The Cycle Age and Trade Review, Vol 25, No 153
Articles in this issue
- After days of conferences at the Waldorf, tire makers failed to present Colonel Dodge with any formal proposal to change Tillinghast license terms, and Dodge stated plainly that existing license contracts remained in force, ending the 1900 tire price dispute without any change to the minimum $2.75 and $4.25 schedules.
- Julius Andrae & Sons Co. of Milwaukee announced it was ready to show 1901 models to dealers, noting that despite its summer financial difficulties the business had never missed a day of trading and that creditors who stood by the firm had been repaid with the company now discounting all its bills.
- A review of bicycle racing sponsorship found the Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Co. newly converted to the practice after Major Taylor's unbroken string of victories and American championship win on their machine generated orders specifically for 'the kind that Major Taylor rides,' while the Waltham Mfg. Co.'s long use of Orient pacing teams was credited with establishing that brand's front-rank position.
- A technical review of motor bicycle design developments discussed the central challenge of motor placement and frame construction, arguing that lowering the center of gravity and integrating transmission, starting, and pedaling mechanisms cleanly were the defining problems separating practical machines from cumbersome prototypes, illustrated by the new Regas motor bicycle designed by J.H. Sager.
- The Cycle Age offered a sympathetic word for the Cycling Gazette — target of much industry ridicule — and argued that small cycling associations unable to secure dealer discounts on their own should affiliate with larger nearby associations so their members could share the advantages of collective purchasing power.
- The Cycle Age noted that Bicycling World and other papers that had enthusiastically boomed motor bicycles five weeks earlier were now publishing extracts that aligned with the Cycle Age's own cautious position, demonstrating that logic had prevailed over the earlier wave of promotional enthusiasm.
- Waltham Mfg. Co. publicly challenged the Cycle Age's conservative position on motor bicycles, but the Cycle Age responded by defending its analysis and arguing that Orient motor bicycles were heavy, ungraceful, cranky in management, and not yet the kind of reliable articles that dealers should rush onto the market.
- Robert P. Scott of Cadiz, Ohio patented a new casing latch for double-tube tires on crescent-shaped rims using woven-wire fabric bands; a European changeable-gear patent was also described, along with a new adjustable handle bar with a spur-gear pivoting mechanism.
- The column described several new products for 1901, including the 'Champion Racer' pedal by Forsyth Mfg. Co. of Buffalo and a new Kelly No. 5 forward extension handle bar, along with other early preparations by cycle parts makers for the coming season.
- The final night of the Chicago Coliseum race meet under Jack Prince and James Kennedy ended in confusion, dispute, and pacing troubles, but the column concluded that despite the chaos both riders and management had given good value to the crowds throughout the week of events.