Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-16
so ME- CYCLE CHAT

wonder, who is regarded the greatest
| middle distance racer of the world, are suf-
| fcient to keep him before the mind of the
public for many years. The racer weighs
! but little more than half grown boy, and
when racing invariably carries a toothpick
| in his mouth. His daily diet consists of
| two pounds of beef, a small loaf OF white
bread, a quart of strong tea and about the
same amount of old English ale. This is
the diet which he has found by practical
experience to be best suited for his hard
work, and any change from it is apt to re-
suit disastrously to him. He never thinks
OF drinking water while training. and he
refuses to touch vegetables of any kind, as
he claims they have a tendency to deaden
the muscular organism.
The purchasers of new bicycles will now
nave an extremely short guarantee. There
was time when the bicycle had a good
and broad guarantee, but this was re-
duced, and for some time guarantee of
enc year was given on each machine by
the manufacturer. There was a move
ment to change the length of this to six
months, and it met with storm of disap-
prevail Now an even greater change is
announced The period of the guarantee
is only to be two months hereafter This
was decided at recent meeting of the
national cycle board of trade, in New York
city. The same goes into effect with the
sale OF next years make of wheels. The
wording of the new guarantee is as fol-
lows: N
we agree with the purchaser of each
= bicycle to make good, by repair or re-
Placement when delivered at our factory,
transportation prepaid, any imperfectfon or
defect IN material or manufacture of such
bicycle, provided that the factory serial
number shall be on such bicycle at the
time the claim is made, and that all imper-
1ect or defective parts shall be referred to
Us before any claim for repair or repIace-
ment shall be allowed. This guarantee does
iot cover the cost or repairing said bicycle
"nen damaged by accident, misuse or
neglect This guarantee continues for sixty
days from the date of the sale by the
agent" ~
me election of Tom Taggart as MAYOR
OF indianapolis by a plurality vote of < 0,D
closes campaign, in which the boosier
Wheeimen have been deeply Interested
1aSgart is democrat and elected on the
regular party platform. When his candida
cy was announced his friends osled for the
vote or the bicyclists, believing that thew
would be a great factor in the campaign
IN TINS manner good many promises were
9psaineo- =. r. smith, the president of the
INDIANA Bicycle Company came out Later
as an Independent candidate Before Mr.
smith entered the political arena the wheel
men OF Indianapolis were almost mani
n ,eus TOT Iom Iaggart, who held the same
once last term, and he would undouhtedIv
nave polled four-fifths of the bicycle vote
ne was a democrat. however, and some of
the republican bicycllsts, desiring to shou,
u t,ie sote or the cyclists, placed Mr.. Smith
IN the neld and attempted to rally around
hlm He came in too late. however and
lost the race aaio
Ihere has been big cut this season in
record figures and even larger gsins ~
tirne are looked for. At one time II u,os
the desire of the racing men to reach The
t"o-minute mark for the mile. and now
tnat this has been accomplished. all look
forward to the time when a milo viii ha
covered on a bicycle in a minute. n may
be good while Off but there are MAN.
Wfo firmly believe that such will ba 1hs
case; In a recent issue of the Aroeri.an
Machinist the following interestiny arti"Ia
Is on the subject:
me general use of the bicycle by those
VINO Know nothing whatever of mechanjcaJ
laws IS productive of large and perennial
crop OF inventions, which whether tba in
ventors know 1t or not, can succeed onIv
ny upsetting one or more laws that are So
well established and SO certainly right tba
any mechanical continuance which at
tempts to get around them is a. foredoome.,
failure. Many men who would repeI with
scorn the accusation of being pernetuaI
hotlon cranks are yet trying to accomplish
a anu M some cases claiming to have ac-
compilshed. things which are in princinIe
precisely the same; for 1t is literally true
mat when man imagines that by the use
OF leverage or by some "contraptIon" or
s hioI1 ne can put one-man power into
q bicycle and get out of 1t four or five
times as much in work against wind resist
ance or in climbing hills, that man is viz
'uaIiy perpetual motion crank.
one mile minute seems to be the favor
lite speed of those who imagine their IN
ventions are going to ''revoIutionize'' cycle
construction. and 1t may be worth wh;la
10 examine this little. A force equal 10
one pound moving at the rate of ono mile
In one minute Is equal to 18 horse mower
The pressure Of a wind moving at the rate
or sixty miles per hour Is variously given
put by no authority at less than about 10. 8
fpof
rider and his wheel expose a surface Of
three square feet to wind resistance. we
nave for the power required to overcome
I'M, In resistance at the given speed
Io.3A5A1 6-5.O4, or a little over five horse
power. man can ordinarily exert about 1
morse power. but for short time NAV ex
ert hve times as much, which would still
| teaVe MIN far short OF the power required
Ior pushing himself through the atmos-
phere at the rate of sixty miles an hour.
improvements may be introduced that
Will somewhat lessen friction, but FRACTIONAL
resistance In the present machine when
well made and in good order, is insignia
cant when compared with wind resistance
at high speed. Most of the contraptions
heraided from time to time would increase.
rather than lessen the FRACTIONAL resistance
while they do not pretend to affect either
way the chief obstacle to high speed. IL
one could dispense with air, /. e. ride in a
vacuum, or In air moving at the same rate
as himself, there would be scarcely anv
| reasonable limit to the speed possible to
be attained with the present machine. If
sufficiently high geared. but that would
not be real cycling.
A press dispatch from Boston announces
that CASTOR Rivierre. the great French
rider, Is practicing daily at the Charles
River track, but his pacing machines are
not on the grounds. The Frenchman seems
intent on lowering the colors of some of
the long distance and middle distance
American riders. but he may meet the same
fate as did Lucian Lesna, the other foreign
crack, who was Inundated by the little
Welsh wonder. When Rivierre's pacing
machines arrived in New York a duty OF
about $3.50 was levied on them. Rivierre.
through ignorance Of the law, did not make
his protest against this within the time re-
Quired by law. When he came to Boston
he claimed the machines as part of his
tools. and as such admissible free of duty.
and this view was sustained by the proper
authorities there. but the customs authori-
ties In New York remained obdurate and
so the machines remain In their possession.
The Frenchman finds that he made a mis-
| take in bringing his machines to this coun-
try. for not only will he have to pay Inn
port duty here, but he will have to do the
same when he returns to France The
machines are a portion Of the outfit he has
used for the past year or SO. yet they are
assessed as new wheels. and he Is seriously
| thinking OF letting them remain where
they are. His own wheel Is with the nae.
@V1cv mutt d.