The Bicycling World, Vol 6, No 16
Articles in this issue
- Two pieces: 'Au Revoir' is a valedictory from outgoing editor William E. Gilman after nearly two years, thanking readers and contributors, noting the paper's steadily doubled subscription list, and naming his successor, J. S. Dean; 'And the Meet' continues the debate over where to hold the 1883 L.A.W. Annual Meet, arguing that a smaller city with a larger parade will do more good for bicycling than New York City.
- Three letters on where to hold the 1883 L.A.W. Meet: Wm. O. Owen of the Laramie Bicycle Club describes an exceptional winter for riding and a record-setting run over the Rockies to Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory; 'Count' of Xenia, Ohio and Victor M. Halderman of Marietta, Pennsylvania both argue for Washington over New York or New Haven.
- Fixture notices (Springfield Bicycle Club's annual meeting, Maryland Bicycle Club's business meeting and first annual dinner, Greenfield Wheel Club's first annual ball, Kings County Wheelmen's annual meeting) followed by club news from Rochester, Falls City, Elmira, Buffalo, Star (Lynn), Meriden, Hawthorne, Columbia (Attleboro'), Long Island, Champion City (Springfield, Ohio) and Harvard College, plus fuller reports on the Buckeye Bicycle Club's third annual dinner in Columbus (with its mock 'Champion Liar' medal) and the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's fourth annual dinner at the Hotel Vendome.
- A fancy-riding contest for a $50 gold medal and the championship of Maryland was held at the West End Skating Rink, Baltimore, on 15 February, with debutant Jas. Murray defeating reigning champion A. T. Slee, 96 points to 90; judges were Messrs. Yates, Penniman and Harry Broeort, with Arthur Harrison as referee.
- Profs. Wilmot and Alden performed a double bicycle exhibition at the Olympian Club, including a stand-still trick where each swung onto a single pedal and sat facing each other on the machine; a correspondent signing as 'Leicester' reports the crowd forced a repeat performance in the rink's main hall.
- Technical article on the Coventry Convertible tricycle by Julius Wilcox, describing its double-steering system, two-track wheel layout, and convertibility between single and four-wheeled sociable form; Wilcox reports the machine is the steadiest he has tried and holds the fifty-miles road race record of 1882.
- Prince, writing via the Boston Herald, rebuts rider Charles H. Leroy's claim to have easily beaten him and partner Rollinson in last summer's Casino exhibition, explaining that the promoters' contract had forced them to ease the pace to protect an ailing Leroy; Prince now proposes a genuine stakes race, dollar for dollar, against Leroy.
- Miscellany including cyclist Jabez Holman's sentencing to the Elmira Reformatory for drugging and robbing Fred S. Rollinson, the discovery that Cincinnati's winter long-distance race times at Power Hall had been inflated by a shortened track tape, and notice that the Wheel Publishing Company has renamed itself Oliver & Jenkins ahead of launching a new magazine, the Amateur Athlete. Also reports the newly formed Fostoria Bicycle Touring Club and Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., as president of the Chelsea (England) Bicycle Club.
- Membership invitation and admission-fee instructions for the League of American Wheelmen, payable to secretary Fred T. Sholes; lists the Racing Board (chairman S. A. Marsden, secretary Fred Jenkins, Geo. D. Gideon, Geo. H. Strong, Frank E. Yates, Abbot Bassett), new membership applications from the Lawrence, Charlotte, Hermes, Citizens', Clarion and Elmira Bicycle Clubs, and consular appointments including N. M. Beckwith for New York State.
- B.T.C. department listing new membership applications and renewals (chief consul Frank W. Weston, Savin Hill, Boston; $2.50 fee including silver badge), consular appointments for Milton, Washington D.C. and Newton, Massachusetts, and notice that a cloth pattern for the club's new uniform accompanied the February Monthly Gazette.
- A 'To Correspondents' column answering reader queries from Lowell, Philadelphia, Albany, Marquette (Mich.), Marblehead, Athens (Ga.), Brookline, Bonaparte (Iowa) and Marietta (Pa.) on topics from touring guide-books to club-machine recommendations and color-bearer etiquette; also notes a new Union Velocipedique de France formed by dropping the amateur-only rule.
- Second installment of a technical series (reprinted from the English Cyclist) arguing that ball bearings, though good at retaining lubricant, wear out and jam dangerously, whereas parallel (sliding) bearings run easier and are dust-proof; the author cites over a year's trouble-free use of parallel bearings on his own D. H. F. Premier bicycle.