The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1898-08-07

, against injury from the serious internal
| stresses 20 which il is exposed Crusned
| balls ANA broken cups have been common
enough in the three and iour-lnch heaua
as 81 natural consequence of the quadfu-
Piled leverage given 20 every jolt indt
travels from the front wheel 90 these
| bearings and 10 IS au open question I
the frequent fractures Of fork stems
right above the crown, which arc dla-
rustfnr tho cycling public are not due 10
the same cause much more than 90 bad
material and workmanship, as usually
charged.
10 would seem most natural 20 lcngthen
! the head by raising the top tube SO as
10 Obvlafe these grave dangers, but this
ls evidently not the intention or inc
trade. For the crushed bearings II itIH'-
dy has already been found by substitute
ing stamped Or-1s they are now ollch
Calicd-prosscd cups. c1se-hardened. Ih
lieu of those turned from tool steel.
which were formerly considered Super-
ior. and TO avoid breakage of the fork
stem Dr. seems very probable That The
taper gauge stem. heaviest below, VIII
be more generally used than heretofore.
LONG CRANItS ON THE INCREASE
BY n comparison OF notes between man
ufacturers 10 has cropped out that SIX
and One-half-inCh cranks in all Likelihood
viii Dee "a drug on the market for mems
bicycles for tho coming season. Slowly,
but steadily the public has turned in "a
vor OF sevon-inch crlnks. as was 10 be
expected with The general increase OF
gear figures which has taken place. The
only question was whether The high gears
would compel long crank or the short
crank would bring the gear down. Tho
high gear has proved victorious. perhaps
largely because it is n matter or pride
for many riders TO be able 10 ''push' DO.
10 is said that I'm nearly all Instances
when soven-inch cranks were fitted 20
machines by mistake tho customers read
i'v ac0uoeood. while they demonstrated
and insisted upon correction when long
cr0nks had been specified and short ones
were substituted.
LARGE GEARS.
on the subject Of high gears conflict
lu- statements are made, but tu5 la PROD
ably mostly due 90 certain confusion OF
terms. by winch large sprocAet wheels
are accepted as synonymous with hlLh
gears There ls no doubt tnat the IN
crease iu Size of sprOcket wheels has
gained steadily n FAVOR, While consider
able reaction against excessively high
gearing has developed during the riding
season. resulting FIRST as above mention
cd As 20 the front sIrOcket wheel -
seems extremely unlikely demand Tor
long cranks. and secondly. for large rear
spr1ckets that any size below "a teeth
viii be much called for. as this size in
combination with 10, 9. and e-tOoth rear
sprOckets produces respectively 81, -,
and 81 gear which are to-day considered
ass low as consistent with The athletic
dignity of any able-bodicd cyclst of
either sex. Tho outside limit 90 the size
of sp-icket wheels is not So easily de-
tcrmlned.
Besides reducing chain tension the large
spr0ckets have other advantages, and not
The least one among these is The OppOr-
unity they offer for adding q new orna-
mental feature 10 the bicycle. So long
as the front sprocket was only about SIX
inches iu diameter, there was small
chance OF producing q striking effect
by artistic design. but when the area
within the pitch circle i5 made almost
three times largcr-as I'm q flirty-tOoth
spr0ckct wheel Of about ten-inch pitch
diameter the possibility for the de-
siencr Of getting I'm telling WORK is multi
piled fn more than the same prOpOrt iOn
GREATEST RACE OF TIE YEAR.
Michael won. King James SIN sits In
the throne.
MeDunce Che Oriental Pasha, and Lin
tom the welsh chcftin. gave The regal
alarming order while the Michaclian dy-
nasty was for n time under the ban OF
an unur0piUOus fate. but they never
got nearer to the rO0sting place OF Fame
than the top step Of the dais The pub
DE sNu called IT'S little idol king. and
the critics refused 90 give either OF Duck
err insurgents the imperial seat until he
had dc,hroned the reigning monarchs I'm
battle az arms by victory unaided by
loose haudlo-bars or punctured tires
Jimmy now is king, undisputed king.
but vet his victory has not set him SO
firmly on his throne that ne may not be
uuscatcd ~ the next clash OF arms Linz
ton was not the Linton Of the Satur-
dav before Then the Chicago limited
could not have shaken him and his Dac-
in- brigade.