The Bicycling World, Vol 8, No 15
Articles in this issue
- The editorial argues against abandoning the loop-frame tricycle in favor of central-geared T-frame designs such as the Rover and Humber, citing Ixion's Tricycling Mems and a Massachusetts Bicycle Club poll in which members increasingly favor enamel or paint finishes over nickel plate, with a jab at Karl Kron's devotion to polishing his nickel plate.
- Signed 'Ixion,' this piece weighs the Crypto-Dynamic two-speed gear's friction and weight against a rival design and a new gear shown in William Bown's advertisement in the Christmas 'Cyclist, concluding the Crypto is too heavy and complicated for general use.
- Describes the annual 'Indiana University Summer Tramp in Europe,' organized by librarian W. W. Spangler, which will switch from tramping and rail travel to bicycles for its 1884 tour through England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
- Report on the Boston Bicycle Club's sixth annual dinner at Young's, presided over by President Hodges with guests including Col. A. A. Pope, Providence Club president A. G. Carpenter, and C.T.C. Chief Consul Frank Weston, featuring a menu designed by C. W. Reed and Capt. J. S. Dean.
- Report on the Buckeye Club of Columbus, Ohio's fourth annual dinner at the Park Hotel, with President Miller presiding, toasts to the club and to the L.A.W., and newly elected officers including captain W. B. Waggoner and secretary C. J. Krag.
- C. E. Stone recounts test-riding a new tandem built from two Standard Columbia front wheels joined by a gas-pipe backbone, on a twenty-mile run to Manchester where it easily outran a bicycle and a Star on the hills.
- A correspondent argues the loop frame is doomed despite current dealer lines like the Victor, Apollo, Salvo and Premier, praising newer T-frame machines such as the Rover and Sparkbrook and noting a lady tricyclist's remarkable mileage record from the last eight months of 1883.
- Describes a new tandem of the Coventry Rotary pattern made by D. Rudge and Company of England and imported by Stoddard, Lovering and Company of Boston, combining the No. 1 and No. 2 Rotary driving gears and convertible into a single machine.
- Miscellaneous notes column including 'A Pair of Roundels' (verse after Swinburne, signed 'Senior'), a correction that C. W. Clapp has ordered a new Star rather than abandoning it, and an account of Burt Pressy's trick-riding at the Hawthorne Club's Salem exhibition; continuing past the ad pages with items on Wilmot and Sewell's planned cross-country exhibition tour and the suspension of L.A.W. corresponding secretary Fred Jenkins.
- Club news department opening with Massachusetts Bicycle Club president Henry W. Williams's statistical survey of members' ages, mileage and machine preferences, followed by new officers for the Rochester and Lancaster clubs and the New York Ixion Club, and a Springfield Club committee's trip to New Haven to rebut a resolution accusing the club of not paying its debts.
- C.T.C. department under U.S. Chief Consul Frank W. Weston of Boston, covering membership renewal instructions, new membership applications from cities including Los Angeles and Harrisburg, and consular appointments for Plainfield, N.J. and Los Angeles, Cal.
- Reader Q&A department answering questions on the L.A.W.'s founding presidents (Charles E. Pratt and W. H. Miller), advising a reader on buying a used Victor tricycle, and noting a group of Massachusetts and New Hampshire riders traveling to New York via the Norwich line.