The Bicycling World, Vol 53, No 10
Articles in this issue
- Oscar Hedstrom of the Hendee Mfg. Co. is interviewed in New York on his return from England and France, reporting that English machines are bulky, that two-cylinder motorcycles are gaining popularity on the Continent with little real interest in the four-cylinder, and that he took a thirty-mile bicycle ride, his first in two years.
- President Keller of the Armac Motor Bicycle Co. explains that the name is built from designer Archie Mack's own, half of each part being borrowed; Mack was a well-known racing man in the Northwest.
- A decision by I. F. Fischer of the Board of United States General Appraisers holds Peugeot motorcycles dutiable on a basis of 750 francs apiece rather than the invoiced foreign market value of 525 francs.
- John Millen & Son, the Montreal jobbing house, has been incorporated in Canada with $100,000 capital; the incorporators are John Millen, W. Starchan and F. W. Sharp, all of Montreal.
- The motor bicycle is beginning to interest the mail order houses, one of which is known to be seeking quotations on 1,000 machines for the 1907 trade.
- William Herrick, chief centurion of the Century Road Club of America and manager for Morgan & Wright, died of apoplexy at St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago, aged 40; a co-founder of the club and president of the Lincoln Cycling Club, he created its famous "hard times" smoker.
- A French paper mangles the English system as badly as Americans mangle the metric, gravely announcing a British motor bicycle's weight as "2 crots, 3 qurs. 13 lbs." and 1,000 kilos as "19 cro. 3 qurs. et 8 lbs."
- Advice on wiring ignition circuits so that conductors are uncrowded, stand clear of metal parts, and are kept dry, since dry air is the best insulator and moisture breaks down insulation.
- United States bicycle exports for April 1906 fell to $27,412 from $35,745 a year earlier, though ten-month totals rose sharply for Germany ($74,757), Italy ($30,747), the Netherlands ($119,699), Other Europe ($204,256) and Mexico ($71,186).
- Phil. B. Bekeart & Co. of San Francisco hangs a mock balance sheet outside its temporary office at 2330 Alameda Avenue, listing "Nerve, over 1,000,000.00" and "Fixtures - 1 suit clothes, 2 fancy vests, 1 plug hat (undamaged)".
- A consular report puts Belgium's 1905 exports at 742 complete bicycles valued at $13,346, bicycle parts at $221,752, and 2,337 motorcycles at $278,791, with fittings of $194,677.
- The Standard Co. of Torrington, Conn., is about to let contracts for two additional buildings, one to be used as a power plant and the other for manufacturing.
- Thomas W. Davis of Peoria, Ill., in his seventy-ninth year and with nearly 118,000 miles to his credit, hopes to reach 120,000 before summer's end; he has ridden eleven machines since building his first tricycle in 1884, rides a 63 gear, and prefers spiral spring saddles and square rubber pedals.
- Argues that clubs which admit women members or a ladies' auxiliary hold together far better through the year, noting that the two largest clubs in the country and two of the oldest all number women among their members.
- Municipal authorities are adopting cycle police and inspectors in growing numbers: Columbus, Ohio, has put two plain clothes men on speedometer-equipped bicycles, Toledo may mount officers on motor bicycles, and Syracuse and Portland, Oregon, are moving the same way.
- Joseph Harris of Jersey City leaves New York City Hall for San Francisco on a Reading Standard, expecting to cover the 3,840 miles in 43 days; Harry Early, Emil Leuly and R. A. Van Dyke escort him out on a route via Scranton, Elmira, Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha and Ogden.
- The new bridge between Perth Amboy and South Amboy, opening June 15, will cut the present thirty-three mile detour via New Brunswick for riders bound from New York to Long Branch, Lakewood and Atlantic City.
- Calendar of coming events from June 3 to November 29, 1906, including Century Road Club races at Valley Stream, the F. A. M. annual tour and endurance contest from New York to Rochester, and the world's championships at Geneva.
- Robert J. Walthour of Atlanta beat Hugh McLean by more than two miles in a twenty-five mile motorpaced contest at the Revere Beach saucer in 35:42 1/5, before a crowd of nearly 7,500; J. B. Coffey won the ten-mile professional from Patsy Logan and Dennis Connolly.
- Fred C. Hoyt of Boston, on a two-cylinder Indian, won the twenty-mile open handicap from scratch in 21:11 3/5 plus the ten-mile open and handicap at the Chicago Motorcycle Club's Decoration Day meet at Garfield Park, and rode a five-mile exhibition in 5:07 3/5.
- W. S. Fenn of Bristol, Conn., won a three-heat match against Floyd Krebs of Newark on a foul at Vailsburg after Krebs's wheel brought him down; Charles Jacobs took the half-mile open and B. F. Pash of Louisville the mile handicap.
- Walter Raleigh of the National A. C., Brooklyn, won the eighteenth annual Irvington-Millburn twenty-five mile road race from 102 starters, sprinting clear in the last hundred yards from Clinton Ayres and F. Montville, with nearly 10,000 spectators along the course.
- Oscar Schwab was placed third twice, for crowding Schilling and for irregular riding, in a three-heat match at Roanne, France, on May 20; Schilling took the match from Michaud and Schwab.
- Louis E. Mettling of Boston finished third behind Lorgeu and Arthur Vandestuyft in a motorpaced hour race at Antwerp on May 20th, Lorgeu covering 48 miles 1,273 yards.
- Oscar Hedstrom won both the free-for-all and the slow climb at the New York Motorcycle Club's annual hill climbing contest on the 2,812-foot Fort George grade, setting a record 36 2/5 seconds on a five-horsepower Indian; Stanley T. Kellogg took the touring class amid a protest over Palmer tandem tires.
- Nat Butler of Cambridge was defeated by Piet Dicketmann in a 100-kilometre motorpaced race at the Steglitz track, Berlin, on May 20, Dicketmann covering 62 1/2 miles in 1:12:42 and all world's records to 50 kilometres being broken.
- James F. Moran finished third in a 20-kilometre motorpaced open at the Velodrome Parc du Princes, Paris, won by Lorgeu from Simar in 14 minutes 40 seconds.
- H. Adler of Detroit, off six minutes, won the twenty-five mile Belle Isle handicap road race on Decoration Day, while J. Holmden of Findlay, Ohio, took first time prize from scratch in 1:05:34 and shipped home an upright piano valued at $350.
- Frank L. Kramer again beat Gabriel Poulain in a match at Nantes on May 20 and won the 900 metres handicap from scratch in a record 1:16; at Toulouse on May 13 he beat Emil Friol two heats to one.
- Victor Lind, Herman Lind and J. H. Bennett of Brooklyn carried off most of the prizes at the outlawed Union Lake Park track at Millville, N. J., and are likely to hear from the National Cycling Association.
- James F. Moran of Chelsea, Mass., won the 50-kilometre Golden Wheel Race of Buffalo in Paris on May 20, qualifying only through the repechage and finishing two and a half laps ahead of Cesar Simar.
- Only nineteen riders started the Century Road Club Association western division's twenty-five mile handicap at Chicago; H. C. Wittman won first place off four minutes in 1:10:13 and Emil Blum took first time prize for the second year in 1:08:27.
- William Reed, riding off eight minutes, won the Atlantic City Wheelmen's Decoration Day twenty-five mile road race over the Pleasantville-Mays Landing course, with W. Filmer second.
- Michael Logue of Philadelphia won both the one-mile handicap in 2:03 3/5 and the three-mile handicap in 8:24 3/5 at Washington Park-on-the-Delaware, N. J., after Jamieson was moved back to second for fouling.
- Baltimore's new Crescent Bicycle Club was organized on May 21 with exactly two members, Thos. W. Baker and Charles O. Reveille, who duly elected each other president and secretary.
- Harry Vaughn, off five minutes, won the Grand Rapids Bicycle Dealers' and Repairmen's Association fifteen-mile handicap in 45:22, while "Frenchy" Nelson took first time prize from scratch in 40:42 and afterwards won the Kent county mile championship.
- Donald Graves won the Richmond (Ind.) Bicycle Dealers' Association fourteen-mile handicap off fifteen seconds in 38:30, while Silas Brown took first time prize from scratch in a course record 38:16 and Norman Showalter was awarded the customary bottle of ketchup.
- F. A. M. Competition Committee chairman Douglas suspended Stanley T. Kellogg and F. C. Hoyt for 30 days after learning that A. A. Hoyt of Whitman, Mass., already under a two-year suspension, had competed in the Worcester hill climbing contest of May 25.
- "Chic" Thomas of Baltimore won the five-mile motorcycle handicap from scratch at Electric Park on Decoration Day in 8:54, overhauling Rayner Strauss and W. S. Fisher after Strauss struck ignition trouble.
- P. E. Barczick won the three-mile bicycle handicap from scratch at the United Irish Society of Long Island games at Washington Park, Maspeth, from Robert Kealty and Patrick Donovan.
- W. Fisher of the National A. C., Brooklyn, won the two-mile handicap from scratch at the Irish-American A. C. games at Celtic Park in 5:42 3/4, from W. C. Nelson and J. A. Simonds.
- Marcel Cadolle of Paris won the Bordeaux-Paris road race of 366.6 miles on May 12 and 13 in 19 hours 35 minutes, beating Henri Cornet and Louis Trousselier from a field of seventeen for a prize list of $1,040.
- Chairman V. J. Lind has received over seventy entries for the twenty-mile Brooklyn Handicap at Valley Stream on the 10th, with W. Richard Stroud, George Wiley, Charles Van Doren and Irvington-Millburn winner Walter Raleigh among the out-of-town starters.
- Japan offers fine scenery, generally good if hilly roads and no speed limits; gasolene is cheap, and although the import duty on motorcycles rose to forty per cent on April 1, tourists may bring machines in as passengers' luggage free of duty.
- The West Park board has ordered the cement bicycle track at Garfield Park, Chicago, torn down; built in the early nineties at a cost of $30,000, it was one of the finest and most heavily banked tracks in the world.
- A Northampton cyclist on the Kettering road had a cat run up his front wheel and wedge itself between fork and tire, stopping the machine instantly, only for the animal to extricate itself and run off apparently unhurt.
- Jacob Holsman of Newark is said to have confessed to "borrowing" several wheels, including two taken from grocer John Brown's premises and one belonging to Louis J. Wurth, the Reading Standard agent.
- The Livingston Bicycle Club of the West End, Albany, N. Y., was organized with 14 members and elected John Kyre president, Mrs. Samuel Little vice-president and Mrs. Albert Couse recording secretary, planning a series of summer trips.
- The Capital Bicycle Club of Washington, D. C., elected Andrew Parker president, Samuel E. Lewis vice-president, Harry N. Low secretary and J. A. Boteler treasurer at its annual meeting.
- Twenty riders of the St. Louis Cycling Club took the Saturday boat to Clarksville for the club's Pike county tour on May 27th, running to Bowling Green and Eolia and tackling Crank hill and Cox hill; signed "The Kicker".
- Henri Mayer, the elderly Danish rider, was charged excess luggage when he tried to board the Melbourne express at Adelaide carrying three of his wheels, the guard retorting "I don't care if you're a horse, you've got to pay excess."