The Bicycling World, Vol 9, No 16
Articles in this issue
- Editorial assessing the League of American Wheelmen's newly adopted racing rules, praising the elimination of the 'sanction' requirement as sensible, questioning the provision that 'no record made on the Lord's Day will be considered' as unnecessary and unjust, and welcoming the allowance of class-machine races while urging wider adoption of the rules by all race-meeting managers.
- Detailed history and description of Rudge & Co. of Coventry — the largest bicycle and tricycle manufacturers in the world, employing over 500 workmen — covering their patented ball bearings, their policy of building the best rather than the cheapest, and the success of the Rudge Light Roadster with its hollow forks and backbone, 80 direct spokes, and ball pedals as sold in the United States through Stoddard, Lovering & Co.
- Technical description of a new bicycle head-and-neck design by Gormully & Jeffery of Chicago, in which the neck is inserted from the top rather than the bottom of the head, allowing any neck length, with clamping lugs that grip the entire length of the centre screw to prevent rotation under riding strain.
- Notice calling all Massachusetts cyclists — regardless of league or club membership, age or sex — to attend a grand reunion parade in Boston on September 5th, arguing that Massachusetts has more wheelmen per district than any other part of the country and a generous turnout should produce the largest wheelman parade ever held in the state.
- Brief note reporting that the North German Lloyd transatlantic line has officially announced that it will treat a bicycle as a passenger's baggage — believed to be the first transatlantic line to make such a ruling — with implications for touring cyclists crossing the Atlantic.
- Short item noting that newspaper paragraph writers misunderstand tricycles, with the editors offering corrections on common misconceptions about tricycle steering, gearing, and the difference between various frame types.
- Dispatch from the Chicago cycling club reporting excellent roads around the city that have remained little-known to wheelers, and announcing the fourth club tour of the season — a rail trip to Cortland, Illinois, then riding to Genoa overnight, on to Elgin for dinner, and down the Fox River to Aurora, with two new rink tracks being built in the city averaging seven laps to the mile.
- Multi-letter correspondence section running through several printed pages: 'Why?' questions slow growth of tricycle racing; 'Singles or Sociables' debates whether couples should buy individual tricycles or a Convertible sociable; and two replies to 'Mordecai' in the Professional v. Amateur debate — one by Oliver Chantry defending the amateur rule as a forty-year tradition worth preserving, another urging American cycling to declare independence from British class-based rules.
- Short notes including a near-drowning rescue of W. I. Harris at Natick by E. P. Burnham; the Cincinnati Club's Expert bicycle (No. 2,901) stolen from the wheel room with a $25 reward offered; France's new 24-hour tricycle record of 305 kilometres by M. Baby of Pau; and an oatmeal brose recipe recommended by a C.T.C. medical member to quench post-ride thirst.
- Club news describing the Kennebec tour party's return, Wm. Read & Sons importing the new Europa sociable and single tricycle by the St. George's Foundry Company, arrangements for the C.T.C. Wheel Around the Hub being nearly complete, and a note that the date has been changed from the original proposal.
- Race results from the Louisville and Pittsfield tournaments: Hamilton won 2-mile, Wollison 5-mile at Louisville; Dolph won 1-mile in 2:50¾ (best on record) and 10-mile inter-state; Bettison won the half-mile dash; Woodside won 10-mile professional; and a description of Dolph's fine racing form with a note that he will challenge Prince for the professional championship after Springfield.
- Full text of the new L.A.W. Racing Board rules as recently adopted, covering amateur definitions, championship conditions, class-machine races, Sunday record policy, prize value limits for championship events, and the formal requirement for all race meetings to adopt these or N.A.A.A.A. rules.
- Calendar of forthcoming bicycle events from August 20 through September 27, including races at Haverhill, Buffalo, Des Moines, Rochester, the Massachusetts Division parade on September 5, Albany club meet, Philadelphia clubs on September 13, Springfield tournament September 16–19, New Haven, and L.A.W. bicycle championships at Brooklyn.