The Bicycling World, Vol 64, No 16
Articles in this issue
- Preview of the trade gatherings timed to the New York show week: executive-committee meetings of the National Association of Cycle Jobbers and the Cycle Parts and Accessories Association at the Hotel Astor on January 10, their annual meetings and a Motorcycle Manufacturers' Association business meeting on January 11, followed by a luncheon given by the accessories men.
- Creditors of the Pierce Cycle Company meet in Buffalo on January 10 to elect a trustee; the company was adjudicated bankrupt on November 13 on the petition of Donald S. McKay, Conrad J. Lang and Gustave Benjamin, and new capital is said to be behind a friendly reorganization.
- Neal, Clark & Neal Company are the only motorcycle exhibitors at the Buffalo automobile show in the 74th Infantry Armory, staging five Indian models from the single-cylinder "Four" to the "Seven" with magneto, free engine clutch and foot starter, plus one Flanders.
- Watt Shipp of Salem, Oregon, has arranged with the Badger Brass Mfg. Co. of Kenosha, Wisconsin, to have Solar gas lamps fitted with Shipp lamp brackets at the regular prices.
- Arthur Davidson reports on a ten-day New England trip for Harley-Davidson, calling the region's roads and dealer prospects ideal outside Maine, and explains that the new Danvers, Massachusetts, service depot is meant to dispel the notion that Milwaukee is too far away to give riders service.
- Reading Standard Company stockholders elected J. B. Fricker, Abner S. Deysher, William F. Remppis, G. Jahn, F. A. Lemal, C. A. Earl, Charles T. Treadway, Ralph Webster and F. R. Wilhelmy as directors; two-thirds of the 1912 output is already sold and R-S will exhibit at both the New York and Chicago shows.
- The Harley-Davidson exhibit reaching Joseph Buckingham's Broadway store reveals a new 7-horsepower twin with double chain drive, rear-hub free wheel clutch, twin siamesed gasoline tanks of about four gallons, a double eccentric for chain adjustment and an auxiliary air shutter in the inlet manifold.
- Clarence A. Earl, nineteen years with the Corbin interests, becomes general manager of the Corbin Screw Corporation division of the American Hardware Company at New Britain, succeeding to the post as Charles Glover moves up to vice-president; Corbin's coaster brake business grew 33 per cent in 1911.
- The Breed Motorcycle Company will start building machines on February 12 in temporary Bay City, Michigan, quarters, having elected George W. Breed president, O. W. Ballard vice-president, O. J. Morton treasurer and John J. DeYoung secretary.
- Judge Hazel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held on December 29 that Morgan & Wright's "Nobby" tread infringes the Mell patent owned by the Republic Rubber Co. of Youngstown, rejecting the Bailey and Healey treads as anticipations.
- The Alexander-Seewald Company of 54-56 North Pryor street, Atlanta, has taken the Excelsior agency for Atlanta and northern Georgia, adding a motorcycle store, repair shop and jobbing business under T. C. Butler, Jr.
- Arthur Davidson calculates that Harley-Davidson's 1912 catalogue and advance folder consume 20 1/4 tons of paper - a foot-wide strip that would stretch from Boston to Philadelphia or Santa Fe to Denver.
- Two competing Toronto automobile shows in February have split the city's motorcycle dealers: W. Dunn (Thor) goes to the St. Lawrence arena while Herb Kipp (Indian), Percy A. McBride (Excelsior), S. License (Harley-Davidson) and Motosacoche book space in the Armory.
- Illustrations of B. F. Conner's old and new premises in Wilkes-Barre show how the Indian representative grew from a one-storey shop of eight years ago into the three-storey building at 21-23 Hazel avenue that he took over last September.
- John Yoke, new sales manager of the Flanders Manufacturing Company, argues the motorcycle quadruples an owner's earning capacity, letting collectors, order takers, messengers and contractors cover four times the ground.
- Fixture calendar for January to March 1912, listing the Madison Square Garden show of January 6-20, the Hotel Earlington trade dinner, the Century Road Club balls, the Philadelphia, Chicago, Quincy, Toronto and Denver shows and the Buffalo and New York armory bicycle races.
- Toronto's 500 riders crowded the Parliament buildings for 1912 number plates at $3 apiece; Triumph agent Herbert Greenwood drew No. 1 and Fred Johnston, the Toronto club's new president, No. 9.
- Henry Crowell of Asheville, North Carolina, riding an Excelsior twin en route to Savannah, claims Atlanta in 11 1/2 hours for 295 miles, against a best previous motor car time of 15 hours.
- Editorial on the exceptionally optimistic outlook for 1912: dealers are ordering early, factory order books are full, and travelling men report more motorcycle and bicycle talk than ever on their winter trips.
- Editorial on the sudden swing of the "big five" makers back to chain transmission, attributing it to racing success and to belts slipping on high-powered twins rather than to manufacturing economy, since chains cost more to build.
- Editorial urging manufacturers and dealers to back the fund for an American team in the 200-mile Olympic road race at Stockholm, which so far has been supported mainly by individual enthusiasts.
- Portrait page of the men directing the Madison Square Garden exhibition, headed by chairman Col. George Pope with Charles Clifton and Alfred Reeves.
- The twelfth annual Madison Square Garden show opens Saturday evening in the building's last season before demolition, with motorcycles in the balcony during the first week, accessories in the concert hall and basement, two "Society Nights" on January 9 and 11, and a replacement arena already rising on Lexington avenue between 47th and 48th streets.
- Survey of the 1912 machines from the 16 exhibiting makers: spring seat posts from Harley-Davidson, Thor, Wagner and Excelsior, the swing to chain drive and to enclosed magnetos, new forks, multiple-jet carbureters, overhead rocker inlets, Henderson's double seater, and prices $15 to $60 lower, averaging $225 for singles and $275 for twins.
- Illustrated condensed specifications of every machine on exhibition, from the 1912 Excelsior twin at $250 and Pope single at $175 to the Indian T. T. twin at $300, Pierce, Schickel, Yale, R-S, Thor, New Era, Emblem and M. M. models.
- Guide to the accessory exhibits and their Garden space numbers, including Bosch's enclosed ZEI and ZEV magnetos at space 218, Marburg Bros.' Mea magnetos and S. R. O. bearings, the Nathan Novelty Co. two-piece mackintosh riding suit, F. W. Spacke motors up to 9 horsepower, Standard Welding tubing and Badger Brass Solar lamps.
- A. H. Bartsch argues that mounting the magneto ahead of the crank case exposes it to mud and water and makes it awkward to reach, praising the N. S. U. and Harley-Davidson practice of placing it behind the motor and urging makers to adopt automobile-style dowel-and-strap fixing instead of rusting hold-down bolts.
- An old tire man complains that valve insides are unchanged from bicycle practice of twenty years ago, that rotted external rubber washers and burred seats cause persistent leaks, and that a whole new valve is the costliest tube repair of all.
- F. A. M. membership chairman Estabrook reports 19 shops registered in the closing week of 1911 for a total of 437, new clubs forming at Hutchinson, Phoenix and Augusta, and the Short Grass Club of Kansas planning a Central District tour for the summer of 1912 under vice-president B. J. Patterson.
- The Will County Motorcycle Club of Joliet, Illinois, prepares for its January 11 ball, decorating the hall entirely with motorcycling material - club pennants and colors sent from around the country and dealers' illustrated advertising matter.
- Secretary Gibson's bulletin records 233 new F. A. M. members in December, led by Ohio with 64 and the Lake district with 96, plus 114 renewals; 159 of the new members are club-affiliated.
- The Chesapeake Motorcycle Club, Baltimore's youngest, has settled into a new club house on Baker street at Fulton avenue and rejected a proposed merger with the Maryland Motorcycle Club, planning its own contests for the coming season.
- Fifteen Columbus Motorcycle Club members set out from Broad and High streets for the 65-mile run to Springfield on a bitter New Year's Day; seven quit en route, while Leo P. Birkenbach and Otto Tressmer pushed on 27 miles further to Dayton.
- The Oakland Motorcycle Club voted on December 19 that all applicants must be or become F. A. M. members, and turned out 400 strong in the Oakland Improvement Club's New Year's Eve parade in club colors of red and green.
- The Cedar Rapids Motorcycle Club, founded last March with 28 charter members, has grown to almost 100 and marked the opening of its social season with a banquet.
- Fifty members and guests of the Lockport Motorcycle Club dined at the Niagara House on New Year's Eve to mark the opening of the club's new headquarters the following morning.
- The Providence Motorcycle Club elected E. L. Buffington president and settled terms with B. A. Swenson for new quarters in his building at Broad, Friendship and Blackstone streets; membership nearly doubled in the year and a track promotion committee of Crafford, Swenson and Anderson was named.
- Wind grounded Cal P. Rodgers's biplane at Ascot Park, postponing his match with Jake DeRosier, who rode an exhibition mile in :52 3/5; G. F. Jakobe beat George Sawaya in 4:57 in the five-mile amateur event, Dave Kinney took the eight-mile trade race, and Sawaya was awarded the handicap after a disputed decision.
- The Buffalo Motorcycle Club kept open house on New Year's Day, its rooms visited by members and a host of invited guests.
- A new Petaluma, California, club keeps its charter list open until January 19 with Bert Goodwin president, H. Lauritzen secretary and R. Schluneggard treasurer, and plans permanent club rooms.
- Essay on vibration and the rider's nervous system, contrasting the 90-pound light machine, whose light flywheel and high-speed engine tingle the sensitive rider but which handles easily in town, with the 150-pound machine that absorbs vibration but is hard to push through mud and sand.
- Cartoon-headed humorous item advising that if the motorcycle stops and the carbureter, cylinders, mud guards, lamp and luggage carrier have all been examined, an empty gasolene tank is probably the reason.
- Note on the death at West Springfield, Massachusetts, on October 23 of Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg, known as "Karl Kron," renowned for riding his full-nickeled high wheel in white flannels to the end of his life.
- Ernest Kockler won the twenty-second annual "2.50" club race from Chicago to Pullman on New Year's Day over ice-glazed roads in 36 minutes, beating Lewis Kuehl by two seconds and repeating his brother Nick's 1911 victory; 21 of the old guard started.
- The Crescent Bicycle Club of Baltimore re-elected F. M. Sanborn president, August Leimbach vice-president, Charles H. Thoms treasurer and Thomas W. Baker secretary and captain, while J. Fred Huber becomes color-bearer and plans road-event innovations.
- The rider sails for Cherbourg and Paris to contest the six-hour race at the Velodrome d'Hiver, then sprint events and the Berlin six-day with Percy Lawrence as partner, expecting to return about May 30.
- John M. Chapman, manager of the Newark Velodrome, is back from two months at his mother's home in Atlanta, recovered from illness and at work on plans for 1912.
- Toronto riders are converting machines to side-cars in numbers, with five times as many expected in use in 1912 as in 1911; the John Millen & Son Company sold an English trial order of five almost before it was unpacked and is now ordering 50, while Pierce agent Walter Andrews uses one on his four-cylinder for demonstrations.
- Review of the year's record breaking: Jake DeRosier's February 7 Los Angeles ride taking every professional record from 1 to 92 miles and over 83 miles in the hour, Don Johns's amateur marks from 2 to 20 miles on April 4, and the unrecognised Excelsior figures set by Joseph Wolters at Oakland and Chicago.
- Portrait page of the year's leading riders - Jacob DeRosier of Los Angeles on Excelsior, Don Johns on Indian, Fred Whittler of Salt Lake City on Merkel, L. S. Taylor of Columbus on Emblem and E. W. Matthews of Chicago on Thor.
- Table of speed records corrected to December 31, 1911, compiled from documents in the office of F. A. M. competition chairman J. P. Thornley and tabulated by official compiler J. J. O'Connor, running from the kilometer and mile to 100 miles and the hour mark of 83 miles 135 yards.
- Class-by-class table of British records corrected to December 22, 1911, almost all made at Brooklands by H. Martin and N. D. Slatter, covering the flying kilometer and mile up to the long-distance and hour figures.
- Report on the growing fund for an American team in the Stockholm road race, with the subscription list headed by the St. Louis Cycling Club's $54 and the Standard Co.'s $25; the United Cyclists and Motorcycle Dealers' Association dinner at the Hotel Earlington will draw veterans including George M. Hendee, A. B. Coffman, George H. Hamilton and A. G. Batchelder, with "Happy Days" Pitman's 1878 Brockton and 1885 Boston Bicycle Club prizes on display.
- Joe Kopsky won the club's annual New Year's Day race over the 17 miles from 161st street and the Grand Concourse to Pelham Bay bridge and back in :53 flat, from Donald J. McIntyre in :54, with Bert Baker, Emil Koster and B. Boyes next.
- Franklin Fisher took the Empire City Wheelmen's New Year's Eve Cycle Path run from Bedford Rest to the Coney Island sea wall and back, finishing at 12:52 A. M. through snow and slush and beating Joseph G. Kopsky by five yards, with Frank Mehrmann third; only six of some forty nominees started.
- The United Cyclers opened a club house at 1807 Friendsbury place, Baltimore, on December 26; consolidation drew only the Lafayette Wheelmen and Carroll Cyclers, and Edgar R. Boehm and Wilbur W. Shaw are directing affairs pending elections, with a spring road race and a 12-hour track race planned.
- Joe Scheider took both open and handicap finals before 7,600 spectators at the 65th Infantry Arsenal on New Year's night, cutting the indoor flat-floor mile record to 2:18 4/5 from Schudt's 2:25 2/5; 114 entered and 29 were novices.
- The two-mile amateur handicap at the 71st Infantry Athletic Association games in New York on December 30 ended in bad blood when VanDenDries fell clutching at Goodwin, struck him in the face and drew a 30-day suspension; Jack Townsend won the final from Murphy and Gutoff.