The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 20, No 11
Articles in this issue
- A Toledo syndicate backed by two local banks contracts to supply 20,000–45,000 bicycles at $13.25–$15.25 each to Siegel Cooper, Rothschild's, the Fair, and Gimbel Bros., raising alarm among regular trade dealers.
- Pope Manufacturing announces two new 'competition models,' the Jack at $25 and the Jill at $27.50 net, to help Columbia agents compete with cut-price rivals.
- U.S. Consul Keenan reports from Bremen that a German bill to raise bicycle import duty to $12.50 per machine would shut out cheaper American models but may not ultimately pass.
- Springfield correspondent reports that New England bicycle dealers face poor conditions, with demand concentrated on machines under $50, rising second-hand trade maneuvering, and a retreat from expensive branch houses.
- Technical article describing new angle-gear and bevel-gear designs for chainless bicycles, including the Monarch Company's patented conoidal-roller mechanism.
- Practical guide to current best methods for repairing punctures and damaged pneumatic tires in a bicycle shop.
- A feature on Boston's Metropolitan Park system covers cyclists' use of Jamaica Park and Franklin Park, including its Fourth of July races formerly held on Boston Common and its popular bicyclists' drinking fountain, plus the Blue Hills Reservation and Middlesex Fells and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's Charles River park promenade.
- The Century Road Club of America's annual mileage report named John H. George of Philadelphia the 1897 champion with 32,479 miles, while Mrs. A. M. C. Allen of Worcester led the women riders with 21,026 miles and 117 centuries.
- Henry E. Ducker's National Cycle Track Association met in New York to fix a 'grand national circuit' schedule of professional meets at tracks including Manhattan Beach, Willow Grove, Charles River Park, and Asbury Park, and to discuss chairman Albert Mott's overhaul of the racing rules.
- Harry Elkes beat Waller in the closing sprint of a grueling 72-hour race at Pittsburgh, covering 1,322 miles to break Waller's own world record of 1,221 miles, in a field that also included Henshaw, Dench, Gannon, and Schinneer.
- The French Racing Men's Syndicate collapsed after a costly fight against the Paris velodromes, while at the Parc des Princes track Osmont beat Corre in a six-hour petroleum-tricycle race, 236 kilometers to 174, and Berlin's Kurfurstendamm Velodrome announced a $2,500 Grand Prix d'Allemagne to draw American and European riders.
- German rider August Lehr, trained down from 207 to 168 pounds at Belleair, defeated Nat Butler in two straight match-race heats after Butler's chain came off in the first, while Kaser beat Newhouse and Wells beat Gougoltz and Weinig in the meet's other races.
- With the L.A.W. national assembly at St. Louis two weeks off, Pennsylvania and New Jersey delegates were already lining up close to forty votes against incumbent president Potter's re-election.
- The State Department relayed word from Minister Draper in Rome that League of American Wheelmen members could now enter Italy at any of twenty-five customs stations simply by showing their membership ticket, sparing American cycling tourists a duty payment that had cost them thousands of dollars annually; similar concessions with France were under negotiation.
- Ohio state senator J. J. Sullivan introduced bills requiring railroads to carry bicycles with lamps and accessories as baggage and permitting cycle paths along public highways with penalties for damaging them, while Senator Voight proposed keeping one side of city streets unsprinkled for wheelmen's use.