The sun., 1897-12-11
CYCLING.

CYCLING.
''No old wheels received in exchange
will, it is expected, be a sign which will
be displayed in every retail bicycle
dealers windows next year. If it is done,
it will be one Of the sternest PROPOSE
tions that the cyclist has as yet been
confronted with. The giving of old
wheels as part payment on new one is
a time-honorcd custom, and it has un-
doubtedly tended largely to boom the
bicycle trade. While this new rule will
doubtless tend to change the most dis
tinctive aspect of the sport, yet nothing
more emphatic could be done to show
the growth of cycling.
English manufacturers have taken a
step that will do much toward providing
riders with accurate, we'll wearing chains.
All the makers have united in an agree
ment to use certain "tenplate" or
"templet," which is a pattern gauge.
They have selected what they believe to
be the best one, and hcnceforth all
English chains will be of uniform 'pitch,"
no matter what the design. This is an
advantage to bicycle builders also, mas
much as it enables them to use any make
of chain. If a similar move were made
in America, chain driven cycles would
be much improved.
A statistician has arranged table
which shows at a glance how cycle speed
has increased in decade. In 1891 Hol-
bein held the record for twenty-four
hours, which was 3Gl miles and |, 146
yards. Shorthand held the record in
1892, 1898 and 1894, although the best
! that he could do was 4GO miles and 1896
yards in 1894. Fontaine, in 1895. rode
Al miles and 1,5GS yards. In 1896
Goodwin was credited with 47G miles
1702 yards. The biggest jump was made
this year, when the German, Cordang,
ran the record up to GIG miles and $40
yards.
In cycling neither lender nor bor-
rover be, for loan oft loscth both itself
and friend, and if your wheel is smashed
the borrower seldom proffers more than
his thanks, and you pay the repair bill
or buy new mount.
A man who has been there remarks
! that it is easier for camel to scorch
through the eye OF a needle than for the
buyer Of Il bargain bicycle to escape the
repair mans day OF reckoning.
"Jimmie" Michael, the Welsh wonder,
and Arthur A. Chase, the English crack,
will meet on Christmas night, in 80
mile paced race, at Madison Square Gar
den. Michael and Taylore have also been
matched for a contest to be held on New
Years Eve.
The bicycle trade is undergoing rad
ical change. Some years ago bicycles
were sold by bicycle dealers and manu-
iactuprs only. A second state OF affairs
was the invasion Of the big department
stores, with cheap wheels, cheap in quail
ty, as we'll as in price. Now manufac-
turers and the department stores are get
ting together, and the large stores have
made arrangements to handle none but
high grade wheels.
Some years ago the cyclist in search OF
Il wheel to suit him would ask the dealer
about the relative merits of solid, cushion
and pneumatic tires. Later the essen
taI point to be considered was whether
the tires were single tube or double. Still
later the customer was asking, "Ilow
light?' Another season went by, and
then the question was, "What is the
tread?' This year it has been, 'lIow
much does the crank hanger drop"'
Next year it will be flow much?"
William II. Anderson, of the Century
Whcelmen, who has been trying to ride
a century day for sixty-five consecutive
days, was forced to abandon the trial
after he had finished his forty-eighth
run. The constant vibration and prob
ably atmospheric influences so numbed
his arm that he could no longer control
his wheel. He thinks of repeating the
attempt early next year. The remark
able part of his riding was that it was
done at night, and that he worked at
his trade during the day.