The Bicycling World, Vol 7, No 1
Articles in this issue
- The editor reviews an extended test ride of the low-mount Facile safety bicycle imported by Julius Wilcox, praising its stability, easy mounting and hill-climbing despite an initially wobbly steering feel. Notes that Pope Manufacturing's imported Extraordinaries and Stoddard, Lovering & Co.'s tricycles had already paved the way for such safety machines in America.
- Explains rumors sparked when Col. George Pope bought treasury stock in the Cunningham Company and was elected its secretary, tracing his Civil War record with the Massachusetts Forty-fourth and Fifty-fourth Infantry and his career before returning to Boston bicycling circles. Assures readers the coincidence of his surname with the Pope Manufacturing Company has no bearing on the appointment.
- Unheaded editorial notes on the controversial Prince-Le Roy six-day horse-versus-bicycle race (won by Le Roy after a mid-race substitute), Nixon's disputed 48-mile tricycle record challenged by Lowndes, anticipation of hill-climbing contests atop Corey Hill, the League's amateur-rule debate, and regret at Mr. Sholes declining to stand again as corresponding secretary.
- Arrangements for the League of American Wheelmen's fourth annual meet in New York: the business meeting at the Riding Hall on East Thirty-fourth Street, dinner tickets through W. A. Bryant, and a list of recommended hotels near Grand Central Depot compiled by reception chairman Fred G. Bourne.
- Reports that H. D. Corey of the Massachusetts Club became the first rider to ascend Corey Hill on an ordinary 52-inch Rudge, with gradient surveys by MIT's Prof. A. E. Burton comparing it to London's famous Muswell Hill climb, plus a standing offer of a year's subscription to the first rider up on a bicycle or a wide-geared tricycle.
- Club notes including the Newton Club's run to Milton, the Boston Ramblers' move to new headquarters at Hotel Glendon, new uniforms for the Lynn Stars and Salem Hawthornes, the Marblehead Bicycle Club's annual-meeting officer elections, and the founding of the new Charlestown Bicycle Club under captain Charles W. Howard.
- Chas. L. Clark reports the Boston and Maine Railroad's new bicycle-carriage tariff (25 cents under fifty miles, 50 cents beyond) and efforts to persuade the Eastern Railroad to adopt similarly liberal terms.
- A correspondent signed "e. c. b." describes how Westboro, Massachusetts wheelmen got a hastily passed by-law banning cyclists from using the Duplex whistle within a mile of the town hall rescinded at a follow-up town meeting.
- Minutes of the Essex County League of Wheelmen board meeting at Ipswich, reported by secretary J. Fred Adams, including the expulsion of J. E. Goldthwait of Marblehead for accepting prize money and adoption of rules-committee amendments.
- Account of the Cleveland Bicycle Club's first annual entertainment at the Gatling Gun Armory, featuring fancy riding by Beckwith, Ely and Sholes (including Beckwith towing Sholes by the toes), the "Glue Brothers" double-riding act, and W. H. Wetmore's one-wheel riding before roughly four hundred spectators.
- Recaps the unsatisfactory six-day horse-versus-bicycle race at the Casino, where Le Roy was allowed a substitute after an injury and finished with 921 miles against Prince's 414 and Woodside's 485.
- Miscellany column covering Beacon Park track repairs ahead of the 16 May races, an explosion in Mr. Hedger's forge from nitric acid left in a nickel-plated fork, W. O. Faulkner's fancy-riding exhibition in Portland, and E. K. Hill and F. W. Blacker's planned cycling tour of Europe.
- Full state-by-state vote tallies for League of American Wheelmen chief consuls and representatives for 1883, certified by the Committee on Rights and Privileges (Fred T. Sholes and Chas. D. Standish) and countersigned by president W. H. Miller.
- Roster of new membership applications for the League of American Wheelmen by club, including the Owl Bicycle Club, Williston Bicycle Club, Massachusetts Bicycle Club, Hudson County Wheelmen and Kings County Wheelmen, followed by a list of appointed New York State consuls.
- A correction and updated railroad list from B. B. Ayers naming lines - including the Michigan Central, Baltimore and Ohio, Grand Trunk and Wabash - that now carry bicycles free for ticketed owners, noting the Pennsylvania Company's free carriage is limited to its lines west of Pittsburg.
- Membership committee members Edward K. Hill, Charles P. Shillaber and Henry W. Williams propose reforming League dues collection under Rule 34 and tightening the amateur definition in Rules 25-26, followed by further constitutional amendments offered separately by W. V. Gilman and N. Malon Beckwith.
- C.T.C. American-branch notices: new membership applications from Geo. Pope, S. C. Foster and Fred Binford, distribution of the April Club Monthly Gazette, and pending new club badges plus a Boston club-tailor arrangement.
- Correspondence column answering reader questions on race-finish rules, tricycle makes (recommending the Overman Wheel Company and Pope Manufacturing Company), and a query about whether a Facile Club exists in London.
- Calendar of upcoming club runs and race meetings through late May, entry-closing dates for contests including the League championship race, and a lengthy announcement of the Springfield Bicycle Club's planned three-day camp, meet and $4,500 tournament for September 1883.