The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-09
HOW TO BUY A BICYCLE
Advice From Various Sources on .
Timely Subject.
MODERATION AND MODESTY
Diet for Cyclers and Pointers on
Health-Also on raking Good
Care of the Faithful
Wheel-Notes.


riders has opened early in Montana and
the smooth roads, the bracing air and
mellow sunshine of spring are already
giving to wheelmen and wheel
women the delights of the pas
time which is more popular this
year than ever before. Local dealers
are kept busy talking wheel to pros
pective and immediate customers.
Trade is reported brisk by all of them.
The liveries have, during the pleasant
afternoons. been taxed to the limit in
supplying machines to renters.
The question of the hour with many
people to-day is, What wheel shall /
ride this year?" The boom in the bust
ness has encouraged many to embark
in 1t until 1t is scarcely safe for a man
interested in the purchase Of q wheel
sto>ask advice of a rider. The rider may
be an agent and in disguise ready to
pounce upon the unwary inquirer and
tell a story 65 minutes long about 1.-The
best wheel made"
The selection of a wheel is a distract
ing question to the amateur and IL he
tries to remember all he is told about
the merits of the various mounts
he will have wheels in his head before
he gets one he can ride. After a few
experiences with the dealers, the pur-
chaser finds that he has an indistinct
ItCOiltCllOu VI QIOp ScdHiiCSo
tubing, single and double tubes, narrow
tread and barrel hubs in his mind and
for the life Of him cannot tell whether
he wants a high-grade, low-grade or
medium-priced wheel. After a few
weeks of this sort of thing he loses his
confidence in all his friends and picks
out a wheel none OF them ever heard
of and spends the summer regretting
his rashness. Next year he will have
ideas of his own or do as he should do
now and make up his mind as to how
much he can afford to pay for wheel
and then go to a reliable dealer. Or
take the advice of a friend who is an
experienced wheelman and has no wheel
to sell. OF the making of bicycles. of
the making Of books. there is no end. but
the average rider will come to love his
mount If he buys a high-grade war
ranted wheel and get full satisfaction
from its use.
Those persons who are contemplating
investing in a new wheel this year and
others who have listened to the mysteri-
Gus talk of the bicycle sages about
gears" of divers sizes will be interested
in the following observation of Cham
pion Zimmerman:
There is probably nothing about a
wheel which puzzles a cyclist and the
public in general so much as the gearing.
There are hundreds of riders who say
they have a IS or " gear on their bicycle
and yet do not know how to figure II out
and prove the assertion. They may say
also that with 72-inch gear they can
ride faster than with a 6S-inch gear. In
that they may be right where as is in
the case of other riders the reverse
might be true.
The gear OF bicycle is the rate at
which 1t is speeded. For instance. a BIZ
cycle geared to 6S inches means that the
bicycle will cover the same space of
ground with one turn of the pedals as a
wheel 6S inches in diameter. The gear is
found by multiplying the diameter of the |
wheel of the bicycle usually 2S inches) |
by the number OF teeth in the front |
sprocket. over which the chain runs. and |
rear sprocket, which is attached to the |
rear wheel
1T must be understood, however that |
the higher the gear the more power is |
needed to propel the wheel. A low gear /
is a great help when resistance is great, |
for less power Is required to drive the |
bicycle. but at the same time II requires /
rapid foot movement on the levels. A /
high gear is easy on level hard roads,
giving rapid progression with slow foot |
movement, while 1t overtaxes the /
strength on up-grades.
THE bicycle is a road engine driven by
human power, and comes under the same
laws as a locomotive. Freight engines
have low gears in the sense that the
cranks are comparatively near the rims
of the driving wheels, while the express
have a short stroke, or what |
would represent a high gear on a bicy-
cle."