The Wheel World, Vol 4, No 19
Articles in this issue
- Criticises clubs that invite guest captains to expensive annual dinners without budgeting for their wine, calculating that a captain attending a dozen club dinners could be out of pocket by over 4 pounds in wine costs alone.
- By Charles R. Maddox, Wanderers B.C.: a survey of Continental cycling clubs, singling out Herr T. H. S. Walker's Berlin B.C. and the Frankfort congress that resolved to form a German Bicycle Union.
- By Harry J. Swindley (Part III): Tom Ruston is forbidden to marry Alice by her father Mr Kelly, survives an assassination attempt by his rival Horace Haward on the road home, and parts from Alice with a two-year pledge before going to sea.
- A poem by Joey Sawtell of the Sherborne B.C. recounting how he accidentally killed his beloved spaniel by riding over it on his return from a cycling tour, and buried it in the wood where he still comes to mourn.
- No. 2: a profile of Harry J. Swindley, celebrated for his recitation of "The Eve of the Battle of Dorking" at club socials, his acting with the Cyclists' Dramatic Club, and his "Ripley Road" article.
- Signed "Axis": marks the start of Volume Four with notes on the rain-soaked North London Autumn Meet at Barnet (389 riders), the vogue for "Sociable" double tricycles, and subscriptions raised for a tricyclist's widow after a fatal brake failure.
- A poem by "Aout, B.T.C." celebrating the pleasures of a hundred-mile day's ride through Surrey and Hampshire, with a closing dig at unfit riders who attempt the feat.
- Signed "Spanks, Junr.": on Western clubs winding down for winter and Mr Calvert of the Argyle B.C.'s proposal for literary club socials, plus a satirical note on a club debating whether any "aesthetics" could be found in the town.
- Reports Frederick Cooper of Wolverhampton's twelve months' hard labour for a bicycle-supply fraud, and police raids fining Kensington and Hammersmith riders for furious riding on the wood paving.
- A tabulated continuation of race results from mid-September to mid-October 1881, including the West of England Championship at Exeter's Polsloe Park and the Tricycle Championship of Scotland's fifty-mile road ride, won by Laing.
- A cartoon caption joking, in stage-Irish dialect, about car-drivers grumbling that bicyclists are stealing their livelihood as the English once took their land.
- A comic dialect monologue, signed "Hans Schwartz", in which a German immigrant is talked into buying a D.H.F. bicycle by a smooth-talking salesman, only to crash into an omnibus on his first ride.
- Notes that racing quietens in October, with Reilly and Cleaver both pushed back to scratch, and remarks on the difficulty of finding one agreed handicapper for the Metropolitan district.
- Club notes on Copland's record two-mile time in Sydney, J. R. Hamilton jun.'s 50-mile road ride without a dismount, and the resolved opposition to the new Essex B.C.'s formation from three amalgamating clubs.
- Eastbourne notes signed "Beachey Head" on the Flatman v. Lewis law case over a race collision, decided by Judge Martineau, and a splendid E.B.C. run to Normanhurst joined by Mr Moore of the Nooze.
- Irish racing notes on the Dungannon Athletic Sports and the Fifty Miles Road Championship of Ireland, won by R. Hassard in 3h. 47m. 15s., and the Eglinton B.C.'s AGM under new captain Jas. Hinchy.
- A cartoon caption of an Irishman offering a struggling beginner a comic threat with his shillelagh to make the bicycle "go aisy."
- Compiled by Hart and Co., Patent Agents: applications, notices to proceed, and patents sealed for bicycles, tricycles and accessories through September and October 1881.