The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 13, No 19
Articles in this issue
- Leading editorial by editor F. P. Prial argues the League of American Wheelmen has stagnated due to neglect of road improvement and riders' rights, an over-expensive ponderous government, and money wasted on the weekly Bulletin; proposes decentralisation giving most dues revenue to Divisions, four national committees (Rights and Privileges, Rules and Regulations, Racing Board, Roads Improvement), and a monthly organ in place of the weekly.
- The Massachusetts Club held its annual dinner at Young's Hotel, Boston, on January 27th, with Colonel A. A. Pope presiding; Charles A. Collins led the season's riding record at 5,209 miles and A. D. Peck was second at 4,002, while speakers including Secretary Ryder and J. B. Bassett provided entertainment.
- Officers elected for the coming six months of the Berkshire County Wheelmen include President E. H. Kennedy, Captain W. H. Sheridan, and Bugler F. Livermore; the club enters its eighth year at its largest-ever membership.
- W. A. Rowe, accompanied by W. F. Allen, will sail for England the following week and plans to compete in spring races during a four-month stay.
- The reorganization committee—Messrs. Kirkpatrick, Bidwell, Luscomb, Bassett, and Butler—met at the Buffalo Club-house on Friday and Saturday, formulating plans for radical changes emphasising economy, more money to Divisions, and roads improvement; a synopsis will appear in next week's Wheel before presentation to the National Board on February 22nd.
- The editor surveys candidates for League president including T. J. Kirkpatrick, George R. Bidwell, H. W. Hayes, Charles S. Luscomb, and J. R. Dunn, speculating on likely tickets, with Bidwell for president, Dunn for vice-president, and Hayes as committeeman considered the most probable outcome.
- Weekly miscellany covering a new California interclub racing association planning 25-, 50-, and 100-mile events from February 22nd; T. W. Eck, Frank E. Dingley, and W. F. Knapp's upcoming 72-hour race at Philadelphia on February 21st; G. Lacy Hillier's motion at the N.C.U. to disqualify amateurs in road races under 100 miles; and E. I. Halsted of the Harlem Wheelmen winning the Manhattan A.C. 1½-mile bicycle handicap at Madison Square Garden.
- Cola Bell of Minneapolis rode 5,425 miles on a Star during 1887 over 232 riding days, with a best single run of 132½ miles in 11h. 49m. on November 8th; correspondent also reports a pending spring road-race challenge between Bell and J. P. Bruce over 25 miles at Lake Harriet for a $25 medal.
- Report on the Long Island Wheelmen's ladies' reception at their club house at 1281 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, featuring a musical programme by the Schubert Double Quartet, soprano Mrs. Steel, baritone Mr. Walters (pupil of the National Opera School), and zither solos by Mr. Debold, followed by dancing; President and Mrs. J. D. Huggins received the guests.
- Colonel A. A. Pope, in an interview published by the Boston Herald, argues that cycling is the ideal exercise—inexpensive, accessible year-round, combining physical development with intellectual diversion—while condemning sparring as a relic of barbarism that tends to brutality and leads inevitably to prize-fighting.
- Correspondent 'Ralph' reports that Baltimore's League meet committee has invited the L.A.W. to hold its annual gathering on June 18th–19th, with C. C. Mealy already appointing press and finance committees, and challenges the apparently inconsistent position of Secretary Bassett, who seems in the Bulletin to have reversed earlier support for Baltimore.
- 'Free Lance' sketches the varied characters encountered on English rural roads while cycling—tramps feigning hardship for pennies, fox-hound packs in Kent and Leicestershire with their red-coated huntsmen, laconic gamekeepers waging war on poaching gangs, portly farmers riding home from market, obliging parsons, and traveling fair convoys blocking the road.
- The editors describe acquiring a genuine 'Dandy-Horse' (draisine) built around 1836 or earlier, formerly owned by Mr. Fry of Weston-super-Mare, with 23- and 24-inch wooden-spoked iron-tyred wheels, a wooden main frame, spring seat, and padded arm rest; it is to be loaned to the Stanley B.C. Committee for exhibition at the Stanley Show.
- Reader 'Lucido' corrects the blue-print paper instructions of January 20th, advising that filtering out precipitated Prussian Blue before coating the paper prevents it from filling the pores and staining the whites and half-tones of the print.
- Henry E. Ducker of Buffalo writes to the Bulletin arguing the League should not be in the publishing business; members who join only for the free weekly paper are 'mercenary' dead-weights, and the money would be better spent on road improvement and rights work, or the Bulletin should be offered at a subscription price comparable to other cycling weeklies.
- Reprinted from the New Orleans Picayune, this piece reports widespread dissatisfaction among Louisiana L.A.W. members who allege that southern Division requests for aid are ignored, affairs are controlled by a 'ring' of New York and Massachusetts big-wigs, and that board meetings are always held in Boston or New York; members call for election of officers by the general membership.
- Coventry manufacturer George Singer, interviewed by the Coventry Herald, reviews the 1887 season—noting the growing popularity of the safety bicycle, Coventry's twelve firms producing about 35,000 cycles per season employing 2,600 people—and predicts that German competition will not threaten English supremacy in high-grade cycle manufacturing.