The Wheel: Journal of Bicycling, Vol 7, No 23
Articles in this issue
- The lead news department covers the Harvard Bicycle Club dinner, Mme. Louise Armaindo's 843-mile 72-hour Chicago record, the L.A.W. Racing Board's rule rewrite, John S. Prince's open challenge to Wm. M. Woodside after their New Orleans races, and the booming bicycle interest of the Colorado Wheel Club in Denver.
- Reports on Prof. J. Will Murray, champion bicycle rider of Maryland, giving exhibitions at a Wilmington, Delaware roller-skating rink before about 1,000 spectators despite a snow storm, riding a 52-inch Expert Columbia through feats including mounting from two chairs and riding on the large wheel alone.
- Humorous fictional sketch by A. Ward following amateur wheelman Simpkins, who turns professional, is matched against a horse in a Missouri town, loses amid crowd hostility, and confesses that 'professionalism is a busted business' while revealing he had secretly wagered on his own defeat.
- Annual election results for the Riverside Wheelmen (president F. C. Stratton), Toronto Bicycle Club (president W. B. Murrick), Lowell Bicycle Club, Buffalo Bicycle Club with its upcoming L.A.W. meet expected to draw 1,500 wheelmen, the Falls City Bicycle Club of Louisville, and the Westfield (N.J.) Bicycle Club.
- Letters from rural L.A.W. members arguing the League's official Gazette is nearly worthless to isolated subscribers—offering little beyond Racing Board and meet news—while independent papers like The Wheel are far more useful, and urging the Board to publish a periodic membership list so scattered riders can find their nearest neighbours.
- Boston correspondent 'Lewee' previews the 1885 racing season, naming H. D. Corey of the Massachusetts Club as the leading flyer after his strong English performances, and also flagging Ralph Ahl, C. S. Whitney, H. M. Sabin, Graves, and a Dorchester newcomer named Rhodes as riders to watch.
- Letter from W. L. Baldwin, secretary of the Stamford Wheel Club, correcting erroneous officer names published in a previous issue and giving the officers actually elected on 13 January, headed by president Walter J. Michels.
- Notice describing the March issue of Outing, which closes its fifth volume, featuring 'A Winter in Sonora' by Sylvester Baxter, 'Evolution of Canoeing' by Frederic G. Mather, a cruise in the 'Drowned Lands of New Jersey' by Gen. Robert Shaw Oliver, and a paper on the new Massachusetts Bicycle Club house by Rev. S. H. Day.
- Comic German-dialect poem 'Dee Buffalo Picycle Klub' by club poet Louis Hohl, originally read at an 1881 Buffalo Bicycle Club banquet honouring Jas. O. Monroe before his European trip, recounting a club ride to Niagara Falls with members including Dr. Appleby, Jim Munro, and George Bidwell.
- Full report on the Kings County Wheelmen's tournament at the Brooklyn Rink before nearly 3,000 spectators, with Captain Pettus winning the bicycle-versus-skates mile in 4m 29s, A. B. Rich beating Harry Hall in the one-mile bicycle race in 3m 14 2/5s, and the club's eight-rider 'Demon Drill' in Mephistophelean costume as the evening's highlight.
- Creative piece by 'Pedibus' using an allegory of a traveler, an ogre, and a sleeping lion to appeal to wheelmen to pledge $1 each toward Karl Kron's road-book 'X. M. Miles on a Bi.,' noting Kron has secured over 2,300 of the 3,000 pledges he needs.
- Poem by Thos. Stevens depicting three dead wheelmen in the afterlife who persuade Jove to swap their wings for bicycles, roaming celestial roads happily until an American road overseer slips into paradise and leaves them facing two thousand leagues of unrideable highway.
- Trade note announcing that Brooklyn dealer T. Hunt Steny has moved from his Fulton Street hall to 435 Flatbush Avenue, where he will carry bicycles, tricycles, and sundries and offer repairs by both English and American machinists plus wheel storage.