The Bicycling World, Vol 7, No 26
Articles in this issue
- The editor weighs coca as a stimulant for twenty-four-hour distance riders, citing Nixon's London-to-John-o'-Groats run and the recent 255½-mile (Brown) and 258¼-mile (W. F. Sutton) road records, and reports the National Cyclists' Union's new rule suspending amateurs who compete at unsanctioned events.
- A miscellany column opening with J. Park Street's poem "A Sunday Ride," followed by squibs on W. D. Wilmot's baggage dispute with the Michigan Central Railroad, Bartholomew Harrington's 119-mile Salem-Framingham-Newburyport ride, Singer & Co.'s new "Carrier" tricycle, and Tufts's challenge to Canary for a $500 match and the world championship.
- Reprinted from the Chicago News, Wabash-avenue tailor Geo. W. Mathews argues that knee-breeches and knickerbockers are supplanting trousers for cycling and evening dress, citing the Prince of Wales's endorsement and predicting the claw-hammer coat will follow suit.
- Reprinted from the New Haven Register, the piece describes a New Haven "Professor X.'s" small kerosene-fuelled two-piston engine, dubbed the kerosencycle, fitted under a tricycle seat to drive its chain without pedaling, said to be capable of running unattended from New Haven to New York.
- Capt. Webb supplies the corrected route he and Mr. Tacy rode on their long endurance run, from Malden through South Natick, West Newton, Salem, Rowley and Ipswich and back, noting they carried no cyclometer and lost twenty-five minutes off course, so the extended distance claimed awaits an official measurement.
- Condensed reader letters: "G. L. P." describes a two-day, 110-mile tour through Stowe, Lancaster, Leominster, Westminster and Athol, Mass.; "Rueda" rides from Springfield via Fall River and Newport (meeting Mr. Langley) to New Haven, hosted by Robt. Christie; and the Elizabeth Wheelmen's run shows off L. H. Johnson's diminutive Facile outclimbing the big wheels.
- A review of the November Wheelman notes its Columbia prize-cup frontispiece and Charles E. Pratt's article on prizes, a piece on the Capital Bicycle Club, Maurice Thompson's "Outdoor Influence in Literature," A. S. Parsons's "A Point of View," C. A. Hazlett on the Rockingham Club, and H. E. Parkhurst's Tyrol-and-Switzerland touring article.
- Covers the first American 100-mile amateur race, run at Washington D.C.'s Athletic Park under the Capital Bicycle Club and won by Thomas Midgley (Æolus Wheelmen, 55-inch Rudge) over R. F. Foster (Incurables, 52-inch Special Club); also reports Wiesenfeld's 50-mile Baltimore win, the Reading Bicycle Club's debut meet, Prince's 889-mile Chicago six-day victory over Morgan, Woodside, Shook and Dowse, the coming Hendee-Robinson rematch at Hampden Park, and tournament results from Toronto, Binghamton, Washington and Rochester with a renewed Prince-Keen challenge.
- Club briefs including new officers for the York County Wheelmen of Saco and Biddeford, Me., and the newly formed New Jersey Wheelmen of Newark; the Marblehead Club's abandoned hill-climbing contest; the Hawthorne Bicycle Club's planned 100-mile Salem-South Natick road ride; and a tour of the New York Bicycle Club's Broadway clubhouse.
- Official C.T.C. notices from chief consul Frank W. Weston covering membership dues and the silver badge, the new club uniform (with photographs available from "Partridge"), the 1883 handbook, the 1884 Harrogate meet, and a list of new membership applications.
- An answers-to-correspondents column fielding questions on rust-proofing a machine with vaseline, the Overman Wheel Company's foot shield, bell placement on the brake-shank, and a nod to Julius Wilcox's Facile circular.
- Upcoming events: the Boston Bicycle Club's election returns (5 November), the Salem Bicycle Club's assembly in Hamilton Hall (13 November), the Hartford Wheel Club's annual ball (20 November), and the Cambridge Club's annual reception (23 November).