The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-02

o
though this IS the season when all sails
should be finished and floating the blue
horizon.
This unwonted activity Is caused By the
sudden appearance OF the bicycle SAL.
ont Of which has sprung a demand for
sails. unDrecedented even IN cup years.
The bicycle sal is a little affair. II is
made Of duck or sail-cloth. and its dimen-
siJns are little more than a yard square.
But its making takes many people; for
each bicycle that is turned out must have
a san prepared for IL; and the getting
ready Of thousands OF little ones takes
more time than the preparation Of few
large ones.
The bicycle sail is preferably Of duck.
There is a fine quality OF this material
that IS light and much favored for sails.
sail-cloth is considered too coarse for
most sportspeople except a few that are
going 10 use their sails for desperately
hard work.
The hest material is what is known as
silk duck" 1t is white duck. with a fine
silk finish. It is very glossy and spotless
white. The peculiar exquisite Wilderness
| given to expensive sails can be impaired
to this white silk duck, until it is a snowy
beauty.
In getting up the bicycle sails the
makers thereof have the same difficulty
complained of By the makers of ships
/ sails. The demand is all for the ex-
/ quisitely white sails, yet the process Of
| making them thus is so expensive that
/ few want to pay the cost To get that
dazzling white there must be bleaches
used and certain acids carefully en-
/ ployed, and through all the process
| there must be the utmost care not to
| injure the goods This makes the sail
/ cloth expensive.
| The cost of white sails for a bicycle
/ comes TO something like s., if you are
| contented with good quality and a
l fairly white sail II you want the silk
/ finish and the dazzling white, you must
/ pay for it fully twice as much.
/ The manner of rigging these sails to a
1 bicycle may be accomplished in one of
/ two ways. The sail can be raised from
4 the back of the machine and allowed to
blow front, or il can be raised in front
/ of the riders by coming up from the
/ handle bars and being supported on tall
! spars
Many riders like better the sail that
/ rises from behind. Though not so pretty,
/ because IL cannot be seen from the
4 front, it Is easier to manage. The high
/ front sail throws the center of gravity a
| little out, making It hard for any but eX-
| pert riders to manage it. But with the
| sail in the rear the sail itself is flung TO
I
/ increase the difficulty of riding.
! For the park and boulevard roadster
/ the sail of duck is raised upon light
/ spar. Bamboo is the usual material
! This is very light yet tough enough TO
! fulfill its mission of supporting the
weight of the sail. Upon a sail Of, say
"A yard square, there is not a great deal
Of pull and the bamboo easily supports
| Il.
The spars themselves are very orna-
mental. All things about bicycle are
| purposey made to please the eye and
| the bamboo sticks are shaded stripes
and white to meet all tastes.
In rigging up a bicycles sail there is a
great deal Of care necessary. A person
| not an expert, starting off swiftly upon a
| wheel rugged with sa lis of his own making,
would undoubtedly get fall of the most
sensational description. His sails being
raised too high would carry him along al
| top-heavy pace and he would be unabl
| to keep back his machine by back-pedal-
! ling, or any of the arts known TO the
! Wheelnaen. More than that,it would throw
him forward upon his wrists in tranctic
effort to keep his seat. And the result
would be awkward, even If he escaped
A sail expert raises the sails TO CORE
spond with the rider. A very stout person
| can have the sails high without fear OF
| being top heavy A lighter one must low
| er them. Upon a tandem they can be
| placed as you please, as the tandem is
| heavy enough to hold its balance and the
| sails can be set in the pretty fashion sug-
| gested by many SailmakerS, or one little
/ lower than the other. This presents fine
/ appearance "A the mashine approaches al
/ full pace with the riders gently moving
their feet and keeping the balance.
Sails for a bicycle are very nice things
! indeed, and seem particularly adapted tc
| it. For example, on hot day, when II
is an eXertion to work the pedals, the
/ sails will carry the machine along well
! They can be adjusted in such way that
they will catch the breeze and unless il
! happens to be very contrary minded the
rider can be helped by 1t.
on the other hand. a bicycle cannot be
| run with sails in cold and windy weather
! unfortunately, this is the very time that
| the cyclist is willing to prOpel the ma
! chine himself. In such weather, when the
| north wind catches every available point
offered it, there would be great trouble
/ managing the wheel The sudden gusts
of wind would carry it along too fast. A
! rider could not calculate upon obstacles
| before him and his time in reaching them
His whole attention would be devoted, like
| a beginners, to keep the balance. He
| could do nothing but steady himself. The
sails would he torn off and discarded by
| him after one short trial.
! In a city too. the bicycle sails are out
of the question. And this is from their
! Wilderness as we'll as their size. That pc
1 cular dizzy white is very trying to the
/ eyes of a horse. 1t is painful to the eyes
4 of man; and TO a horse il is absolutely
! terrifying. Experiments have been made
| with sailcloth, when full furled sails
/ have had TO be transported upon a
little craft from one point to an
other; and the only way to get the horses
| to draw their white, Tapping burden was
| to blndfold them until harnessed, then
| start them off at a pace with their regu-
| lar ''blinders'' in place. In citys streets
1 the sails would work wreck and ruin ev-
| erywhere; and this is one obstacle TO their
use.
Makers of sporting goods say there are
| a lot of bicyclists who are ready and wait
| ing to take up every new thing, and in
/ vent new ideas of their own. They are
/ the ones who want the sails; and a GER
| tain very enterprising renter of wheels
| in one of the suburbs of Boston has laid
/ in large stocks of these sails, so you
! can stop and get one fitted to your wheel
before starting out along the suburban
roads.
/ Sails like this cannot he hard to make
at home. A square yard of the best white
/ material you can find-the cOstliest,
| strongest and whitest is what you want
! should tit any wheel! Down each side
runs piece of tape strong as wire. At the
| top make your sail rigging with tape and
| cords. Fasten all upon a pole of bamboo
or light wood. and wiring all upon your
| bicycle start out and experiment with it.
| A long bamboo cane would do for the