Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-19
EXPENSE OF BICYCLING,
Young Man Who Found 1t Was Not
as Costly rs Yachting.

Young Man Who Found 1t Was Not
as Costly rs Yachting.
From the New York Tribune
eff 1t weren't for the expense / think
I should ride a wheel myself" said a
young clubman. into whose ears talk about
bicycling had been dinned all year"
There's where you make the biggest
mistake of your life," declared one of the
listeners 'why. that's the thing about
bicycling|t's so cheap. You pay 500 for
your machine, and that ends it. You get a
guarantee for year. and have the cheap
est and best run of your life"
That's what the fellows said when they
got me to buy that yacht" responded the
first speaker, obviously. 'It was only a
little boat, and they said that after paid
for her the running expenses would be a
out. 1t cost me $1,000 to have the bow
remodeled; I had to get new sails and
everything else new. The. skipper robbed
me right and left and ran the yacht on
and paying for things week IN and week
out, and the summers sport cost me just
double what I set out to spend"
"of course 1T did" said the friend
yachting always does. But bicycling Is
different. You couldn't spend $50 on 1t all
summer if you laid awake nights studying
up schemes to do 1t. There is no call to
entertain your friends, as there Is when
you own yacht"
There was a further discussion. and 1t
wound up in the purchase of bicycle by
the man who wanted to economize After
all, MOO seemed very little for six months
Of fun, and so he was persuaded that 1t
would be best to buy a special make of a
wheel at a cost of 1925. OF course he must
have bell, but that was only 81: and a
lantern, and that was IS, as cheap ones
would leak and wouldn't stay lighted; ard
a cyclometer, which cost 50. Then came
stand, at s1.50; and toe-clips. at 81; and
lubricating Oil (only % cents). and illumi-
rating oil toafy 40 cents), and graphite "a
modest q cents), lock anG chain (S1 so was
the figure for thesa). and pump $3.50.
When it came to clothing. there was a
pretty penny to pay. A handsome suit cost
s25 to make; it was so light in color that
mud would ruin 1t. so the clubman before
long bought second one for possible
rainy weather. Tits one was SIS Kanga-
roo bicycle shoes cost 81: two pairs Of
Scotch wooden stockings, S.; two wooden
man wanted to go touring, and s. more
went for road maps, A leather luggage
carrier. also for trips out of town, was
SO. 80. One Of his tires sprang a leak at the
valve and had to be sent back to the fac
tory, SO he bought an extra one for $3.50
to use meanwhile. He had one collision
and came off pretty luckily, the bill for re-
pairs being only $3.50. 1t cost 81 to have
two punctures mcnded. A watch to be
fastened to the handle bar, with frame
was 81 His first saddle didn't suit, and
second one involved the expenditure OF an
other IS.
"Well. how do you like bicyclIng?" some
one asked the young man VINO was econo-
MIXING.
TITS great hope to have a complete
outfit OF sundries by next spring. IL they
don't invent too many rev appliances In
the meantime. Expensive: Well. It isn't
as cheap as it's cracked up to be. bur i:s
away behind yachting-several thousand
dollars behind"