The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 1, No 1
Articles in this issue
- Opening column of humorous squibs and news notes: the Garfield Club taking to wheels, McKee & Harrington's new hub lamp, the races at the Polo Grounds (110th Street and Sixth Avenue) on October 2, complaints of boys throwing stones at wheelmen on Fifth Avenue, the recent Worcester races, and digs at the rival Bicycling World.
- Full report of the L.A.W. Officers' and Directors' meeting at the Metropolitan Hotel, New York, on September 18, 1880, listing the 1880-81 officers (President Charles E. Pratt of Boston, Commander C. K. Munroe of New York) and state directors, printing the draft Rules read by Pratt, the heated debate over the definition of an amateur (Pennell's restrictive amendment rejected almost unanimously), the committee elections, the Membership Committee's report of 527 candidates passed, adoption of the silver 'Continent' League badge, and the declined appeal of Will R. Pitman over the Boston races.
- Salutatory editorial by editor and proprietor Fred Jenkins, 38 Cortlandt Street, setting out the new paper's intention to report club meetings, races, tours, runs, inventions and personal items, and inviting correspondence and news from readers.
- Comic editorial announcing the birth of yet another bicycle paper and offering a string of facetious 'excuses' for its existence, pledging that The Wheel will be as liberal as a pawnbroker and as independent as a porker but insisting readers must subscribe.
- Short editorial hailing the recent L.A.W. meeting in the city as a complete success, commending the Board's near-unanimous decision on the amateur question, and urging all wheelmen to join the rapidly growing League.
- Preview of the Grand Bicycle Tournament to be held next week on the Manhattan Polo Association's grounds, with a one-third-mile track laid out under Edward Plummer's supervision and six races including a one-mile handicap heat race for handsome prizes.
- Personal notes on prominent wheelmen: Mr. Noel of the Mercury Bi. Club eyeing a 96-inch machine, Captain Wm. M. Wright sailing for Europe with a new 60-inch Special Columbia, L. H. Johnson of the Essex Bi. Club timing two miles in 6:30 on a 54-inch Harvard Roadster, Gib Foster's Yonkers-to-59th-Street ride, and W. R. Benjamin taking charge of the Sunday Courier's cycling department.
- Brief humorous memorial verse, 'Little Ficken, thou hast left us,' signed G. W. Childs, M.A., on a wheelman lost to 'the giddy, fickle wheel.'
- The journal's own terms: published on alternate Saturday mornings, one year postpaid for $1.25 in advance, remittances by draft, money order or registered letter to Fred. Jenkins at 38 Cortlandt Street, New York, with advertising rates furnished on application and special rates for continued insertions.