The Wheel World, Vol 2, No 12
Articles in this issue
- An editorial examining the B.T.C. reform controversy, noting that what was called a small malcontent minority actually represented the general membership's views as confirmed at the Birmingham meeting.
- A report on the Bicycle Touring Club's general meeting at Birmingham which considered the reform demands of the so-called malcontent faction.
- Reports the Bicycle Union's response to the newly formed Union Vélocipédique Française's request for recognition and an amnesty for past professionalism, with the Union declining to reinstate Charles Terront and De Civry-Colmar, who had already ridden for money in England.
- A gossipy London column, signed 'Cross and Ball,' covering the Hampton Court meet fixed for May 14, the new Hercules Bicycle Club in south London, and a punning conundrum about the Hermits' Social and the Ripley Road.
- Irish cycling notes signed 'Athcliath,' reporting the resumption of the Dublin University Athletic Club's College Races on 7 June and spring club runs by the Irish Champion and Dublin University Bicycle Clubs.
- Short notices of the February Sporting Mirror, praising its new bicycling department and sporting novelette, and of a Hart and Co. handbook for inventors on patenting procedure.
- News from abroad: champion rider Charles Terront and two other Frenchmen conscripted into the French army, an Italian Army trial of bicycle despatch-riders under General Lombardini, and the Véloce Club Réolais's training races, won by Léonce Grangey.
- A three-act comic burlesque script parodying a bicycle-club amateur theatrical, in which the Rovers B.C.'s Mr L. Lincoln and friends win over a troupe of young ladies by promising to take up bicycling.
- Club news and events from cycling clubs across northern England and Scotland.
- A southern gossip column signed 'Beachy Head,' joking about amateur cycling poetry and reporting the Eastbourne race meeting fixed for 28 July at Devonshire Park.
- A satirical verse by Choey Sawtell mocking the sudden fashion for tricycling among 'swells' after the Queen's purchase of a tricycle.
- A biographical profile of Henry Blackwell, jun. ('Clarion'), hon. secretary of the Canonbury Club, covering his London-to-John o'Groat's and Land's End-to-John o'Groat's tours and his renowned collection of early cycling ephemera.
- Official Bicycle Union business: correspondence with the Police Commissioner over lamp and bell by-laws, the appointment of H. L. Cortis as public handicapper in succession to Mr Rücker, and Henry Blackwell's election to the Executive.
- A West of England column by 'Spanks, jun.,' covering the Bristol Bicycle Club's Assault-at-Arms, the Sherborne Bicycle Club's re-election of 'Choey' as hon. sec., and a tricycle wrecked in a runaway-horse smash at Bournemouth.
- A national round-up of new-season club news: newly formed clubs including the Cherokee, Catford, Orion and Hercules, well-attended winter socials at the City of London and Hermits clubs, and uniform changes at the Saturn and Norwich Amateurs.
- The first instalment of 'Astyanax's' touring narrative describing a bicycle ride from London through Salisbury, Exeter and Okehampton towards Land's End, ridden on a D.H.F. Premier and a Carver bicycle.
- Hart and Co.'s monthly compilation of bicycle and tricycle patent applications, notices to proceed, and abridged specifications, including H. J. Lawson's wide-ranging velocipede patent.
- Tricycle Association news on registering machines for future championships to prevent a repeat of a sham-tricycle scandal, plus a call for the addresses of firms hiring out tricycles for trial.
- A note on the 'Baronet' steam-powered motor tricycle, the sensation of the Stanley Show and the Agricultural Hall's Domestic Machinery Exhibition, with racer Jack Keen joking about matching it.
- A humorous anecdote by 'Tinker Tom' about two tourists at the Isle of Portland quarries who convince a family of onlookers that they are convicts, one of whom later marries the smitten young lady in the party.
- Notice of the Rovers Bicycle Club's amateur dramatics, 'Bicycle or Bride' and 'Velocipedeia,' to be performed at the Bow and Bromley Institute and the Dilettante Club.
- An extensive trade report on new fittings and accessories shown at the Stanley Bicycle Club's Fourth Annual Exhibition, covering makers including Rudge, Humber, Coventry Machinists', Hillman Herbert & Cooper, and Bown's Eolus bearings.
- A Midlands column by 'Hereward' on the aftermath of the Birmingham B.T.C. meeting, Henry Blackwell's new seat on the Bicycle Union executive, and club news from the Liverpool Tourists and the Anfield.
- Reprinted from The Bicycling World, U.S.A., Capt. C. W. Fowler's account of a bicycle tour with R. S. Allen from the Kentucky Military Institute to Crab Orchard Springs on 50-inch Standard bicycles, over roads that startled onlooking locals.
- The editors' reader-mailbag column, revealing pen-name identities such as 'Jarge' for co-editor Mr Hillier and 'Tommy B.' for Mr Thomas Bedding of the Highbury B.C.