The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 11, No 26
Articles in this issue
- Editor F.P. Prial advises Brooklyn wheelmen to accept the park privileges already granted rather than press for pedestrian path access; reports on the contentious Kings County Wheelmen annual election (M.L. Bridgman winning by four votes over Capt. Pettus) and previews the contested Brooklyn Bicycle Club election due in April, with the full N.Y. State L.A.W. ticket listed by district.
- Brooklyn correspondent announces that Thomas Stevens will deliver his lecture "Around the World on a Bicycle" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on April 16, with clubs from miles around planning to attend in a body and a post-lecture reception at the Brooklyn Bicycle Club house at 112 St. Felix St.
- Review of the Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. 48-page 1887 illustrated catalogue, covering the American Champion, Light Champion, Safety, Light Safety, Challenge, and Ideal bicycles plus the new Challenge Tricycle and tandems, with extended quotation from the company's annual greeting.
- Letter from the St. Louis Press Committee listing the chairmen of all L.A.W. meet committees (Finance, Reception, Transportation, Entertainment, Tours, Parade, Banquet, Press) for the May 20-21 annual meet at St. Louis, with the Lindell Hotel as headquarters at $2.50 per day.
- The Elizabeth Wheelmen vote to proceed with building a one-story club house on East Broad Street after sufficient bond subscriptions are raised; the 25 x 50-foot building will include a parlour, a wide entrance for tricycles, and a planned bath and wash room wing, to open by May 1.
- California L.A.W. news: Chief Consul Welch's district convention plan produces nominees including R.C. Woodworth (Los Angeles) and J.D. Arkison (Oakland); Los Angeles Wheelmen's Feb. 22 races won by Woodworth (2-mile state championship, 7:03½) and others; San Francisco Bicycle Club announces May 30 race meet at Bay District track; Bay City Wheelmen's moonlight run through Golden Gate Park draws forty riders.
- Miscellaneous short items: organized ladies' tours agitated in London; George Hendee retires from racing; tricycle rider James McIntosh (two wooden legs) rides Dundee to Liverpool and back; W.C. Herring of the Ixion B.C. departs for Japan on a Columbia tricycle; Spartan Harriers' two-mile bicycle handicap at Madison Square Garden; a correspondent proposes a dual-sprocket gear-change mechanism for safety bicycles.
- Correspondent Dixey reports that Pennsylvania League politics are dominated by the Aaron scandal; the State Nominating Committee repudiates Wells and nominates George Jessep for Chief Consul; argues voters should scratch H.S. Wood (now residing in Ohio) from the Representatives ticket and substitute Division Treasurer T. Howard Wright; recounts Mr. Fontaine's physical confrontation with an aggressive teamster on the road.
- Connecticut L.A.W. update: the Hartford Wheel Club and New Britain clubs both nominate L.A. Tracy for Chief Consul, leaving him the sole candidate for an "exhibition heat"; the Wheel Club polo team defeats Trinity College five goals to none and arranges matches with Meriden; new Apollo Safety and Ivel safety bicycles attract notice in the city.
- New Jersey cycling news: an unusually harsh winter with few rideable days gives way to a March opening; Orange and East Orange streets are disrupted by new horse-railway and sewer work; Wanderers B.C. annual election results (President Dr. R.M. Sanger, Captain L.H. Porter); A.C.U. circular from Mr. Ducker on control of cycle racing is laid on the table.
- Annual election of the Harlem Wheelmen names J.B. Halsey as President, F.L. Bingham as Vice-President, E.I. Halstead ("the scorcher") as Captain, and a full new slate of officers; editor notes new advertising arrangements with W.B. Everett & Co., Overman Wheel Co., and Pope Mfg. Co.
- Correspondent Alert covers L.I. Wheelmen's club-house delay pending a party-wall settlement, Second District L.A.W. ballot preparations (six or seven representatives expected), Kings County Wheelmen's March 17 meeting electing M.L. Bridgman as Captain by a majority of four, and the Ilderans' preparations for the Inter-Club cup on Decoration Day.
- Brooklyn cycling notes by correspondent Independent: Schwalbach & Willdigg promptly print new park regulations on business cards; Richard Hamilton of the Calumet Bicycle Club suffers a broken arm after a header on West Drive Hill; Brooklyn Bicycle Club Harriers complete a hare-and-hound chase to Jamaica Bay; L.I. Wheelmen are first to ride the newly opened Park drives; Brooklyn B.C. plans Thomas Stevens' Hand-Shake reception for over 1,000 wheelmen.
- Letter from Memphis (L.A.W. No. 6269) refining the pedal-mount technique by advising removal of the step before practice and letting the pedal pass its inertia point before rising; the writer also proposes an agents' protective union, citing a Memphis case where a rival firm dumped $500 of wheels at 50 per cent discount and ruined the local cycle trade.
- Open letter from Edward J. Shriver (N.Y.B.C.) arguing that the L.A.W. Board of Officers violated a May 1886 Boston meeting resolution directing them to amend the By-Laws so the President and Vice-President would be elected by the full membership, not the Board alone; urges the League to choose between true democracy and genuinely representative constitutional government.
- Reports a political split between the Long Island Wheelmen (backing Luscomb and Share) and the Brooklyn clubs (backing Barkman and Potter) over Second District L.A.W. representation, presenting both rival tickets in full and calling for a reconciling social dinner to resolve what began at the controversial Board Meeting that prosecuted Aaron.
- Telegram to The Wheel reporting that the Wells attachment case—arising from the L.A.W. Aaron financial scandal—has been settled for $200.
- Trade news: Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. files suit against Pope Mfg. Co. for infringement of their Smith Ball-bearing and Lillibridge Saddle patents.
- Regular correspondence edited by H.L. Collamer of Washington D.C.: the D.C. Cycle Club runs to Knowles' Station and holds L.A.W. nominations; Westminster (Md.) roads remain mud-bound; New Orleans Bicycle Club races on March 3 (half-mile won by Guillotte in 1:32½, mile by Rea in 3:49) with Guillotte also setting a new Southern quarter-mile record of 39 seconds; Hagerstown club plans a permanent club house.
- Update on arrangements for the L.A.W. Southern cycling tour, with an extended letter from Tourmaster Elwell to Mr. Collamer advising that touring parties should start informally in small groups at their own pace rather than in military formation; W.R. Fuller of Brooklyn is appointed bugler for the trip.
- Letter from St. Louis (March 18) in which a cycling editor denies reports that he opened a betting book on the World's Championship Road Race, attributing the false story to a Globe-Democrat writer; L.S.C. Ladish, Editor of the American Wheelman, separately defends the race against critics and predicts a bigger success than the previous April's outing in Pike County.
- Report of the March 5 meeting at which E.J. Shriver (N.Y.B.C.) was elected President and M.L. Bridgeman (K.C.W.) Secretary-Treasurer; a new constitutional residency rule requires competitors to be three-month active club members; Kings County Wheelmen, as reigning champions, select the Irvington-Milburn course for the May 30 race.
- Review of A.J. Wilson's book "The Pleasures of Cycling" (Illiffe & Son, Coventry), illustrated by George Moore, with nine chapters covering cycling history, safety bicycling, utilitarian and racing aspects, and cycle literature; reviewer suggests the Wheel Board of Trade import 10,000 to 100,000 copies as proselytizing handbooks for new riders.
- The Toronto Wanderers' Bicycle Club secures a new building on Wilton Avenue and Victoria Street, with a basement bicycle gymnasium, billiard room, reading room, bath and card rooms, fitted with speaking tubes, plate glass and stained glass windows, and walnut fireplaces; the club plans $1,500 in furnishings and claims the first purely bicycle club house in the Dominion.
- Editorial description of the Cunard Safety Bicycle ("Ivel" type, 30-inch wheels, $135), imported by D. Rogers & Co. of Newark, highlighting Gibbons' Patent Automatic Steering Apparatus that removes arm strain, Bown's universally-adjustable bearings throughout, 57-inch gearing, and elliptical hollow steel fork tubing with effective mud-guards.
- Excerpt reprinted from the Bicycling News: veteran racer John "Jack" Keen recalls beginning to ride in 1869, making his own 38-inch French-pattern bicycle, early races against Cortis and champion Jimmy Moore (whose real name was Meares) in France in 1873, and three visits to America; a full interview is promised in a subsequent issue.
- Reports the American cycling team (Woodside, Morgan, and Temple) arriving by train at Coleraine, Ireland, where Woodside was met by old school-fellows and his father; Temple performed trick-riding for townspeople who lined the roads, and the team planned several weeks' rest while accepting numerous invitations from local clubs and prominent citizens.
- Reprinted from The Cyclist: Louis Glasel reports from Lyons that General Boulanger's secretary told him twenty-four French Army corporals recently presented themselves by bicycle to the Minister of War, and that Boulanger finds bicycles highly valuable for transmitting urgent military communications, with the German Army also expected to experiment with cycles.
- Editorial descriptions from advance sheets of H.B. Smith Machine Co.'s catalogue: the Special Star features an oscillating front spring, new special brake, and Kelly saddle, priced $107-$127 for 48-54 inch; the companion Pony Star (dwarf safety pattern) is offered in American, Semi-Racing, and Special versions at $75-$117.
- Six-stanza humorous poem by W.T.H. (reprinted from the Tricycling Journal) lamenting that winter snow and ice keep the trike in storage, but vowing the rider must cycle or "live in vain."
- Large meeting of the Citizens' Bicycle Club elects John C. Gulick as President, N.M. Beckwith as Vice-President, and a full slate including Captain T.C. Smith and Lieutenant of Tricyclers George Martin Huss; festivities after the ballot included a musicale and sing hosted by caterer Mazetti.
- Gormully & Jeffery Mfg. Co. announces purchase of the patents, plant, and name of the Lillibridge saddle, pledging to honour all contracts undertaken by Mr. Lillibridge and to continue manufacturing and selling the saddle at the existing retail price of five dollars, fitted to any make of machine.