The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 20, No 17
Articles in this issue
- Southern cycle trade has seen the number of dealers halved and each remaining dealer now carries fewer lines, concentrating on one high-grade make plus cheaper models, with manufacturers offering special terms for exclusivity.
- Denver's largest department store has successfully popularized a previously disfavored bicycle by mounting 200 employees on it and signing the most popular local racer as a spokesman.
- New York correspondent reports current week's bicycle export figures including $60,000 to Hamburg and $21,000 to London.
- British financier E. T. Hooley's proposed company to exploit the hydraulic tube-jointing process receives sharp criticism from engineers who doubt the commercial viability of the system.
- Analysis of the legal framework governing installment bicycle sales and the rights of dealers when buyers default on payments.
- Report on the reception of American single-tube tires in European and colonial markets.
- The editorial argues that all types of cycle retailers — exclusive dealers, hardware stores, jewellers, and druggists — should expand into side lines, because exclusive dealers retain a technical advantage over department stores but cannot afford complacency as department-store competition accelerates.
- Field reports from Louisville, Little Rock, and other central and southern cities document how the 1898 retail opening compares to the 1895 boom, with Louisville showing a controversial $30 low-grade machine stirring a pricing conflict.
- Analyses the typical parts and mechanical details of 1898 British bicycles, chiefly crank-hanger design, disk-adjusting hubs, serrated-washer locking systems, and spoke-flange geometry, with specific examples from named makers.
- Third in a series of practical guides for bicycle retailers on creating effective seasonal advertising.
- A Hy Grade Club discussion led by a General Manager who argues that pessimism over inflated manufacturing reports is causing dealers to withhold orders unnecessarily, recommending dealers adopt a more optimistic outlook.
- Illustrated survey of recent bicycle patents including a stamped sheet-steel seat-post bracket, a spring seat post, a pliant canvas brake shoe, a bevel-gear crank bracket, and a ball-bearing disk drive mechanism.
- Practical repair-shop guide explaining how to hand-turn replacement hub cups and cones from tool steel when no stock part fits, covering cutting, tempering, and case-hardening for shops lacking a full machine-tool outfit.
- Reviews progress in pneumatic saddle design, noting a revival of the pneumatic principle in England and France after early failures, covering the Perry saddle, the Kirk saddle, and new suspension patterns.
- Report on tightening supplies of Para rubber from Brazil and the Fanning Cycle Mfg. Co.'s explanation that expensive Para rubber is reserved for high-grade tires only.
- Weekly sport and trade news covering middle-distance racer Joe Vernier's season prospects, the contest between Eastern and Western cities to host the L.A.W. national meet, and the strategic importance of the racing programme to developing cycling's broader audience.
- Coverage of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association annual convention called for Good Friday, including the presidential contest between Beament and Dr. Balfour, a dispute over the customs rule for tourist bicycles, and a proposal to make club affiliation optional.