the location of the 1882 L.A.W. Annual Meet: the Capital Bicycle Club of Washington writes that holding the meet there would give it the representative character it has hitherto lacked and that the club will send a delegation to Chicago regardless, not by rail. A Poughkeepsie correspondent describes hiring a hall with thirty laps to the mile for winter riding, while an English club member defends English cycling roads and the scenery of the Lake District, Kenilworth, and the Avon valley.
- A Vincennes, Indiana, correspondent asks why the bicycle step is placed on the left side rather than the right, describing the difficulty of mounting from the natural side. Also includes a brief humorous note about a rider who fell while fitting rubber on the front wheel and immediately rode to a doctor's office to have his broken index finger set.