The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 2, No 25
Articles in this issue
- A notes column covers upcoming professional races at the Polo Grounds on Sept. 2 and a 50-mile amateur race at Manhattan Grounds on Sept. 9, with officials including W. B. Curtiss as referee, and mentions the Springfield Club's September 20 tournament and a Buffalo man's gasoline-powered steam tricycle.
- Club news reports the formation of the Middletown Bicycle Club under President Russell T. Low, with charter members and club colors of orange and blue, and the election of officers for the Kentucky Bi. Club including President A. Cornwall and Captain Chas. H. Jenkins.
- A first-person touring account describes a ride from Jamaica to Bay Shore on Long Island's south shore side paths, passing through Garden City and Hempstead, meeting Mr. Allen of Garden City near Babylon, and recommending Mrs. A. Burr's residence at Bay Shore as a wheelman's stopping point.
- A correspondent critiques the Cincinnati Bicycle Club's "sensible reply" declining a civic parade invitation as discourteous, comments on the L.A.W. elections and the need for energetic officers, and reviews the merits of light roadsters — particularly the 39½-lb. Yale Light Roadster versus the 51-lb. Columbia Expert — after three weeks of road testing.
- The editors announce a competition for a new ornamental masthead design for The Wheel, offering a pair of nickel-plated ball pedals as prize, with designs in pen and ink (1¾ × 6½ in.) to be submitted to the Wheel Publishing Co. at 38 Cortlandt Street by September 15th.
- The editorial argues that the push to reduce tariffs on imported bicycles, championed by the Bicycling World, is motivated less by cyclists' interests than by spite following the Pope Manufacturing Co.'s withdrawal of advertising, and contends that encouraging domestic competition through patent licensing would more effectively lower machine prices.
- A short review praises Henry Sturmey's fifth annual Indispensable Bicyclists' Handbook, noting that it covers over 400 makes of bicycles with illustrations of the 1881–82 season's improvements, and directs readers to obtain it from Iliffe & Son in Coventry.
- A detailed account of the B.T.C. North of England meet at Harrogate describes Sunday camp life, a Monday procession of 577 riders from clubs including Halifax (26), Leeds Crescent (29), and Heworth (29), a dinner chaired by C. B. Wilson with toasts replied to by Frank Weston of Boston, and racing on a grass course in the cricket field.
- A preview of the September issue of The Century magazine highlights a Mark Twain portrait with an essay by W. D. Howells, General George B. McClellan's review of the Egyptian war, Austin Dobson on wood-engraver Bewick, a biographical sketch of Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Edmund Gosse, and E. V. Smalley's account of a Northern Pacific Railroad route through the Montana Rockies.
- A race report covers the Wanderers' second evening meeting at Surbiton on August 2, where Cortis rode 20 miles in a record 59m. 20⅕s. against Keith-Falconer (who retired at seven miles), paced successively by Woolnough, Adam, Tacagni, Reece, M'Kinlay, Thompson, Hamilton, Allport, Oliver Thorn, Hunter, and others, with timing by George Atkinson of Sporting Life and Pern. Coleman.
- A standing notice presents the B.T.C. as the international organization of amateur wheelmen, inviting Americans to add their names to its roll of over four thousand members and directing applications — with the 2s. 6d. fee and silver badge — through Chief Consul Frank W. Weston of Dorchester, Boston.
- An essay makes the case for the bicycle as the ideal vacation tool, contrasting crowded American resort culture with the freedom of solo touring — arguing that the wheel insulates riders from business, demands healthful exercise, forbids excessive baggage, and forces sobriety, all while being economical to maintain.
- A race calendar lists upcoming amateur events: the Montreal Bicycle Club annual races on September 2 (one-mile and five-mile, gold and silver medals), a 50-mile race at the Manhattan Athletic Club grounds on September 9, and New England Fair bicycle races in Worcester on September 5 under the joint management of the Worcester Bicycle Club and Aeolus Wheel Club.