The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 21, No 46
Articles in this issue
- At a Newark meeting called by Dr. Stockton, bicycle parts manufacturers reached broad agreement on forming an association to maintain minimum prices, appointing a three-man committee to formulate a plan and report at a follow-up meeting in Rochester on October 15.
- English visitor C. H. Pugh demonstrated hollow steel bicycle rims to American manufacturers, claiming advantages over wood rims in durability and weight, a development that wood rim makers were monitoring with concern.
- Gormully and Jeffery cut Rambler bicycle list prices by one-third and announced they would make only minor equipment changes to existing 1898 models, explicitly positioning the decision as a challenge to competitors who relied on annual design changes to justify premium prices.
- A Washington dealer had built a profitable photography business alongside his cycle trade by offering free dark-room access to amateur photographers, while another dealer surprisingly found confectionery and bakery goods a moneymaking addition to his bicycle shop.
- The creditors' committee for Charles H. Sieg Mfg. Co. found a first mortgage two years past due and a Morgan and Wright second mortgage totaling $65,000 ahead of unsecured claims, with the holders of the first mortgage threatening foreclosure unless immediately paid.
- Philadelphia ("Quaker Town") makers plan radical changes for their 1899 models to discourage riders from holding on to their '98 mounts; the Norman Wheel Company leads with its "extreme" Norman Pacemaker, built on a 30-inch front and 32-inch rear wheel with front sprockets of 22 to 46 teeth giving a 34-to-200 gear range, listed at $80 against the standard Norman's $75. Local dealers such as Charles S. Smith & Co. and the Philadelphia Bicycle Exchange are also taking on incandescent and acetylene gas lamps as sidelines.
- Investigation of the Spaulding Machine Screw Co. of Buffalo revealed $195,000 in liabilities against assets worth only $155,000, with the president's $50,000 mortgage covering most of the real estate, and the receiver expected to wind up rather than reorganize the company.
- The progressive price cutting of American Humber bicycles by Wanamaker, Adams, Macy, and Siegel Cooper—from $115 down to $25—was analyzed as the final chapter of British cycle building in America, with the American Humber importer's detailed account of how the department stores forced prices down published in full.
- The Cycle Age published a full account of the theft of its mailing list by a compositor who passed it to a competitor's mail-order house, describing the legal steps taken to recover the list and the injunction issued against its use, and declaring that no one now in the company's employ would engage in competing businesses.
- The question of how manufacturers should handle dealer requests for non-standard options and factory extras was examined, with the trade's experience showing that promises of special equipment made in autumn catalogues were frequently abandoned by February when production realities conflicted with sales commitments.
- A critical survey of mechanical design errors in bicycle parts and components documented how trained engineers and machinists committed elementary mistakes in stress analysis, materials selection, and tolerance specification that should have been caught before production, with specific examples from the 1898 season.
- A technical report examined the principal causes of slow air loss in pneumatic bicycle tires, identifying poor valve seat seating, micro-porosity in rubber compounds, and joint failures as the main culprits and recommending specific repair and preventive measures for each.
- Young workers in bicycle parts factories who fed and tended automatic screw machines were identified as a class with real prospects for advancement, since attentive boys who learned the machines' characteristics and kept accurate counts had demonstrated they could rise to become skilled machinists and foremen.
- A new tire construction using horse hair fabric as a reinforcing layer was patented with claims of superior toughness and puncture resistance, alongside an English profiling machine patent for precision work on bicycle parts, and a prior fire fabric tire intended for use by fire brigades on vehicles near burning buildings.
- A new Riker electric motor tricycle designed specifically for private rather than commercial or racing use was described, with its construction optimized for reliability and ease of maintenance by an owner without mechanical training, rather than for maximum speed or range.
- The final weeks of the racing season were covered, with the championship standings reviewed and predictions made about how the remaining scheduled events would affect the outcome, alongside results from the latest open meets and gossip about the planned winter program.
- Suspended professional riders refused to participate in the Woodside Park meet, effectively destroying the event's competitive program and demonstrating the leverage that the blacklisted riders held over promoters who depended on their presence to draw crowds.
- Correspondence and notes about the secessionist riders who had broken with the established circuit described their plans for an independent racing series, the financial backing they had secured, and the arguments they were making to riders still on the official circuit about the advantages of joining the breakaway.