The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 25, No 144
Articles in this issue
- The American Bicycle Company sold off the entire western wholesale sundry stock of the Pope branch in Chicago at cut prices through an outside firm, with a circular openly identifying the goods as regular Pope products — an inconsistency the paper noted given the trust's simultaneous practice of refusing to sell closed factory buildings for anything below inflated asking prices.
- The Soudan Manufacturing Co. of Elkhart called a creditors' meeting to propose a 25 cents on the dollar settlement on liabilities of $26,100, citing losses from its move to Elkhart and difficulty securing competent workers, with the bank and largest creditors willing to grant an extension if merchandise creditors agreed.
- Cleveland bicycle dealer N.A. Quilling, returning from Paris, argued that American consumers were too fastidious for motorcycles as currently built, predicting they would prefer a cleaner, smoother automobile carriage over noisy, vibrating machines suited only to French riders willing to accept grease and dirt.
- Cleveland seamless tubing manufacturers reported earlier-than-usual contract bookings for the 1901 bicycle season, with the Shelby Steel Tube Co. and Standard Welding Co. both indicating strong demand including growing orders specifically for electrically welded tube from manufacturers who had adopted it exclusively.
- Dealers from Des Moines and other cities reported that 1900 had been their best year in volume of business handled, with those who had entered the jobbing of sundries and supplies finding strong growth, while others were using their summer slack time to assemble motor bicycles and prepare expanded showrooms for the autumn selling season.
- The patent column examined Dunn's chainless bicycle design that appeared conventional externally but incorporated an unusual drive mechanism, along with a new seat post binder operating on a different principle from standard expander types, an automatic brake device, and a removable bead tire system with interlocking notch-and-lug engagement.
- Brief trade items including the Canfield Brake Co.'s announcement that its new factory at Corning, New York was nearly ready for business and its new model would be available to the trade in September, reports from the Cortland Carriage Goods Co. on commencing operations, and other short manufacturing notes.
- The sport section led with a discussion of the intense French public enthusiasm following Jacquelin's victory in the world's sprint championship at Paris, describing the storm of celebration that must have greeted his subsequent defeat of the amateur world's short distance champion at the international meet.
- None of the American competitors in Europe reached the finals of the international cycling championships in Paris, with Cooper, McFarland, and others eliminated in the semi-finals; Jacquelin won the sprint championship and Huret the 100-kilometer event, while amateur honors went to French riders Didier and Bastien.
- Beconnais won the motocycle-tricycle championship for one hour at Lille, covering approximately thirty-six miles to finish nearly three kilometers ahead of his nearest rival, with early leader Bathiat fading rapidly after the opening miles as Beconnais built his advantage at a methodical but unrelenting pace.