The Cycle, Vol 1, No 9
Articles in this issue
- A correspondent signing as "Villsa" reports experiments showing vaseline outlasts thin oil in ball-bearings, keeping a rear wheel running without re-lubrication for 584 miles; he recommends vaseline for ball-bearings and black oil for cone or parallel bearings.
- A correspondent signing as "Polly" argues that cycle-hire proprietors should fit machines properly to each rider, contending that ill-adjusted saddles and handlebars discourage women from adopting the tricycle and ultimately cost dealers sales.
- The executive committee of the N.Y. and N.J. Team Road Racing Association revises the course for its 12 June road race, rerouting from Clinton Avenue via Springfield Avenue to Millburn and back, covering 25 miles in four laps.
- The Orange Wanderers adopt resolutions requesting the N.Y./N.J. Road Racing Association to require preliminary heats and to change the announced course, and separately petition Orange-area councils to require all cyclists to carry bells and lit lanterns after sunset.
- Club captains intending to join the League Meet parade are directed to report at Hotel Vendome by 9 a.m. Friday; the procession of four color-coded divisions will form on Commonwealth Avenue and move at 10 a.m. Saturday to Longwood for a group photograph.
- Secretary T.J. Kirkpatrick's letter to Racing Board chairman Abbot Bassett is printed to refute claims that Bassett acted alone in suspending makers' amateurs, affirming that the full Executive Committee reviewed and endorsed his enforcement of the existing rules.
- The Orange Wanderers' spring five-mile club road handicap is reported: Hening won in 20.29, Baird came second in 18.03 after a late sprint, and the Humber tandem was delayed when it struck a wagon at two-and-three-quarter miles.
- Outing publisher Poultney Bigelow's letter to Secretary of State Bayard asks the U.S. ministers in Tehran and St. Petersburg to locate Thomas Stevens — the round-the-world cyclist — who was reportedly arrested on the Afghan frontier and has not cabled since.
- The magazine's female columnist "Maisie" welcomes the League Meet as an opportunity to show Boston that cycling benefits women, and praises a Hartford scheme of private rink tricycle parties as a model for drawing more women into the sport.
- E.H. Foote of the Massachusetts Bicycle Club describes a scheme using a rubber-and-brass-strip pressure mat across the track connected to a battery and bell, which would ring automatically when a rider crosses and could record each finisher's time with absolute accuracy.
- The fifth annual meet of the League of Essex County Wheelmen is announced for Lynn on 31 May, with a business meeting at Mechanics' Hall, a noon parade, a photograph at Highland Square, and afternoon races at the Lynn Cycle Club track.
- A retrospective on the last L.A.W. Boston meet (30 May 1881) notes that nearly 800 men rode, the Massachusetts Club led with 38 men, and the banquet featured speeches by Col. Pope, President Bates, and others; membership stood at 1,700 with a $300 treasury balance.
- A 12-day touring programme is announced for July, riding down the St. John River in New Brunswick from Grand Falls to the Bay of Fundy and St. John, with all travel, meals, and a Pullman berth included for $38 from Boston; the American party is limited to 30 riders.
- The opening tournament at Lynn's new dead-level three-lap track on Memorial Day (31 May) lists eight events, headlined by a $300-a-side, five-mile professional championship race between Robert A. Neilson and John S. Prince for an additional $500 prize.
- A Chicago rider describes the club excursion to St. Louis: Van Sicklen broke a pedal on "Son-of-a-gun" hill and sprained his ankle coasting down on a borrowed machine, while the party consumed legendary quantities of pie and milk at Baldwin's before returning home on the overnight train.
- A column of short news paragraphs covers: Gormully & Jeffery's photo-gravure show card; Surrey Machinists' shift from 200 to very few spokes; the Massachusetts Bicycle Club confirmed as League banner club; New Orleans cycling ordinances on bells, lamps, and sidewalk prohibition; and many other brief items.
- A brief lyric poem by Charles Richards Dodge addresses his bicycle amid apple blossoms, birdsong, and the distant sea of Cape Ann, bidding the wheel to rest in "fields elysian" as summer arrives.
- A Republican correspondent explains that the Westfield town meeting rescinded a by-law prohibiting sidewalk cycling not to grant riders new rights but to place enforcement under the selectmen, who can issue criminal-offence rules more readily than the old civil-action penalty of $2.
- Chicago cyclists describe the De Soto and Manchester roads outside St. Louis: long straight grades, the notorious coasting gem Solomon Hill, and the feared climbs "the Undertaker" and "Son-of-a-gun," where even the celebrated long-distance rider Cola Stone was said to walk.
- Race results from Woodstock, Ontario (24 May) record R.A. Neilson winning the professional mile championship of Canada in 2m. 52 3-5s., with W.M. Woodside second; further results from New Castle, Pa., Yale, Berkeley Athletic Association, and Columbia College games are also tabulated.
- Club notes report the formation of the Chautauqua Wheelmen of Jamestown, N.Y., and updates from the Berkshire County Wheelmen, Chelsea Cycle Club, and Meriden Wheel Club, including planned runs, uniform changes, and delegations to the Boston League Meet.
- A dated calendar lists upcoming cycling events for May through July 1886, including each day of the Boston League Meet (27–31 May), the Lynn, Brockton, and Yale tournaments in June, the Canadian Wheelmen's Association annual meeting in Montreal, and various club races.