The Bicycling World, Vol 54, No 26
Articles in this issue
- M. Edouard Michelin incorporated the Michelin Tire Co. in New Jersey at $3,000,000 and bought the International A. & V. Tire Co. plant at Milltown, N. J., taking possession September 1st, with International's general manager J. C. Matlack named agent in charge.
- A. H. Funke, the importer and jobber of 83 Chambers street, New York, filed a petition in bankruptcy with liabilities of $102,338 against assets of $51,700; creditors include the Metropolitan Bank, Marenard & Co. of Paris and Hans Tauscher.
- A delegation waited on the British government to urge stricter enforcement of the Merchandise Marks Act, complaining that German bicycles are being sold in Great Britain as English-made without the “Made in Germany” stamp.
- Baker & Hamilton, the big San Francisco jobbing house, petitioned to change its name to the Baker & Hamilton Co. and transfer the business to a new Baker & Hamilton organized by the old company's directors as a holding company for its stockholders.
- The Rover Cycle Co. outdid the British fashion for long warranties by guaranteeing its machines “forever and ever; amen.”
- John Vollertson opened a new store on Brady street, Davenport, Iowa; the Stamford Motorcycle Co. was formed at Stamford, Conn., by H. C. Worden, Robert Caldwell and Norman C. Wilcox to handle the R-S.
- Great Britain exported 6,864 bicycles worth £34,555 and £75,624 of parts in February, but the average value per machine fell from £6 12s. to £4 19s., while imported bicycles averaged £7 18s. 6d.
- A foreign expert on the V belt of the motor bicycle: stretching it under a weight before use, choosing a substantial fastener over a gimlet, wiping off road grit, and cleaning with gasolene rather than castor oil for some belt varieties.
- William S. Atwell of Boston, who built Col. Albert A. Pope's first bicycle in 1877 at a cost of $313 after John Harrington's visit, and who later headed William Read & Sons' bicycle department, dropped dead this month.
- A dealer refused $75 for a decrepit motor bicycle on his floor rather than let a townsman ride it, on the ground that a bad machine in his own town would set a trap for his trade.
- The Bahamas admits motorcycles free of duty while pedal machines pay 5 shillings; motorcycle parts likewise escape taxation where cycle parts pay 20 per cent ad valorem.
- Portugal fixed the import duty on motorcycles at 50 milreis ($54) each, the tariff applying to motor bicycles or tricycles without pedals or with pedals that do not move the machine.
- Fred E. Randall, about the first of the Boston dealers to take up motorcycles, died in a private hospital there following an operation.
- A guide to the make-and-break contact mechanism of motorcycle ignition: keeping platinum points clean and squarely riveted, tempering the vibrating springs, and setting clearance at seldom less than 1-32 and often 1-16 inch.
- Rinse the measure with a little gasolene and pour it out before adding heavy lubricating oil, so the oil flows freely and leaves the tin clean.
- Riders moving from a “single” to a two-cylinder motorcycle find the “double” eats batteries and brings jerks and skips they wrongly blame on other causes.
- John R. Vosburgh of Johnstown, N. Y., answered his local papers' census-based claim that the bicycle trade was on its last legs with a letter showing the figures ran only to 1905, winning himself more publicity than advertising could buy.
- A. G. Armstrong, president of the Century Road Club of America, is leading a soreheaded movement against the National Cycling Association's control of road racing, which the paper calls doomed to failure.
- One British bicycle maker has carried long-term warranty absurdity to its limit by guaranteeing his product forever and ever, through eternity, past infinity, and thereafter.
- George N. Holden of Springfield, Mass., took E. W. Goodwin's “Indian Point Medal” with 16 points, most earned on the second day of the F. A. M. Rochester meet, ahead of Charles W. Van Sickle of Chicago with 12; Goodwin will offer an open Goodwin medal for 1907.
- Amendments kept motorcyclists out of the fees and tags of the Illinois automobile bill, though a $200 fine for road racing remains; Irving R. Hall of the F. A. M. led the work, and eight bills are pending in Connecticut.
- The Milwaukee Motorcycle Club elected Dr. Thomas president, J. T. Ball vice-president, Arthur Davidson secretary, Arthur Morgan treasurer and F. R. Perry captain and motor mechanic for 1907.
- With the Garfield Park track destroyed, the Chicago Motorcycle Club waived its application for the 1907 F. A. M. national meet and Baltimore has entered the list.
- President Adee and Chairman Kelsey set out the National Cycling Association's road racing plan: no charge for sanctions, a 25-cent annual registration, and a road racing committee of delegates from any club of twenty members.
- The N. C. A. Board of Control suspended Otto J. Steih, Eugene Battaille, Charles Anderson, Frank Lane and George T. Jerome, all of the metropolitan district, for “ringing” in novice races after having won prizes.
- L'Auto carried Robert Coquelle's account of Major Taylor riding five races in Paris from May 9th, three matches at Salt Lake and an Australian tour worth $10,000 for 12 races; Taylor wired the Bicycling World that nothing is definite and he knows of no Australian offer.
- Heavy entries forced the Tiger Wheelmen of New York to move their April 13th home trainer championship races to Turn Halle, 917 Eighth avenue, and to double the prizes.
- A Melbourne letter reports no Sydney Thousand Carnival this year after promoters cut up the prize money badly, while road racing grows: a Gippsland carnival of seven events drew 260 entries each and the Dunlop Warrnambool-to-Melbourne race once drew 302.
- Emile Agraz of six day fame has a saucer track built in the City of Mexico and left San Jose, Cal., with P. Castro, W. Cheboya, Frank Hitchcock, Raymond Shattuck, John Berryessa, Robert Diefenbacher and Hal McCormick.
- The Electric Wheelmen of Reading, Pa., long inactive in racing matters, are considering a spring race meet as cycling interest revives in the town.
- At the Velodrome d'Hiver Walthour broke every local record from 10 to 60 kilometres in an hour race over Guignard and McFarland; Vanden Born won the Prix Zimmerman from Jacquelin and Bruni took the paced Prix Tom Linton from Parent.
- Geo. E. Holt borrows a decrepit bicycle from a Tangier newspaper office and sets out with a Moorish boy for the village of Suani, finding fine sand that swallows the wheel and a flat tire before the first hill.
- Riders at Marysville, Cal., formed a motorcycle club with R. D. Sweezy president, Clyde Taylor vice-president, Clarence Wallace treasurer and Charles Heyl secretary, and will hold a race at the town's Fourth of July celebration.
- The Prospect Park Cork Pullers, sore at the N. C. A.'s professionalizing of a number of their riders, refuse to recognize its control of road racing and talk of forming an association of their own; A. G. Armstrong is not among them.
- A flat floor rider complains that armory promoters shut out “outsiders”; the answer is that a recent armory race open to any N. C. A. registered rider drew shamefully few entries.
- Axel Johnson of the Century Road Club Association, who rode Bridgeport to Chicago and back last winter, leaves New York on Tuesday for a 3,000-mile trip by way of Philadelphia, Norfolk, Atlanta and Columbus, earning his way as he goes.
- H. R. Brown won the one mile handicap from scratch at the 23d Regiment games in Brooklyn in 2:35 with H. R. Reynolds second; three riders went off at a tangent into the crowd in the novice, won by C. L. Cook.
- The National Cyclists' Union, the Scottish Cyclists' Union and the Irish Cyclists' Association will institute a single licensing scheme for England, Scotland and Ireland and delete the five miles British Empire championship.
- Seceders from the Edgecombe Wheelmen of New York City incorporated under the same name with Samuel Morrison president, while B. C. Glemba of the Edgecombe Cycle Co. keeps the original club going as the Edgecombe Wheelmen of New York.
- The Union Velocipedique de France runs an annual championship for boys under 17, “Les Championnats des Tout-Petits”, whose entry list had reached 400 before closing for the March 24th running.
- The Newton (Mass.) Bicycle Club, organized April 1, 1882 and never disbanded or reorganized, celebrates its silver jubilee on April 1st at what will be its 187th meeting.