The Bicycling World, Vol 8, No 23
Articles in this issue
- Editorial proposing that the L.A.W. adopt an approach modelled on English parliamentary practice, allowing board directors to represent districts where they do not reside, as a way of breaking the sectional bias inherent in the current system of all-local representation.
- Letter from President Bates of the Detroit Bicycle Club, printed under this heading, proposing that the League let established cycling papers bid for a contract to print League business in a dedicated monthly section, rather than continue financing a captive organ from the League treasury.
- Letter signed "Ixion" correcting errors in the previous issue's comparison of the Rover and Humber tricycles, clarifying that the Rover is a rear-steerer while the Humber is a double front-steerer with an automatically self-adjusting seat; also brief remarks on the Rucker tandem bicycle attachment.
- Letter signed "b." protesting the Boston Daily Globe and Herald's habit of printing trivial personal items about individual wheelmen's rides, arguing such notices flatter insignificant riders and annoy modest ones, and citing a Herald item on a Boston Bicycle Club member's weekly rides as a typical example.
- Report on the Boston Union Athletic Exhibition Company's new grounds, bounded by Dartmouth Street and the Boston & Providence and Boston & Albany railroads, describing the Moorish-style grandstand (seating 1,589, six private boxes, total capacity 4,649) and the five-lap-to-the-mile cinder track, with H. A. McGlenen of the Boston Theatre named manager.
- Note that the Boston Bicycle Club voted to hold a spring exhibition of sporting goods limited to bicycles and tricycles, timed to when manufacturers launch new models and likely to be held at Music Hall, so as to avoid the glut of shows seen in England.
- Programme for the eighth annual C.T.C. meet at Harrogate Yorkshire, August 1-6, including bicycle and tricycle races on Saturday, the annual general meeting and parade on Monday, and a lawn tennis tournament on Tuesday.
- Miscellany column signed "Ixion" poking fun at a garbled Cyclist quotation under "English as She is Spoke" and remarking on the bitter public feuding between the C.T.C. Gazette and the National Cyclists' Union camp in the English cycling press.
- Description, reprinted from the New York World, of the Citizens' Bicycle Club's new club house on 58th Street near 8th Avenue: a two-storey brick building with an Axminster-carpeted parlour, reading room, and facilities for visiting members.
- A private letter from an English reader, reprinted to show transatlantic interest, praises the paper's even-handed coverage of the L. A. W. versus Springfield Bicycle Club dispute and says it makes the doings of Boston and Springfield wheelmen feel as close as those of the writer's own local club.
- Itinerary for an eight-day wheelmen's tour up Maine's Kennebec River from Gardiner to "The Forks" in late July/early August 1884, arranged with the Portland Wheel Club and F. A. Elwell, with the Pine Tree Bicycle Club of Bangor and a Nova Scotia party led by Clarence H. Dimock expected to join at Augusta.
- Account of the founding of the Club Nacional Velocipedista in Mexico City on February 5, 1884, organised by sons of prominent families including General Diaz's; their inaugural race meeting was held at the Peralvillo hippodrome before an assembly including most Mexican notables, with details of the course, prizes, and riders.
- Notice from F. Winthrop White of the Race Committee that restrictions imposed by the college athletic committee have forced the Harvard Bicycle Club to convert the open events at its 31 May spring meeting into invitation-only races, while entries for the college events remain open.
- Trade notes: the Overman Wheel Company's new ribbon-steering machine has passed a 500,000-stroke test, Julius Wilcox's new Facile catalogue features an "evidence" section of endorsements, and Paul A. Davis Jr. of Philadelphia is advertising a bicycle oil for lighting and lubricating.
- Correspondence submitted to the L.A.W. Racing Board defending the measurement of the Hampden Park mile track in Springfield, with letters from T. D. Leary and engineer Stockwell Bettes attesting to the accuracy of the survey and addressing objections raised by rival clubs.
- Report of a Birmingham wheelmen's meeting passing a resolution calling on highway authorities to repair road surfaces; followed by a passage from the Hampshire Post denouncing the deplorable condition of English roads and comparing them unfavourably with French highways.
- Full programme and $5,000 prize list for the Quaker City Bicycle Club's three-day, electric-lit bicycle and tricycle tournament and exposition at Broad and Dickinson Streets, Philadelphia, 17-19 June 1884, naming race officials C. E. Updegraff and John A. Green alongside entry fees and closing dates.
- Letter from the Montreal Bicycle Club arguing that the Canadian Wheelmen's Association annual meet should be held on Dominion Day, July 1, rather than the dates proposed by Toronto, noting that Montreal can offer a half-mile track and that a local patron has pledged $1,000 toward expenses.
- Short news items including the Kentucky bicycle prohibition bill dying in the Senate, Stoddard Lovering receiving a consignment of Coventry Rotary Tandems, the League treasury reduced to $78.44, and the reinstatement of Charles Whitten of Lynn by the racing board.
- Club news from Manchester Bicycle Club, Hawthorne Bicycle Club of Salem MA, Alpha Wheel Club of Bethlehem PA, Newton Club, Millville NJ, and Kingston Ontario, with officer elections and reports of spring runs.
- Cyclists' Touring Club membership applications and new consul appointments in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Montana, with brief notes on the American division's activities.
- Answers-to-correspondents column fielding reader questions from the H. B. Smith Machine Company and correspondents signed "Joshua Reynolds," "F. A. E." and "R. H. M." about tricycle steering, saddle choice, and whether to wait for the new Victor tricycle before buying.
- Calendar of the 1884 season's cycling fixtures, including the Citizens' Bicycle Club meeting at New York's American Institute (25 April), the fifth annual L.A.W. meet in Washington (19-20 May), the C.T.C. American branch meet at Poughkeepsie (21-22 May), Yale's races (28 May), the Illinois state division meeting in Chicago (30 May), and the Harvard Bicycle Club races at Cambridge (31 May).