The Wheelmen's Gazette, Vol 3, No 3
Articles in this issue
- Pope Manufacturing Co. announces the Expert Columbia with its inch-wide tire is as light as the average light roadster from other makers, presenting the full 1888 catalogue free on application.
- H. M. Saben's Rudge Agency, at 150 to 158 Congress Street, Boston, announces it continues at its old headquarters with new machines and specialties for 1888, a fresh catalogue ready on application, and good agents wanted in unoccupied territory.
- Clark Cycle Co. claims credit for introducing true tangent spoke construction to the American market and argues that while all major manufacturers have copied the idea, their New Rapid cycles still have the strongest wheels available.
- The Springfield Bicycle Mfg. Co. announces their 1888 Roadster models with wholesale distribution through Merwin Hulbert in New York, C. F. Stokes in Chicago, Meacham Arms in St. Louis, and John P. Lovell in Boston.
- The Gazette publishes a comprehensive list of over thirty dealers and newsstands across the country where the paper is now available, stretching from Boston to Atlanta, Louisville, and Salt Lake City.
- A promotional piece for the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway describes the growing tide of travel between the South and the Northwest, praising the road's smooth trackbed, elegant rolling stock, and fast daily service.
- A humorous glossary of cycling slang and in-jokes running from "Agony" to "Zimmerman," needling Karl Kron and Noah Webster while name-checking Boston wheelmen Harry Corey, Abbot Bassett and Joe Dean, sprinter Billy Rowe, and L.A.W. secretary Josh Zimmerman.
- A London correspondent tours the Stanley Bicycle Show at the Westminster Aquarium, describing novelties including the Rose Luggage Bicycle, the Quadrant Company's milk-delivery tricycle, Dan Albone's convertible Ivel tandem, and the Coventry Machinists' Company's Hansom-cab cycle built for the Sultan of Morocco.
- An editorial reviews the L.A.W. Re-organization Committee's first report, which shrinks the national board to state-elected counsel delegates, discontinues the League's official organ (leaving the field to the Bicycling World), and moves membership renewals to spring.
- A state-by-state roundup of L.A.W. division and cycling club news for mid-February to mid-March 1888, covering officer elections, club socials, and a 72-hour Philadelphia bicycle race won by Dingley with 900 miles and 4 laps.
- A Denver correspondent describes riding through an 18-degrees-below-zero cold snap, credits two convicted road hogs (sentenced to 60 days/$100 fine and 6 months/$60 fine) for clearing the roads, and reports the six-week-old Social Wheel Club already has 58 members.
- The Smith National Cycle Manufacturing Co. debuts a low-frame ladies' bicycle and companion tandem in Washington, D.C., ridden at the unveiling by Misses Elda Tegeler, Geneva Wise, Frances M. Smith and others before a crowd of the city's business men.
- American champion W. A. Rowe lands at Liverpool with three Columbia racers to ride for the Lynn C.C., as Howell announces through the Sporting Life his readiness to meet Rowe for $500 a side starting April 14, then take on Temple.
- A Philadelphia correspondent reports the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club and Century Wheelmen's midwinter tournament at the Elite Rink drew 1,000 spectators, with named winners including Bradley, Whittaker over Knapp in the two-mile professional race, and Green over Bailey in the closing inter-club mile.
- A Newark correspondent reports the New Jersey Cycling and Athletic Association lost the Roseville track for want of a few hundred dollars, previews a lighter Star tandem, and lists new officers elected by the Orange Wanderers.
- H. D. Corey argues the case for rear-driving Safety bicycles over ordinaries and tricycles, citing G. P. Mills's 294-mile 24-hour road record and recommending machines no lighter than 46-48 pounds for American roads.
- A globe-touring cyclist recounts close calls with a mountain lion in Nevada's Humboldt range, cinnamon bears near the Goose Creek Mountains, a leopard outside a Punjab bungalow, and a mob of two thousand in China who wanted to burn him alive.
- Joseph J. Bliss recounts a 90-mile solo ride around San Francisco Bay on January 15, 1888, made in a record 26-degree cold snap through San Leandro, Hayward, Alvarado, Mountain View and Menlo Park before finishing the last miles on foot and by ferry.
- A comic March verse on spring tune-ups is followed by the cautionary tale in rhyme of Harry De Ficit, who bet his last ten dollars at forty-to-one odds on a fixed race after his trainer tipped him off, only to watch "Smithie" fall just short of the line.
- Short paragraphs report the death of Colonel Albert Pope's 74-year-old father, F. P. Prial folding The Wheel and Recreation to launch The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review, and actress Helena Modjeska's testimonial for the Ideal Tooth Polisher.
- A New York correspondent, writing as "A. Roosevelt," reports the new magazine Dress is advocating that ladies wear pantaloons and plugs the N. Y. Standard Pants Co.'s $3 made-to-order wool trousers sold by mail.
- Clark Cycle Co. announces it has secured the sole United States agency for Lucas and Son's King of the Road bicycle lamps, arguing a poor lamp is worse than no lamp and urging cyclists to insist on the best.
- A classified section lists individual cyclists offering second-hand Facile, Expert, Victor, Columbia, and Safety bicycles for sale or exchange, with prices ranging from $25 to $115.
- Dealers and wheelmen praise the Ross Improved Detachable Luggage Carrier, sold by mail for $1.10 and fitted via the wheel's head set-nut without marring the nickel plating; buyers are asked to state their wheel's make and, for a Victor or Star, its year.
- The Overman Wheel Co. of Boston offers its complete free 1888 catalogue covering the Victor Light Roadster, Victor Safety, Victor Tricycle and Victor Jr. Bicycle line.
- Gormully & Jeffery advertises the Light Champion at $115 (48-inch, with patent crank fastening and ramshorn handlebar) and the American Rambler at $120, both illustrated in their free catalogue from the Chicago works.