The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 21, No 42
Articles in this issue
- Connecticut Valley bicycle manufacturers were gearing up earlier than usual for the 1899 season, with Overman Wheel Co. reopening departments and agents returning from factory visits reporting that chain bicycles would list at $50 and chainless models at $75 for the coming year.
- Philadelphia's Arch Street cycle dealers were adding an extraordinary range of winter side lines including incandescent gas lamps, golf outfits, cameras, electric motors, phonographs, typewriters, water filters, and Christmas novelties to offset the bicycle trade's seasonal slump.
- The Duquesne Mfg. Co. of Pittsburgh announced it would exit bicycle manufacturing and devote its plant entirely to gas appliances, closing its retail branch on Wood Street after running day and night shifts through the summer to fill its last bicycle orders.
- Toledo manufacturers including Joseph L. Yost argued that bicycle prices had reached their floor and that the shake-out of weaker competitors would eventually allow survivors to return to profitability, though most expected the recovery to take two or three more years.
- The machinery of the failed Northampton Cycle Company was bought in by the Springfield Drop Forging Company for $3,500, less than half the $5,000 it had been expected to bring and less than a quarter of its original cost, with its future use undecided.
- Reports from several European trade fairs described how American bicycle and parts manufacturers were encountering resistance from organizers and national manufacturers' associations unwilling to give American exhibitors favorable placement or standard terms.
- The editorial examined the widely repeated claim that cycling was falling out of fashion among well-to-do riders, arguing that the real issue was not diminished interest in cycling but the collapse of the artificially inflated prices that had sustained the boom and the trade's failure to adapt to a genuinely mass market.
- Letters from cycle agents described improvements they wanted from manufacturers and jobbers, covering business methods such as guarantee terms and consignment practices, mechanical shortcomings in the 1898 models including fork and bearing failures, and suggestions for better sundries and service support.
- Small retailers and repair shops described the difficulty of obtaining parts at reasonable prices and in small quantities from manufacturers who were tightening credit and imposing larger minimum orders to reduce transaction costs.
- The repair shop economics series examined the economics of installing power equipment, comparing electricity, gas, and kerosene engines, and arguing that the right choice depended on local rates, the type of work most common in the shop, and the repairman's mechanical competence.
- The Drop Seat Cycle Company of Philadelphia introduced a bicycle with an entirely new frame design featuring a gondola-style curved main tube and an adjustable drop seat, with the inventors claiming ergonomic advantages and the trade invited to evaluate whether the design justified its additional production cost.
- New patents covered a bicycle lamp that sounded an audible signal when the flame was extinguished to warn the rider, a built-up composite fork and crown design intended to simplify manufacture, and a new plug for pneumatic tire valves.
- Constructional details and measurements of the one hundred electric motor cabs being placed in public service on New York City streets were published, covering chassis design, electrical system, seating, and the engineering compromises required to produce a vehicle reliable enough for continuous commercial use.
- Geo. E. Lloyd & Co. of Chicago introduced a two-piece crank hanger designed to simplify installation and adjustment, with the split construction allowing the hanger to be fitted to a wider range of bottom bracket shells than conventional one-piece designs.
- The rivalry between Jimmy Michael and Charles Linton was reviewed as Linton claimed to have driven Michael out of Europe, while Michael's American victories were cited as evidence the tables had now turned, alongside results from the week's racing program.
- Jimmy Michael defeated Charles Linton in a match race that settled the immediate question of their relative form, with Michael's win allowing him to claim superiority over the field of European professionals who had crossed the Atlantic to race on the American circuit.
- A racing program in Boston featuring novelty events and standard distance races was reported, with results across the various classes and a review of the local riders and visiting professionals who contested the meet.