The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 11, No 15
Articles in this issue
- Profile of road champion S. G. Whittaker of Medford, Mass., detailing his 1886 performances for Gormully & Jeffery of Chicago: 20 miles in 59m. 35s. and 300 miles in 23h. 46m. on an American Champion roadster, beating rivals Munger, Hollingsworth, and McCurdy.
- The editor surveys the 1887 season outlook — predicting growth in manufacturers and public interest ahead of the January 27 Stanley Show — and addresses the stalled amateur-status debate among the A.C.U., L.A.W., and N.C.U., plus a rebuttal to a subscriber who cancelled over criticism of the League.
- Reports that Commissioners Borden and Crimmins, who opposed wheelmen's privileges in New York's parks, are expected to resign from the Park Board, with Commissioner Powers and General Viele seen as more sympathetic potential replacements.
- Account of the N.C.U. Executive meeting in London on December 9, at which a committee of editors from Wheeling and The Cyclist was appointed to investigate professional racing, a £5 cap on amateur prizes was carried, and road racing was formally disapproved.
- Secretary E. J. Shriver presents the New York Bicycle Club's 1886 mileage summary, with F. M. Daniels topping the list at 2,063 miles across routes spanning eleven New York counties, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Bermuda.
- A two-chapter comic romance, reprinted from the Tricycling Journal and attributed to Ben Hayward, in which Lady Geraldine is abducted on a tandem tricycle by the villainous Don Stephano and rescued by her lover Launcelot de Mandolini, who tracks the tandem via a bloater dragged from the rear.
- Correspondent F. F. reports on winter cycling activities in Hartford, Connecticut, including E. Y. Judd's homemade bicycle roller trainer, the Connecticut Club's skate-sail craze on the river, and a Hartford Wheelmen party planning visits to the Meriden and Springfield toboggan slides.
- "Independent" reports on Brooklyn cycling: the Brooklyn Bicycle Club's new toboggan club and skating uniforms, a lone tricyclist braving icy Prospect Park paths on New Year's Day, and the Ilderan Bicycle Club's successful literary entertainment featuring W. F. Miller's magic-lantern lecture 'Views from a Tricycle.'
- A satirical column by 'Titnam' mocking the recycled press item about an American wheelman riding 200 feet through a hollow sequoia tree trunk, offering increasingly absurd versions of the story to illustrate how cycling newspapers unthinkingly copy and embellish stock items.
- Review, reprinted from The Cyclist, of the Invincible Direct-steering Tricycle imported by Kirk Brown of Philadelphia, made by the Surrey Machinists' Company with a 28-inch steering wheel, 36-inch drive wheels, self-adjusting spoon brake, and four ball bearings on the axle.
- Describes the Centaur Cycle Company of Coventry's new central-geared F. S. tandem (Townsend's patent), convertible to a single in 25 seconds without tools, weighing 110 pounds as a tandem and 85 as a single, with double band brakes and alternate steering handles for front or rear rider.
- Reports on J. K. Starley of Coventry's new patent for a drive band made of coiled steel wire, designed to replace conventional pitch chains (which elongate) and metallic bands (which break) on velocipedes, as described in Tricycling Journal.
- News notes including: the Lynn Cycle Club's apron-and-necktie party; Minneapolis wheelmen sidelined by −30° temperatures; Thomas Stevens's expected arrival in San Francisco mid-January; and an 84-inch wheel owned by Mr. Potts of the Edinburgh Amateurs, built by Centaur Cycle Co.
- Reprinted from '10,000 Miles on a Bicycle,' a list of 22 English-language cycling journals as of August 1, 1886, with founding dates, cities, circulation figures, and prices, covering American weeklies from the L.A.W. Bulletin to The Wheel and British papers from Bicycling News to Wheel World.
- Lists four recent U.S. cycling patents issued to W. Brown and C. Kramer of Albany, T. B. Jeffery of Chicago, and Wm. J. Wuterich of Meriden, Conn., for bicycle and velocipede inventions.