The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 11, No 21
Articles in this issue
- Short department covering cycling news of February 1887: N.C. Fowler Jr. staying in Boston with Pope Mfg. Co., Springfield Bi. Club minstrel purchase, Citizens' Club members at the Lincoln Anniversary Dinner at Delmonico's, elections for the Memphis Cycle Club and New York Club, globe-trotter W.H. Langdown of the Antipodes living quietly in New York, a dispute over who first reported the L.A.W. officers' meeting, and a reader tip for attaching a leather mud-guard to the rear wheel of a safety.
- Report on the Hartford Wheel Club's evening supper featuring home-trainer contests won by H.K. Lee in 1m 40 2-5s over J.B. Spencer, sparring matches, banjo selections by Mr. Woodward, recitations by Mr. Warner, and a late supper running into the following day; also notes a rival club attempting to poach a Hartford racing man.
- Description of the Quadrant Tricycle Company's anti-header device, fitting a smooth disc at the hub or crank that jams under a fine-toothed catch-piece the instant the forks begin to run forward over the wheel centre, successfully tested over a five-inch obstruction without a fall.
- Editor F.P. Prial announces the resumption of a Lawn Tennis Department in early March (not affecting cycling space), praises the L.A.W. Bulletin for publishing the stenographic report of the Board meeting, notes the American Team's departure for England on the Belgravia, and urges club readers and prominent wheelmen to subscribe and support The Wheel.
- Full account of globe-girdling cyclist Thomas Stevens's arrival at Grand Central Depot, warmly met by a Citizens' Club delegation including Mason, Page, Ashley, Stevenson, Frazee, Gulick, and the American Team; an informal evening reception at the Citizens' Club follows, where Stevens is described as thick-set and shy of newspaper men, and his well-traveled Columbia wheel — nearly 20,000 miles on it — draws crowds at the Pope Co.'s Warren Street store.
- Brief description of a pendulum-propelled bicycle patented by Nathaniel Brown of Emporia, Kansas, in which a swinging seat drives ratchet wheels through lever arms, with steering in either direction by applying extra force to one lever and the machine stoppable even on a decline by the seat's counterweight.
- Comprehensive survey of the 1887 Stanley Bicycle Show in England, where nearly 600 machines were exhibited; covers novelties from Facile (geared and rear-driving variants and a new ladies' tricycle), Sparkbrook, Humber (dwarf safety of the Rover type, improved tandem), Rudge (cheap roadster, 59-inch racer for Howell, the Bicyclette), Coventry Machinists (Marlboro Club and Ladies' Marlboro tricycles), St. George's Engineering (New Rapid series Nos. 1–7 including a rear-driving safety), Quadrant Tricycle, Singer (S.S.S. tandem convertible, Otto tire, tandem attachment for Apollo safety), Surrey Machinists (Invincible, rear-driving safety), Starley and Sutton (Rover light roadster and Special Rover with spring-supported rider weight), and Cunard (Gibbon's automatic-steering tandem convertible).
- Monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Division L.A.W. board at Young's Hotel, presided over by Chief Consul Herbert W. Hayes: Herbert W. Hayes nominated for the League vice-presidency, a new constitution adopted dividing the state into seven numbered districts, balloting rules set for the April elections, and the Chief Consul authorized to send a representative to the St. Louis League meet in May at division expense.
- Annual meeting of the Massachusetts Bicycle Club electing Charles Richards Dodge as President, A. Douglass Salkeld as Vice-President, William H. Minot as Treasurer, and Alonzo D. Peck Jr. as Captain; the office of Tricycle Captain was won by John T. Williams by only four votes in a hotly contested ballot.
- Minneapolis correspondent L.B.G. describes Thomas Stevens's delayed arrival on February 1 after being snowbound near Fargo; eight Mercury Bicycle Club members hosted him for dinner, Stevens spoke entertainingly of his journey and praised Japan as most hospitable, suggesting it as a future L.A.W. tour destination; he also visited St. Paul before continuing south.
- Letter from Isaac B. Potter defending the authenticity of Brooklyn Bicycle Club president A.B. Barkman's 1886 season record of 8,086 miles on a 52-inch Victor with an Excelsior cyclometer, and publishing a complete table of 46 members' season mileages totaling a grand aggregate of 56,176 miles.
- Correspondent 'Kid' reports on the Owls Club's german at their south-side rooms, Thomas Stevens's appearance at the Illinois Cyclers' inaugural dance and at the Chicagoes' monthly Smoke where he spoke for about an hour (with banjo music by Ned Oliver and Professor Allen), and the trend among Ananias Bicycle Club members — including Burley Ayers, Ingalls, Schmidt, Ruhling, White, and 'Andy' Creman — toward smaller wheel sizes for 1887.
- New Jersey correspondent S. Tar covers cycling in Orange and Newark: good road conditions drawing riders out, the Union County Wheelmen's forthcoming new club house and new blue yachting-flannel uniform, a well-received Springfield Roadster demonstration by McCune and Hendee at Oraton Hall handled by H.A. Smith & Co., and strong advocacy for Dr. Fred A. Kinch Jr. of Union County Wheelmen as L.A.W. Chief-Consul.
- Essay by 'Mental' urging cycling press editors and club officers to join the White Cross Society's campaign against profane and indecent language among young men, quoting Rev. Dr. Coster of Branch No. 1 and confessing personal guilt, calling for concerted action by wheel-papers and club leaders.
- Correspondent L.B.G. provides detailed specifications of Gormully & Jeffery's new 1887 line led by a 36-pound Light Roadster with true tangent wheels, ball bearings throughout, distinctive 'ram's horn' handle-grips, and a price of $120 for the 50-inch; also covers the Champion's improved corrugated crank-fastening system and argues that eastern manufacturers should open Minneapolis branch houses to exploit the untapped north-western market.
- Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. has warned its agents of patent-infringement suits filed by Pope Mfg. Co. and the Overman Wheel Co., pledging to supply counsel and indemnify agents against loss while the cases are pending.
- Letter from Karl Kron (K.K.) written from Meriden, Conn. and postscripted from Washington Square, describing a midwinter ice-cycling tour from West Springfield toward New York — 50 miles battling near-zero temperatures, blizzard, ice, and slush — undertaken to celebrate completing the indexes for his forthcoming book 'X M Miles,' though heavy rain at Meriden forced him to take the train for the final leg.
- Letter from 'Charlie' announcing the Nashville Bicycle Club's move to elegant new quarters on Church Street with a reading room carrying The Wheel and all cycling papers, listing officers (Pres. Robt. Rodes, Capt. J.R. Dortch, Bugler E.D. Fisher, Color Bearer J.B. Burdett), and noting a prospective summer tour to Niagara Falls.
- Report on the Harlem Wheelmen's Second Annual Reception at West End Hall, 125th Street, attended by one hundred couples representing all New York-area clubs, with the march led by F.L. Bingham and lady; the committee had only two weeks to prepare.
- G.B. Orr of Toronto, drawing on four L.A.W. 'big tours,' proposes splitting large touring parties into separate fast and slow divisions each with its own marshal, enabling both experienced scorchers and leisurely sight-seers to enjoy the ride at their own pace; he also rebuts Collamer's claim that he set a 'terrific pace' in Norfolk.
- A corrected illustration of the Surrey Machinists Co. 'Invincible' direct-steerer tricycle, imported by Kirk Brown of 6 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, replacing a faulty cut published in the January 7 issue; the machine is expected to create a furor in the coming season.
- Review of Pope Manufacturing Co.'s new fifty-page illustrated 1887 catalogue covering Expert, Light Roadster, Standard, Safety, Semi-Roadster, and Racing Columbia Bicycles plus Two-Track, Ladies' Two-Track, Tandem, and Racing Columbia Tricycles and sundries across forty-eight woodcuts, noting a roadster price reduction and a new tandem tricycle to be described the following week.
- Lists four cycling-related patents recently granted: a cyclometer to Jos. Butcher of Boston, a velocipede to C.E. Duryea of Washington D.C., a velocipede to D.H. Rice of Brookline, and a ventilator and smoke bell for lamps to Thos. Smith of New York.
- Department editor N.L. Collamer, writing from the St. Cloud Building in Washington D.C., defends the new Southern Department against League loyalists who feel the Bulletin should be the sole voice for southern cycling, arguing that the Bulletin has consistently under-served the South and that The Wheel's offer of a dedicated column is an opportunity no southern wheelman should refuse.
- Day-by-day itinerary for the L.A.W. Southern District Tour departing Philadelphia on May 9, covering twenty-five to thirty miles a day through Paoli, Coatesville, Lancaster, Columbia, York, Gettysburg (with time to view the battlefield), Pen Mar, Hagerstown, Martinsburg, Winchester, Woodstock, New Market, Luray Caverns, Harrisonburg, and Staunton, then taking cars to arrive in St. Louis for the League meet on Thursday.
- Open letter from Division Secretary-Treasurer Chas. J. Scherer of Memphis exposing the contested Tennessee Division chief-consul election: O.C. White forced W.L. Surprise's withdrawal by presenting evidence of misconduct, White was then nominated by the club with nearly all votes, but Surprise and Hampton subsequently called a special meeting to undo the nomination and sought candidates from Nashville and Clarksville to defeat White — all while Surprise had never produced the constitution and by-laws he was charged with drafting since 1885.
- Letter from W.L. Surprise of Memphis supporting the Southern Department, endorsing Abbott Bassett as L.A.W. Secretary-Editor and Boston as proper League headquarters, and arguing the League presidency should go to whoever is best fitted — naming Bites, Ayers, and Kirkpatrick as suitable western candidates — regardless of sectional claims.
- Correspondent 'White House' reports on mild February weather enabling daily rides around Washington, the Capital Club's election of F.S. Presbury and plans for a 'Book Party' on February 22, the resignation of Capt. L.W. Seely, and Secretary Croxall's elaborate final winter-series hop for the Cycle Club featuring wedding-note invitations, extra-fine music, and a sumptuous banquet.
- Correspondent M.M. reports that L.A.W. Tourmaster Burley Ayers has resigned and most Marshals have withdrawn; Frank A. Elwell of Portland, Me., is being considered as replacement; the Kentucky-Tennessee leg of the Southern Tour may have to be abandoned because of railroad difficulties, though Marshal Collamer is negotiating with B&O representative John O'Laughlin in Washington.
- Sam'l G. Smith writes from Arkansas on cycling's steady growth despite poor roads, noting a gathering of over twenty wheelmen in Pine Bluff on January 29–30, the prospects for clubs at Texarkana, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff, and his hope to join the Nashville Bicycle Club's projected Niagara Falls tour as an honorary member.