The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 12, No 6
Articles in this issue
- Editor F. P. Prial announces The Wheel has moved from 12 Vesey Street to 23 Park Row; praises the L.A.W. Uniform Committee's work and urges all wheelmen to sign petitions supporting the New York State Rights and Privileges bill, which passed the Assembly practically unanimously on May 2 with arguments by Mr. Cantor and Mr. Piatt and now goes to the Senate.
- Geo. R. Bidwell of 313 W. 58th St. asks New York-area wheelmen bound for the L.A.W. meet in St. Louis to contact him at once to secure sleeping-car accommodations on the West Shore R.R. departure of May 17 at 5:40 p.m.; reduced rates require his signed certificate.
- Letter from Edward J. Shriver of the New York Bicycle Club correcting a Harlem correspondent's claim that Mr. Halstead was the first to climb Englewood Hill, citing Wm. Lemnon of Englewood who has done it dozens of times and noting it is easier than Eagle Rock or Breakneck Hill.
- Corrected timetable for the L.A.W. special train to the St. Louis League Meet: Boston at 3:00 p.m. and New York at 5:40 p.m. on May 17 via West Shore, with stops at Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, and Indianapolis, arriving St. Louis at 7:50 a.m. on May 19.
- Description of the Surrey Hills Cyclist's Camp near Caterham, England—72 acres where members may purchase freehold ground for bungalows, with a club-house, billiard table, and canteen already erected—offered as a model for American state divisions or large clubs planning permanent summer camps.
- The Kings County Wheelmen are offering a record medal for 2,000 road miles (with additional bars for each extra thousand) and a gold medal for most regular attendance at club runs from May 1, 1887 to March 17, 1888, backed by a new monthly mileage card introduced by road officers Bridgman, Hall, and Crichton.
- Letter from Charles Richards Dodge in Paris dated April 22, 1887, giving practical tips for L.A.W. League Touring Party members crossing the Atlantic—steamer chairs and rugs, shipboard tipping customs, meal-table placement to manage sea-sickness—and noting the prevalence of bicycles in London contrasted with their total absence on Paris streets.
- The L.A.W. Uniform Committee (N. Mahlon Beckwith, Geo. R. Bidwell, E. W. Johnson) announces the contract awarded to John Wanamaker of Philadelphia at $6.20 for the coat, $1.34 trousers, $1.95 shirt, and $0.80 hose, delivered free to any part of the United States; cloth supplied to League members only.
- The Inter-Club Bicycle Road Championship is set for Decoration Day at 1 p.m. over the Milburn-to-Irvington course; ten clubs have entered teams including the Harlem Wheelmen, Citizens Club, New York B.C., Hudson County Wheelmen, Elizabeth Wheelmen, Rutherford Wheelmen, Union County Wheelmen, Kings County Wheelmen, Ilderan B.C., and Brooklyn B.C.
- Karl Kron writes from West Springfield on May 3 recounting his 48-mile solo road ride from Meriden to Springfield via Hartford and Windsor Locks—his first after eleven weeks off the wheel—noting the straight ten-mile stretch north of Berlin, Ct., and announcing his forthcoming cycling book, with 3,000 subscribers' copies being printed in the adjoining city.
- Trade and club miscellany: the N.Y. Columbia agency shipping three Columbias to Germany; Jens F. Pedersen expected to make medals for the May 30 Inter-Club race; the brothers Rich and Jesse Powers in path training; new Zylonite collars and cuffs for wheelmen from the Zylonite Novelty Co.; and Royal Bicycle Oil from Swan & Finch recommended as a lubricant and polish for cycle makers and dealers.
- Southern Department editorial by N. L. Collamer exposing irregularities in the Kentucky L.A.W. Division: six Lebanon wheelmen sent initiation fees to then-Secretary Dietzman in Louisville in mid-1885 but received no membership cards, organ, or reply; Division Secretary Willison's investigation found Dietzman has also failed to return club books, while other towns have similarly vanished from the League rolls.
- The N.O.B.C. held a successful smoker on April 23 filling their parlors and yielding seven membership applications; Warren Miller, Earnest Stream, Harry Hodgson, and Howard Carey are all reportedly about to marry; Chas. M. Fairchild has presented the club with a hand-drawn road map of the city; and a party of six is planning a moonlight ride to Baton Rouge (110 miles) on May 7.
- N. L. Collamer recounts departing Washington on May 1 by bicycle for the Southern Tour toward Philadelphia, describes the District Division meeting at the Washington Cycle Club where committees were formed for a gala week of receptions, runs, and a torch-light procession (May 23–30), and continues with his May 2 road account via Ashton and Ellicott City to the Maryland Club-house in Baltimore.
- Two opening runs have been rained out by Captain Updegraff; a committee was appointed to receive the Southern League Tourists with entertainment at the club rooms; club president Albert Heard is to be married the next day; and all business was suspended on news of the death of honorary member Charles F. Munder of the Maryland Club.
- Correspondent L. B. G. questions calls for L.A.W. financial aid in the press, reports trade moves (Grant Bell to 205 1st Ave. South; R. H. Spear buying Heath & Co.'s St. Paul branch), promotes the prospectus for Minnesota's Second Annual Tour, and highlights C. A. Hazlett's practice of stabling old wheels so visiting friends always have a mount.
- A Cincinnati correspondent reports a new city ordinance paving three miles of Main, Seventh, and Ninth streets with asphaltum; updates on the Cincinnati Wheelmen's move to new Ninth Street quarters and the Avondale Bicycle Club's tri-weekly runs; and describes two local riders covering 84 miles from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio at night with only three dismounts each, just under ten miles per hour.
- Briefs column with items including: L. D. Munger proposing to ride a tricycle at Clarksville; C. P. Daniels training Neilson, Rhodes, Doane, and Corey at the Boston Y.M.C.A.; C. E. Kluge declining the St. Louis road race to protect his track-season speed; J. W. Powers winning the five-mile bicycle handicap at the Twelfth Regiment games in 18 minutes; and John Ruskin's dismissal of bicycling as an 'abomination' drawing editorial ridicule.
- Correspondent 'Jonah' profiles Elizabeth rider Jude F. Decker's 30-mile round trip from Elizabeth depot to Jersey City in 2 hours 48 minutes over cobblestones and Belgian blocks, analyses Decoration Day road race team prospects (Kings County Wheelmen favored; Stenken of Hudson County and 'Lou' Johnson of Orange Wanderers as threats), and reports an interview with C. E. Kluge on his reasons for skipping Clarksville and plans for 21 lb. and 28 lb. King bicycles.
- Philadelphia correspondent 'Dixey' covers O. B. Keene (Univ. of Pennsylvania, class of '89) winning the University Bicycle Association's 25-mile road race on the Lancaster Pike in 1:42:25; the Century Wheelmen offering mileage medals (Fleming already 2,000 miles on a New Rapid); and Wanamaker's L.A.W. uniform contract celebrated as a local triumph over New York and Boston firms.
- Pittsburgh correspondent 'Keystone' reports the Keystone Club opening its riding season May 1 with mileage medals boosting cyclometer sales, W. B. Everett & Co.'s Apollo Safety as the first Rover-type bicycle shown in the city, praise for Karl Kron's forthcoming book, and closes with a humorous string of biblical quotations applied to railroad fare policy under the Inter-State Commerce bill.