The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 13, No 17
Articles in this issue
- Editorial challenging Buffalo's Mr. Ducker to present his L.A.W. amateur-rule reform proposals at the forthcoming February 22 Board meeting in New York rather than circulating innuendo to Boston cycling papers, recalling his failure to act at the 1886 Boston meet.
- Annual meeting of the Elizabeth Wheelmen, New Jersey: club mileage reached 22,597 miles with D. B. Bonnett's long-distance medal at 3,495 miles, and new officers elected including President George C. Pennell and Captain Samuel J. Berry Jr., with a unanimous vote to remain an L.A.W. club.
- Edwin Oliver of Gormully & Jeffery M'f'g Co. visits New York for the first time in three years, reuniting with charter Citizens' Club members Fred Jenkins and W. R. Pitman and reminiscing about early midnight rides to Yonkers.
- The Missouri Bicycle Club's annual report shows 58 of 96 active members logged over 45,000 miles on St. Louis streets and roads, with E. A. Smith winning the championship medal after riding 1,130 miles in September alone by making the 40-mile Manchester road round-trip daily for 28 days.
- President Jos. D. Huggins announces House and Membership Committee appointments for the year and plans the club's first ever Ladies' Reception on January 30th; brief notes cover the Massachusetts Club annual dinner at Young's Hotel on January 27th and the Owl Bicycle Club of Bordentown officer elections.
- Reprinting from the Minneapolis Tribune, the paper exposes the fraudulent Whittaker-McCurdy professional race: promoters Thomas Rowe and William Davis never put up legitimate backing, Whittaker never received his contracted $2,500, and Tanner, Wood, and associates divided Rowe's $8,000 before the race ever ran.
- Captain W. Wallis Hill departs for California on the steamship Colon, cheered off the pier by a delegation including President S. N. Higbie; Lieutenant E. W. Dean Jr. reports 3,500 miles on his 56-inch Rudge Light Roadster in 1887 with a longest day of 87 miles.
- Racing champion A. B. Rich, known as "Quilla," announces his permanent retirement from the wheel to marry a Boston lady, correcting rumors of a European tour or racing partnership with Crist.
- Wide-ranging department covers Chicago clubs' winter socials and officer elections, Gormully & Jeffery's new 44-lb. American Rambler rear-driving safety at $120–$135, Lucas & Son's forthcoming electric bicycle lamp, the Star's near-unchanged 1888 model, and the note that the Whittaker-McCurdy race finally fell through after Whit's machine was doctored.
- Letter from L. D. A. of Birmingham, Alabama, urging cyclists nationwide to campaign for road improvements, arguing that Alabama's execrable roads — despite the region's industrial boom in furnaces and rolling mills — harm every road user and will keep cycling a minority pastime until addressed.
- Trade feature on Merwin, Hulbert & Co.'s expanded bicycle department at their new four-story building at 26 West 23rd Street, New York, where the entire smoothly-painted top floor (25×100 ft) will stock over 200 wheels including Gormully & Jeffery Champions and American Challenges, with a full range of cycling apparel from tights at 75 cents to sweaters at $5.
- Product description of a new cyclometer fastened to the underside of the left pedal rather than the hub, making it impossible to ride without recording distance; claimed to be dust- and waterproof as a stem-winding watch, spring-free, and priced at $10, available about February 15.
- Eighth instalment of the continuing series covers how to mount and trim photographic prints using paste, glass, and a wooden roller; introduces the blue-print (cyanotype) process using ferro-prussiate paper and sunlight; and gives the chemical formula for coating blue paper from ammoniated citrate of iron and red prussiate of potash.
- Editorial review of the Scenograph photographic objective by W. & D. Mogey of 418 West 27th Street, New York, praising its aplanatic correction, full-aperture coverage across eight sizes from 4×5½ inches to 20×22-inch plates, rapid action for instantaneous exposures, and endorsement by members of the Brooklyn Camera Club.
- W. G. D. Milburn of the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co. demonstrates bromide paper and the transferotype process at the Lynn Camera Club; officers for 1888 are elected including President W. H. Drew; the Somerville Cycle Club also elects officers with Captain Fred B. Kimball winning the club's gold watch for attending every run but one.
- Correspondent "Claw Hammer" covers annual officer elections at the Lincoln Cycling Club (President Edwin Oliver re-elected), Illinois Cyclers (H. A. Sloan), Owls (C. E. Randall), and the revived Chicago Bicycle Club (W. C. Thorne), with notes on Captain Robert Ehlert's departure for Buenos Aires, a proposal for monthly joint inter-club runs of nearly 400 wheels, and the Lincoln Club's January 7th smoker and musicale.
- Correspondent "Keystone" reports that rain and slush have ended Pittsburgh outdoor cycling; racer W. I. Wilhelm confirms he will attend all prominent 1888 meetings; Edwin Oliver demonstrates Gormully & Jeffery's new hollow rim (150-lb. test without spokes) and a cut of their Rover-pattern safety weighing under 44 lbs.
- Denver Ramblers elect new officers at their semi-annual meeting including President J. F. Allers and Captain R. Gerwing; the club has ridden every day in January with temperatures reaching 72°F; their end-of-1887 entertainment at the Mammouth Rink — featuring racing, fancy riding, and drilling — was a financial success.
- Interview with British trade traveler T. R. Marriott covers his tour of cycle agents and factories across Antwerp, Frankfort (Kleyer & Co.'s six-story depot with 600 wheels), Munich (1,500 cyclists, university students), Nuremburg, Chemnitz, Berlin (police bar street riding), and Hanover, concluding that English wheels dominate but ruinous discount-cutting threatens the trade against rising German manufacturers.
- Delegates from six Philadelphia bicycle clubs — including the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tioga, Germantown and South End clubs and the Century Wheelmen — meet January 9th at the Philadelphia Bicycle Club house to consider forming a coordinating league modelled on the Schuylkill Navy; Isaac Elwell named temporary chairman but final action deferred to club referral.
- Reader classifieds covering bicycles, tricycles, and tandems for sale or exchange including a Humber Convertible Tandem at $150, Columbia Tandem Tricycle (cost $250, best offer over $150), Stars at bargain prices, and cabinet photographs of racing men including Thomas Stevens, Whittaker, and A. B. Rich at 25 cents each.