Vol 64, No 2
Articles in this issue
- C. A. Short, of Los Angeles, offers a speed indicator showing white below 8 miles an hour, green from 8 to 12 and red above 12; he demonstrated it to Police Chief Sebastian and to Miss S. C. Geary of the Automobile Club of Southern California.
- Motorcycle supply maker Charles E. Miller adds branches at 135 Central avenue, Albany, N. Y., and 2782 Broadway, New York City, to his Reade street business.
- The Miami Cycle & Mfg. Co., of Middletown, O., cuts $25 from every 1911 Merkel: four horsepower single $225, six horsepower twin $275, seven horsepower twin $300, magneto included.
- The Haverford Cycle Co. of Manhattan incorporates in New York state with $250,000 capital; the incorporators are R. Goldman, A. Forshay and H. Neubardt.
- The Buick Co. of Jersey City, N. J., incorporates with $10,000 capital to handle motorcycles and automobiles; incorporators B. S. Mantz, L. H. Gunther and John R. Turner.
- The Reading Standard Co. of Reading, Pa., announces a 1912 line of three models: a new seven horsepower chain-driven twin with enclosed sun-and-planet undergears and a compensating rear sprocket, plus two four horsepower flat-belt singles.
- The Haverford Cycle Co. of Philadelphia lists a $175 four horsepower "Big Four" for 1912 with Bosch magneto, Schebler carbureter, flat belt drive, 28-inch wheels and a 54-inch wheelbase.
- Dr. Edward D. Feldman demonstrates the German Langrehr safety tube, a spiral corrugated Davy-lamp device for gasoline cans, at the Berlin Chemical Co. laboratories, 560 West 171st street, New York, pouring gasoline through an open flame without an explosion.
- Edwin F. Merry, of San Francisco, opens a Los Angeles branch at 900-902 South Main street for Flanders motorcycles and Pope bicycles, with Fred Breeze, late of the Wm. H. Hoegee Co., in charge.
- A salesman of the Continental Rubber Works of Erie, Pa., rides a Harley-Davidson over 1,000 miles through northern Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and on to St. Louis without engine, tire or tube trouble.
- The T. Eaton Company of Toronto cuts Premier motorcycles from $275 to $175 and sells 12 machines in a single day, clearing the stock.
- E. C. Kicherer, of 206 West Seventy-sixth street, Metropolitan distributer for Flanders, is showing and demonstrating the Flanders "4" to local riders.
- The Motorcycle & Equipment Co., 192 King Street West, headed by Toronto racer Geo. Bain, takes the first Flanders agency in Canada and the Ontario agency.
- A symposium of trade opinion on the open muffler, with statements from S. Lacy Crolius and Arthur Davidson of Harley-Davidson, W. G. Schack of Emblem, K. R. Jacoby of Miami, the Minneapolis Motor Cycle Co., C. R. Wagner of American, ex-F. A. M. president F. I. Willis and legal chairman J. L. Sauer.
- Editorial holding that the F. A. M., the clubs, the makers, the press and the public are all against the open muffler, dismissing the power, diagnosis and warning-signal excuses for the cut-out, and concluding "CUT OUT THE CUT-OUT!"
- Editorial on Brooklyn and Queens parks commissioner Michael J. Kennedy's refusal of a permit for races on the Coney Island Cycle Path, urging him to apply the same principle to the trotting races on the Ocean Boulevard Speedway.
- Editorial pointing out that the F. A. M. Board of Directors cannot restore professional motorcyclists to amateur standing, since the competition rules require a unanimous vote of members present at a regular meeting.
- Fixture calendar for September and October 1911, listing the Ft. Wayne Interstate meet, Worcester's 200-mile endurance run, the New Jersey Motorcycle Club meet at Olympic Park, the Providence record run, the Alabama State Fair races and the New England F. A. M. District meeting, through to the January 1912 Madison Square Garden show.
- F. A. M. competition chairman J. P. Thornley writes protesting the publication of unaccepted record claims in news and advertising columns; the editor replies that publishers are not judges of their advertisers and suggests a penalty rule instead.
- W. T. Farwell, Jr., of New York City argues that makers list bicycles geared far too high, cites Zimmerman winning on a 64 gear, and urges a practical two- or three-speed gear as sold in England.
- R. L. Carson gathers the motorcyclists of Davenport, Iowa, at an informal roundup and lays the nucleus of a permanent club under the F. A. M.
- Percy Drummond takes the two-mile second heat of his special match with ten-mile champion John Constant at the New Jersey Motorcycle Club's Olympic Park meet, Constant going over the bank and wrenching an ankle; Watson Kluczek wins the three- and fifteen-mile handicaps.
- Edward Hasha wins three of four starts at Tuileries Park, Denver, while Earl Armstrong beats Ray Seymour by an inch in the five-mile professional.
- Tide Davenport takes two handicaps from scratch and the novelty at the Portsmouth (Ohio) Motorcycle Club meet, but Homer Brunton beats him in the ten-mile and in a 22.5-mile unlimited pursuit; Buck Sawyer wins the five-mile bicycle handicap.
- Dan Whittington wins the motorcycle race at the Boone County Fair, Ogden, Iowa, when his only opponent Charles Banks skids on a turn and falls, breaking a pedal and losing a shoe but escaping injury.
- Harry Wells beats John Miller and William Binhauer in the five-mile motorcycle race at the Rockville (Conn.) Fair in 7:30.
- G. C. Harwood, on a "4" Indian, goes the whole 200 laps without a stop to win the Marion (Ind.) Motorcycle Club's 100-mile race in 2:17:40; Erwin Baker falls, sets his carbureter alight and later runs off the track, while Raymond Creviston takes the spectacular honors.
- Ten of 15 starters finish the Indian Motorcycle Club of Birmingham's first 157-mile reliability run over rocky, sandy Alabama roads; John Bevell, G. W. Staples and J. L. Brevard tie on clean scores for Robert Stubbs's silver cup.
- A correction recording that George Puls, riding a Harley-Davidson, finished the F. A. M. Lake District endurance run into Chicago with a perfect score despite badly burnt hands.
- Commissioner Lehmann of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce convention bureau thanks F. T. Willis and the F. A. M. for the framed certificate of appreciation sent after the federation's annual meet there.
- The Chicago Motordrome's challenge on behalf of De Rosier and Wolters is criticised for naming amateur Frank Hart alongside professionals Edward Hasha and M. J. Graves, which the rules forbid.
- Chicago newspaperman A. S. Eastman rides an Excelsior twin to Louisville by way of Indianapolis and Franklin, finding heavy fording between Chestnut Ridge and Memphis, Ind., and continues to Chattanooga.
- A seven-horsepower Collier Matchless-Jap racer from England reaches Toronto and is clocked at 37 seconds for the half mile on the Exhibition track, worrying Canadian racing men.
- The Providence Motorcycle Club sets October 7 and 8 for the New England F. A. M. District's fall business meeting in Verdani Hall and its eighth annual 140-mile triangle run to Boston and Worcester, this year passing through Westboro, Mass.
- Charles Spencer and Charles Gustafson, of Springfield, Mass., divide the five- and ten-mile races at Charter Oak Park, Hartford, before 3,500 people; George Lewis beats Al Nelson in a local five-mile match.
- Albert Stansbury wins the ten-mile free-for-all on a Harley-Davidson, Velander the ten-mile handicap on an Indian and Mason the five-mile 30.5-inch sprint on an Excelsior at the Galesburg mile track.
- The Metropolitan Speedway Association incorporates at Trenton with $1,500,000 to build a two-mile safety-pin-shaped track on the Belleville turnpike between Jersey City and Newark; backers include Carl Fisher of the Indianapolis Speedway and Walter M. Dear.
- H. J. Stillaway covers about 1,200 miles to Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit on a Brown; J. S. Scott rides an Excelsior six-twin to New York and back; and Banfield, Tate, Heuston and George Bain spend two hours on the four-mile "Seldom Seen" road in Ontario.
- Capt. H. Matthew Gault and the Maryland M. C. of Baltimore ride about 110 miles to Ridgeville by way of Westminster and Frederick, returning through Laurel; Mrs. W. S. Standiford rode on a tandem attachment.
- Earle L. Ovington, ex-president of the F. A. M., carries a 75-pound mail bag from Garden City to Mineola in a Bleriot monoplane fitted with an Indian seven-cylinder revolving motor and Bosch magneto.
- Chairman Thornley states that records claimed for Excelsior machines at the Chicago Motordrome are unofficial, no sworn affidavits having been filed and no record-trial sanctions granted.
- The 175-member Savannah Motorcycle Club votes at last to join the F. A. M. after three years outside it, and plans a subscription-funded race track for weekly meets.
- Koeck, of Oshkosh, Wis., is suspended indefinitely from F. A. M. sanctioned events on Referee C. A. Carpenter's complaint of reckless riding at Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and Appleton.
- Only about 250 watch the second Sunday revival meet at Guttenberg, N. J.; new professionals W. L. Coursen and Al Graves make their debut and G. Haas doubles in the private owners' and miss-and-out events.
- Barney Oldfield describes watching six riders lap elbow to elbow at 90 miles an hour on Jack Prince's Riverview track in Chicago as more nerve-tingling than anything in automobile racing.
- Chairman Estabrook reports four new F. A. M. affiliations, Fond du Lac, Council Bluffs, Davenport and Rock Island, bringing the total to 196 clubs, and two and a half tons of literature ready for distribution.
- "Jake" De Rosier wins two contests on the closing day of the Riverview stadium season in Chicago; the review traces the year's shift from Indian to Merkel to the new Excelsiors ridden by Wolters.
- J. Leo Sauer, chairman of the Legal Action Committee, states that the federation will take up test cases and inequitable legislation but not purely personal damage suits, and favors strict enforcement against speeding and the muffler cut-out.
- The Chesapeake M. C. organizes with 20 charter members under president Frederick Kuhl and plans a first long-distance run to York, Pa.
- A satirical code for the open-muffler rider, with sections on use of the cut-out, conduct toward the public, treatment of fellow riders and care of the machine, closing with a note that the rules are intended to be read, not followed.
- Dan Willis, the Canton (Ohio) "bearcat," takes all six firsts open to him at the Akron Motorcycle Club's Fair Grounds meet; Henry Wagner wins the club championship and Herbert Griffin is thrown into a river 16 feet below the track.
- John Millen & Son, Canadian wholesalers of motor accessories, give a silver trophy for the ten-mile open championship of Canada, the third perpetual trophy donated to the Toronto Motorcycle Club this summer.
- Answering Floyd Macfarland's call, the eastern professionals meet at Newark and revive the American Racing Cyclists' Union; Joseph Fogler is elected N. C. A. representative over John Bedell, and a relief fund for injured riders is proposed.
- Buffalo will hold an eight-hour-a-day six-day race in November with about 12 teams and $2,000 in prizes, plus a ten-hour amateur team race entered by Carl Ericson, Paul C. Heidrich and Alvin Loftes.
- George Collister, for twenty-five years a starter and referee in Cleveland races and senior partner of Collister & Sayle, is gravely ill with little prospect of recovery.
- Frank L. Kramer wins the two-mile championship at the Newark Velodrome for his eleventh consecutive title, Clark being excused after his spill; Fogler and Root set a standing-start two-mile tandem record of 3:40.
- At an unannounced extra Wednesday meet at the Newark Velodrome A. J. Clark's 1:48 4/5 in the mile handicap comes within a fifth of a second of his own record, Pedlar Palmer winning; Clark's tire explodes in the ten-mile, bringing down Goullet, De Mara, Lawson and Krebs.
- The E. D. C. R. C. Association's elimination run from Columbus Circle to Bayshore, Amityville, Freeport, Floral Park and Garden City leaves only five men with perfect scores; G. Bieregel, A. Kaiser, H. Baum, J. O'Connor and S. Segal head the list.
- The Atlas Bicycle Club of Brooklyn runs the first of a series of five point-scoring races, Henry J. Murphy taking the half-mile handicap and Paul Smith the ten-mile.
- A column arguing that pride rather than utility drove riders off bicycles, and that with royalty cycling in Europe and machines on American country club lawns the bicycle is on its way back.
- The Century Road Club Association's Eastern Division cards a ten-mile handicap road race at Floral Park on November 12, with a 1911 Columbia racing bicycle as first prize and a gold watch heading the time prizes.
- Frank Kramer, the racing cyclist, is being shown in Pathe Brothers moving pictures.
- The Maryland Motorcycle Club of Baltimore adds bicycle events to its Electric Park meet, where a two-man team pursuit between the Lafayette and Crescent Wheelmen runs 22 miles before the Crescents win; Fred Tiemeyer takes the heat race and the novelty.
- Heusgen's win in the tourist division of the Paris-Brest-Paris road race is restored, the judge whose evidence supported the protest having been shown too intoxicated to identify the riders.
- The Italian short-distance bicycle championship of America will be decided over one mile at Dongan Hills, Staten Island, on Columbus Day, alongside four running championships.
- Charles Wohrna of the Carroll cyclers wins the Crescent Bicycle Club's nine-mile annual fall road race from Middle River to Chase's Station; August Leimbach takes the first time prize in 23:13 and William Leimbach second place, third time prize and the first-Crescent special.
- The Eastern Division drops the proposed combination field day for want of co-operation from other metropolitan clubs and arranges its own for October 22 at the Guttenberg track, with a club run leaving Columbus Circle at 8:30.
- The Dunlop Rubber Co. plans an Easter 1912 relay dispatch race from Adelaide to Sydney, 1,149 miles, pitting 128 cyclists in 64 relays against about 40 motorcyclists, with a motor car section under consideration.
- The Rhode Island Motorcycle Club of Providence puts back the third and last of its reliability runs from September 24 to October 1.
- Digest of newly granted patents, including Allan McClure Flaherty's adjustable pedal crank hanger assigned to the Pope Manufacturing Company, Arthur Deloran Robbins's stage trick cycle and telescopic-frame cycle, Walter T. Carter's change speed gearing and Bernard G. Anderson's motorcycle drive mechanism.