The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-04-22
WHAT GERMANY RIDES.
Most of the Bicycles Weigh Thirty Pounds.
A Yankee Opportunity.

Yankee Opportunity.
Many high grade American machines
ara already represented in Germany,
says United States Consul E. W. S.
TingIe, but they have only met with
moderate degree of success. There are
several reasons for this, but the princi-
pal one is that the machines are too ex-
pensive to compete with the best grade
of German machines. For example,
there are three particular machines
which meet with the greatest success in
Germany. The first is an Austrian ma
chine, made of excellent material, of
good, honest workmanship throughout,
but weighing on an average 80 pounds.
The best grade sells for 800 marks
(about 500. A second grade is also Of
fered for about $40. The second machine
is of German make, is solidly but c1um-
silly constructed and sells for $50 marks
, (about $82). 1t also weighs about 80
pounds. The third machine is light run
ming, constructed of material not first
class and sells for $40, with a second
grade at somewhat less. 1t weighs about
% pounds. Besides these, there are nu-
merous other machines, some of them
well but too heavily built, but mostly
of an inferior quality of workmanship
and material.
Any one of the SO called high grade
machines. placed alongside any high
grade American machine loses vastly by
| the comparison, the superior Hghtness,
elegance and running qualities of the
| latter being at once apparent. With the
exception of those Germans who abso-
| lutely refuse to have anything to do
| with foreign built article, this superb
| GRITTY is universally recognized. The
| price of 400 marks ($100) is, however,
| the sticking point. Apart from the com
| paratively few with whom money is no
object, but quality supreme, the intend
ing bicycle buyer in Germany will turn
aside, many times regretfully, from the
! American machine and buy the German
article at 325 marks. There are many,
however, who honestly believe that
| American machines are inferior to the
| heavy German makes. This arises
through the persistent. misrepresenta-
| tions of some German manufacturers
and dealers who are alarmed at the in
vasion of their home field.
(! Instigated no doubt by them, The
Radwelt wheeling World) recently
published a bitter article decrying Amer
4
had recently taken first class American
| wheel apart and could, therefore, assure
his readers that neither in material,
solidity, nor durability was the Ameri-
can machine the equal of the German,
and that, since the industry had been
established in Germany since 1885 and
in the United States only since 1891
(sic), it must naturally follow that the
American did not possess the same ex-
/ perience in the art of building machines.
This despite the fact that the German
dealer imports his wooden rims from
America, sometimes his tires, and one
maker every important part.
The very fact of the superior ightness
of the American machines is set forth
by the German dealer as a disadvan-
tage, yet he calmly sells women's ma
chimes Of German make weighing 2e
and 80 pounds and calls attention tt
their solidity. The women's American
machine of 20 pounds weight he coolly
pronounces unsafe, and yet it may bt
asserted that no German machine is sub
mitted to factory tests half SO severe al
those which must be endured by the
| best American makes. Some dealers have
even gone so far as to purchase thirG
class American machines, nearly worth
less. which are exhibited as American
makes of the highest grade. If Ameri
can manufacturers expect to make head
way against the German makers in the
1atter's own field, they must be pre-
pared to deliver superior workmanship
and material at German prices. Tht
duty, which amounts to only marks
4 rrs 7wr> x<1r L..