The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 10, No 7
Articles in this issue
- Editorial preview and commentary on Rev. Sylvanus Stall's 1886 Clerical Wheelmen's Tour, describing the planned route from New York City through the Hudson Valley to Saratoga and the Catskills; also critiques The Cyclist's opposition to the Springfield Bicycle Club's offer to fund an international one-mile championship race.
- The official prospectus by Rev. Sylvanus Stall for a ten-day, 434-mile bicycle tour for clergymen, running August 3–14 from New York City through Tarrytown, Newburgh, Albany, Saratoga, Sharon Springs, and Cooperstown to Cobleskill, limited to twenty-five participants at roughly $2.50 per day.
- Boston correspondence reporting Chairman Bassett's firm stance against the N.C.U.'s retreat on maker's amateurism, speculation that Dr. Beckwith may run for a third L.A.W. presidential term against Stephen Terry, and detailed wheel-storage arrangements at Mechanics' Building during the League Meet, with suspended-bicycle racks managed by W.W. Stall's machinists.
- Reprinted from the American Wheelman, a lively account of the pranks played by cyclists Hunger, Whittaker, Van Horne, and Stone during the week before the Clarksville road race, including sign-stealing, dude costume parades that drew the city marshal's attention, a photography craze, and nickel-throwing to street children.
- A letter from Thomas Stevens at Meshed, Persia, describing a harrowing twenty-day struggle through Khorassan—fording fifty streams in a day, surviving a blizzard with icicles on his eyelashes forty-five miles from Meshed—and his political impasse, with Russia denying passage through Merv and Afghanistan expected to turn him back at the frontier.
- Announcement of a ten-week, $500-per-person European bicycle and tricycle tour departing New York on July 3, 1886, aboard the steamer City of Berlin, visiting Queenstown, Cork, Killarney, Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Paris, under the management of P. Harvard Reilly; membership limited to fifty.
- Preview of the Lynn Bicycle Club's inaugural Memorial Day race meet on May 31, featuring a $300 professional championship race between Robert Neilson and John Prince, a $1,500 Columbia prize cup for twenty miles, and five amateur events on the new Lynn track, with Abbot Bassett as referee.
- H.O. Duncan of France (riding a 56-inch Rudge) won the 50-mile English professional championship at the Aylestone Grounds on April 24 in 2h. 49m. 25 2-5s., edging out F.J. Lees and M. Dubois; R. Howell won the concurrent 10-mile championship in 30m. 30s.
- A circular from Geo. R. Bidwell organizing a reduced-rate party excursion for New York-area wheelmen to the L.A.W. League Meet in Boston via the Fall River Line steamer Bristol on May 26, with rebates to purchasers based on the total number of tickets sold.
- A nostalgic column recalling the early New York cycling scene at 791 Fifth Avenue—the founding of The Wheel by printer Fred Jenkins with Sam Foster as contributing editor, and the rise and fall of the Mercury, Manhattan, and Lenox clubs—plus a report of the Canton (Ohio) B.C. annual officer elections, prompted by news of T. Hunt Sterry's marriage.
- Wide-ranging weekly column covering Munger's unclaimed fifty-mile record at New Orleans, R.J. Mecredy's record of 73 wins in 78 races, a Chicago tragedy in which Felix Ribolla of the Chicago Bi. Club was accidentally shot by his father, A.M. Hill's Easter Sunday bicycle tour from New Orleans to Boston for the League Meet, and a warning about a well-dressed English-accented confidence man who swindled Burley B. Ayers of Chicago using a forged letter of introduction from J. Moodie Jr. of Hamilton, Ontario.
- Announcement of the Boston Bicycle Club's cycle exhibition at Mechanics' Hall, May 27–31, timed to coincide with the League Meet, with dealer displays of bicycles, tricycles, and accessories, fancy riding, home-trainer races, and band music expected to attract 5,000 wheelmen.
- John S. Prince rode fifty miles against time at the Washington Rink, Minneapolis, on May 7th—paced by T.W. Eck, Frank Dingley, and Fred Shaw—beating Woodside's record by nearly six minutes and setting new world records for every mile from 35 to 50, finishing in 2h. 38m. 52s.
- Technical evaluation reprinted from The Cyclist of a hand-power lever gear fitted to a central-geared Quadrant tricycle, which converts arm pressure and body weight into pedal drive power; found effective for hill-climbing and quick starts but better suited to steady riders than fast scorchers, with a single gear priced at £2 10s.
- Description and assessment of the Rover safety bicycle—reportedly the first seen in the city, handled by J.A.R. Underwood of Dorchester—with a 36-inch front wheel, 30-inch chain-driven rear geared to 55 inches, ball bearings throughout, and a 45-lb. weight; S. Golder covered fifty miles at over 16 m.p.h. in an English safety race before his spring broke at 64 miles.
- Brief miscellaneous items including Gormully & Jeffery bringing thirty-six wheels to the Boston show, Rowe and Hendee both weighing 175½ pounds while training at Lynn, the death of Michigan state champion W.C. Marvin, Minneapolis horse-vs-bicycle races involving T.W. Eck and J.S. Prince against trotters, and a Minneapolis benefit featuring Louise Armaindo in a two-mile professional race against Prince.
- Letter to the editor announcing the formation of the Nassau Wheelmen under the Nassau Athletic Club in South Brooklyn, with twelve founding members including experienced riders from the old country, access to a gymnasium and a four-laps-to-the-mile racing track; applications via John H. Mellor, 387 Third Street.
- Report on the Springfield Bicycle Club's fifth anniversary banquet at the Warwick House, attended by 78 bicyclers plus guests including club presidents from Westfield, Holyoke, Northampton, Florence, and Greenfield, presided over by H.E. Ducker with L.A.W. Vice-President Stephen Terry and Dr. Rust of Meriden at the head table.
- Calendar of upcoming cycling events from May 15 to July 5, 1886, including the Missouri L.A.W. Division meet in St. Louis, the Boston B.C. cycle exhibition, the L.A.W. Annual Meet at Boston (May 26–29), the Lynn Bicycle Club inaugural race meet, and the Canadian Wheelmen's Association annual meet in Montreal.
- Official L.A.W. program for races at the Union Grounds, Dartmouth Street, Boston, on May 29, 1886, featuring the League National Championship mile, the Massachusetts State Championship mile (entries limited to Massachusetts riders), a novice mile, and two invitation races; entries via Abbot Bassett, Cycle office, 22 School Street, Boston.