The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 11, No 20
Articles in this issue
- Brooklyn city letter by 'Bon.' covering the Kings County Wheelmen's vote to raise annual dues to $18 and plans to build a new club house, the Long Island Wheelmen's $3,000 building fund, and the Brooklyn Bicycle Club's crowded but thriving quarters; also trade previews of the 1887 Columbia, Rudge, and Victor bicycles.
- Editor F.P. Prial opposes moves to unseat L.A.W. Representatives Potter and Barkman of Brooklyn; inserts a reader's 'Stop It' piece endorsing the White Cross Army's moral-reform work; and canvasses candidates for the L.A.W. Vice-Presidency, naming Gulick, Bidwell, Alley, Luscomb, Butler, Pratt, Harris, and Emery.
- Extended editorial defending the L.A.W. Board's removal of Secretary-Editor Eugene M. Aaron and opposing Mr. Wells's election; reveals Aaron's private letter to President Beckwith confessing a $5,900 shortage of League funds (money claimed to have vanished from his overcoat pocket), rebukes the Pennsylvania Division's 'gag-law' charges, and criticises the Executive Committee for suppressing the full stenographic report of the Board meeting.
- Regular short-items department noting W.L. Surprise's resignation as Chief Consul of Tennessee, Tourmaster Burley Ayers's resignation, W.A. Rowe signing with Pope Mfg. Co., Fred Straub winning a 12-hour rink race in Faribault, Minn. with 141 miles on a Champion roadster, and T.J. Kirkpatrick's expected election as L.A.W. President at the St. Louis meet.
- Preview of the 1887 Royal Mail bicycle built by William Read and Sons under W.S. Atwell's supervision, describing new spade handles, the Kirkpatrick saddle, nickel-plated spokes, a steel brake lever, and 'Perfection'-pattern backbone and fork sides, with the correspondent predicting the wheel will 'create a furore.'
- Appeal by A.B. Barkman, Bookmaster and Chairman of the Bureau of Information, for wheelmen familiar with the road from Cleveland through Massillon and Indianapolis to St. Louis to send detailed route descriptions within ten days ahead of the May L.A.W. Meet.
- Inaugural editorial by N.L. Collamer, editor of the new Southern Department based at the St. Cloud Building, Washington D.C., asking readers' patience as he recruits Southern correspondents, and suggesting W.T. Williams of Connecticut—Quartermaster on the 1886 League Tour—as a candidate to succeed the resigning Tourmaster Burley Ayers.
- Correspondent 'M.M.' describes plans for the L.A.W. Southern District Tour departing Philadelphia on May 16 via Gettysburg, Hagerstown, and Martinsburg to Staunton, Va., with proposals to extend to Louisville in time for the St. Louis League Meet, and coordination between Southern Marshal Collamer and Chief Marshal Bidwell.
- City letter signed 'White House' surveys the three Washington D.C. cycling clubs—the Capital Bicycle Club (125 riding members, own club-house), the Washington Cycle Club (40–50 members, League club organised 1883), and the nomadic District Wheelmen (26 members)—and notes the Cycle Club's social hop on the 17th.
- Chicago correspondent 'Kid' reports on 'Pete' riding to Pullman and back (35 miles) in near-zero January temperatures, preparations for a Decoration Day handicap road race to Pullman with prizes from Pope Mfg. Co. and Gormully & Jeffery, new officers at the Chicago Bicycle Club with Fred Ingalls re-elected Captain, and Burley Ayers's scheme to route eastern League members through Chicago on the way to St. Louis.
- Boston-area notes announce an L.A.W. Board of Officers business meeting on February 12 at Young's Hotel with a new constitution and by-laws to be presented, and report the Massachusetts Bicycle Club annual meeting will elect A.E. Pattison as President, A.D. Peck as Captain, and a full slate of officers.
- Detailed technical description of the Cunard Light Roadster Bicycle imported by D. Rogers & Co. of Newark, N.J., covering Gibbons' Patent Tangent spokes headed separately in thin steel hub flanges, double-hollow seamless rims, weldless round-section steel backbone, Andrews' long-centre head with dust shield, and Nagel's patent adjustable step; a 52-inch machine weighs 32 pounds.
- Brooklyn column signed 'Independent' advocates for improving the Long Island Railroad's bicycle handling and the New Lots–Jamaica road, reports on Ilderan Club home-trainer competitions reaching a mile in 1 minute 50 seconds, and details the King's County Wheelmen's plans for a $15,000 Gothic four-story club house on Bedford Avenue near Halsey Street.
- Reports on a contentious closed-door special meeting of the Pennsylvania L.A.W. Division at which a committee was appointed to investigate the rejection of Pennsylvania proxies at the late Board meeting, and a resolution was adopted denouncing the censure of Aaron and Wells and the actions of the Eastern 'combine.'
- Standing column listing three recent U.S. patents: E.A. Lehmann (N.Y.) for a shirt, Jos. Plaute (Lewis, Quebec) for a lubricating composition, and L.P. Valique't (Brooklyn) for a velocipede.
- Describes the new L.A.W. Smyrna Rug designed by Will R. Pitman ('the Vet') of the Ixion Club, measuring 30 × 60 inches and featuring the League Badge as centrepiece with 'Direction Arrows' in the border; the first edition of 150 is priced at $5.00 each, with a third already sold.