The Wheel World, Vol 3, No 17
Articles in this issue
- Weighs the merits of the Surrey B.C.'s new quarter-mile sprint races against the established one-mile handicap distance, warning of collision risk and strain on unprepared hearts in short, sudden bursts.
- Welcomes the Tricycle Association's proposed amalgamation with the Bicycle Union, arguing the two bodies' overlapping aims mean tricyclists and bicyclists alike would gain from a single, unified governing society.
- A letter from W. A. Finchett of the Calcutta B.C. describing the club's founding in 1880 under captain W. Davies, its 29 members, and Sunday morning rides to the Botanical Gardens across the Hooghly.
- By Harry J. Swindley of the Hampstead B.C.: a serialised story (Part I) in which Barmouth B.C. clubmen Tom Ruston and Horace Haward wheel between an East Anglian fishing town and its inland market town as Ruston confides he is about to "take a plunge" in life.
- A poem by "Choey" Sawtell of the Sherborne B.C. telling the tragic decline of a country inn after its landlord's daughter marries a visiting cycling club captain, who dies of grief following his wife's death.
- Wistful end-of-season musings on wasted summer riding days spent on dull club runs and racing training rather than touring.
- Eastbourne notes signed "Beachy Head" on "Jarge" and Vesey's exertions in the 50-mile championship at the E.B.C. races, and Wadey's disappointing form after overtraining.
- American notes from Cincinnati (signed "Birotus") on the Cincinnati Bicycle Club's Independence Day tour and a planned Ohio wheelmen's meet, and from New York (signed "E.C.H.") comparing English and American road quality and bicycle design attention.
- West of England notes on the Taunton Bank Holiday race meeting (F. Hansford and J. W. Hansford among the winners) and the Crewkerne Athletic Sports' bicycle handicaps.
- A father-and-daughter account of a three-day, 101-mile double-tricycle "Sociable" journey from Battersea to Coventry via St Albans and Towcester, with villagers along the route crying "Here comes Mother Shipton's carriage!"
- Club notes on the new AEolus and Marmion B.C.s, the City Rovers joining the Bicycle Union, F. Howard Warner's 180-mile ride to Harrogate for the Redditch and District B.C., and the Alerts' ladies' day in Epping Forest.
- Reports fines for furious and reckless riding, including Henry Wigmore's conviction at Marylebone and "butterfly rider" William Kaw's fine for riding at 13 miles an hour on the Westbourne Grove wood paving, plus a Lord Mayor's Court dispute over an unpaid Harrington bicycle.
- Racing gossip on Crimpling of the Canonbury winning three of four handicaps at Stoke-on-Trent, C. A. Palmer's defeat of Crute for the Championship of the North at Liverpool, and De Civry's record-breaking ride against Jack Keen at the Crystal Palace.
- A tabulated continuation of race results, including H. L. Cortis's one-mile win at Windsor (before being knocked over by M'Kinlay in the two-mile) and A. P. Shaw's return to the scratch race.
- Irish racing notes on the Irish Champion Bicycle Club's race meeting of 20 July, including the one-mile novices' race and the one-mile mount-and-dismount event.
- Compiled by Hart and Co., Patent Agents: a list of new applications for letters patent for bicycles and tricycles lodged in July 1881, including G. Singer's velocipede patent and W. R. Mortimer's bicycle brake.