The Bicycling World, Vol 4, No 5
Articles in this issue
- The "Editorial Spokes" column for December 9, 1881 notes a Boston moonlight ride cancelled by rain, reports a new patented bicycle wheel by G.L. Dyer on display at the Boston Bicycle Club rooms, and announces plans to publish bicycle patent descriptions simultaneously with their appearance in the Patent Office Gazette. Champion John S. Prince publishes a formal challenge letter depositing $100 to race English champion John Keen ten miles in Boston, naming the Bicycling World as stakeholder.
- An extended editorial opens the section arguing that American manufacturers should produce cheaper tricycles at around $50–$60 and offer free instruction to attract women riders, followed by letters from Brattleboro', Poughkeepsie, Marblehead, Montreal, Rutland, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Topics include A.W. Childs recommending Washington D.C.'s 70 miles of concrete roads for the League's next annual meet, a safe accident-free season in Poughkeepsie, club formation in Marblehead and Rutland, the amateur-versus-professional controversy from Montreal, a 150-rider Thanksgiving run in Philadelphia, and the Chicago Bicycle Club's challenge race plans against Milwaukee.
- A.W. Childs of Brattleboro' describes riding through Washington D.C. on a bicycle borrowed from agent Mr. Carpenter, finding the city's 70 miles of concrete pavement and landmarks far superior to New England roads, and urging the League of American Wheelmen to hold its next annual meet there. Other correspondents report end-of-season conditions, with winter snow and mud having halted outdoor riding across the Northeast.
- Records the formation of the Rutland (Vt.) Bicycle Club with seven members, Frank W. Knapp as captain and William Ross as secretary, and notes Gilbert M. Hitchcock's election as secretary-treasurer of the Omaha Bicycle Club in place of the resigned H.C. Cranz. Describes the Germantown Bicycle Club's new dark-green uniform debuted on Thanksgiving and reports a twenty-mile run by Harvard Bicycle Club members through Cambridge, Somerville, and Watertown.
- Reports a Bay District Association tournament in San Francisco held in aid of the Garfield Monument Association: C.H. Wedgewood won the 880-yard handicap, Ring took the 880-yard scratch race in 1m. 31¾s, and H.C. Eggers won the one-mile handicap in 3m. 15s, with a fancy-riding exhibition by George Aldrich and Charles Leonard of the San Francisco Club. Notes also a prospective fifty-mile amateur championship race at the American Institute, New York on December 19th, and Boston Bicycle Club plans for a grand winter tournament with an anticipated Prince-versus-Keen championship match.
- Outlines League membership fees ($1.00 for individuals; 25¢ per member for clubs enrolling their full membership) and lists new applications including Edward R. Drew of Boston and members of the Mount Vernon and Cleveland clubs. A report from the Committee on Consuls — C.A. Hazlett and Edward C. Hodges — proposes appointing consuls in every city and touring village to arrange League-approved hotels, detailed road descriptions, and uniform bicycle transport rates across rail and steamship lines.
- Notes that Woodside has sailed for England and that Lt. A.L. Woodman of the Boston Bicycle Club is departing on a business trip to Mexico; records the death of Lt. Robert C. Goodwin of the Crescent Bicycle Club at age 19, with a formal mourning notice from Captain F.B. Carpenter ordering members to wear arm emblems for thirty days. Also highlights J.S. Prince's prompt and sportsmanlike formal deposit in response to John Keen's acceptance of his open race challenge.
- An advertisement on the back page promotes the British monthly magazine Cycling, edited by Walter D. Welford, Hon. Secretary of the Bicycle Touring Club, describing it as a 36-page crown-quarto journal full of original articles, practical suggestions, and touring reports. Combined subscriptions to both Cycling and the Bicycling World are offered at $3.00 per annum through the Boston publisher E.C. Hodges & Co.