The Springfield Wheelmen's Gazette, Vol 2, No 12
Articles in this issue
- The editor argues that the stigma attached to professionalism encourages the dishonest class of "semi-professionals" who secretly receive payment, and proposes making professional status an honor rather than a disgrace to solve the problem.
- Announces the full three-day programme of the Springfield Bicycle Club's fourth annual tournament, listing races for amateur and professional bicyclists and tricyclists, including the ten-mile U.S. championship.
- London correspondent "Waverley" reports on the early 1885 British season: plans for the tricyclists' Barnes Common meet, the N.C.U.'s new amateur definition, controversy over "Makers' Amateurs" subsidized by cycle manufacturers, and racing gossip including Engleheart's abandoned road match against Gibb.
- Wide-ranging column of short items covering trade news, rider challenges, club plans, and cycling miscellany, including Thomas Stevens's forthcoming round-the-world bicycle tour, John S. Prince's racing challenges, and the death of S. Conant Foster.
- A correspondent from New Haven, signing as "Hermes," surveys the city's three clubs — the New Haven Club (with Hendee, Hamilton, and Wait), the Ramblers, and the Yale Club — and previews their plans for the coming season including a Decoration Day tournament.
- A Hartford correspondent reports on road conditions, the Connecticut Bicycle Club's plans for a two-day fall meet, the arrival of English racer G.H. Illston as a permanent resident, and a thoughtful assessment of bicycle saddles and the growing safety-bicycle question.
- A correspondent describing a visit to the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans recounts the enormous scale of the buildings, the outstanding Mexico exhibit, and notes that the bicycle display was sadly neglected — only the Star Company made any real effort.
- A profile of Miss Annie Sylvester of St. Louis, described as the greatest lady trick and fancy bicycle rider in the world and the only known woman to ride a unicycle, tracing her background and rapid rise to fame on rink circuits across the country.
- Notes on Ohio cycling including Harry G. Ellard of the Brighton Bicycle Club as a promising fancy rider, the coming Ohio L.A.W. division meet at Springfield on July 20–21, and a full account of the Buckeye Bicycle Club of Columbus's fifth annual banquet with newly elected officers.
- Reports on Kenton Wheel Club activities including resolutions formally endorsing the L.A.W. amateur rules in response to young men competing alongside professional skaters, and a note on Robert Huebner's patented spoke-replacement hub improvement.
- Short notes on trade and club matters: the compressed tire's growing acceptance, the Overman Wheel Company running night shifts, new N.C.U. rules on track direction, and statistics on the Massachusetts Bicycle Club's 170+ members and 105,451 miles ridden in 1884.
- Club news covering the Salt Lake Bicycle Club's first-ever public exhibition (drill, fancy riding, and racing at the skating pavilion), the Citizens Bicycle Club annual meeting and officer elections in New York, and the Boston Bicycle Club's full season programme of runs and road races.
- Lists newly elected officers for more than a dozen clubs including Adrian, Brantford, Brighton (Cincinnati), Cambridge, Kings County Wheelmen, Maryland, Memphis, Portland, Providence, Rochester, Rutherford, Rutland, Sharon, Troy, and Washington clubs.
- Full report of the Christchurch Interprovincial Bicycle Race Meeting of January 24, 1885, with results and lap-times for all events — maiden, championship, novices, tricycle, and handicap races — won chiefly by W.H. Langdown of the Pioneer Bicycle Club.
- Lists fourteen U.S. bicycle-related patents granted in the four weeks ending March 17, 1885, compiled by patent attorney Shipley Brashears, covering velocipedes, forks, steering devices, pedals, and saddles from inventors at Overman, Pope, and others.
- Describes improvements made to the Royal Mail Light Roadster for 1885 — new brake, grip rubber tire, stouter head, round-edged forks, new spoke-tying system, and oval backbone — and notes large advance orders already received by William Read & Sons.
- Reviews the Singer cycles stocked by newly opened Boston dealer W.B. Everett & Co., detailing the remodelled British Challenge, the Apollo light roadster, the Xtraordinary, the Challenge Safety, and the three forms of Apollo tricycle.
- Detailed technical description of the new Columbia Light Roadster — Wallace-patent hub flanges, White-patent hollow steel rims, angled single spokes, weldless steel tubing, and Knous anti-rattle spring clip — and the redesigned Columbia Two-Track tricycle with spiral-rack steering and double band brake.
- A thorough history of the C.T.C., written for the Gazette, tracing its growth from 200 members in 1878 to 16,625 by December 1884, explaining its representative council structure, and reviewing the American division's progress under Chief Consul F.W. Weston, with a full list of state consuls.
- Alphabetical directory listing approximately thirty U.S. and Canadian cycling clubs with city, state, date of organization, membership count, and secretary's name and address.
- Karl Kron contributes an extract from his forthcoming book "Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle" describing the street layout, road surfaces, and cycling conditions of Manhattan Island — Fifth Avenue, the Boulevard, the transverse park roads, and riverside avenues — with practical advice on where to ride and what to avoid.