The record-union., 1898-04-24

common error with beginners is TO
commence the ascent Of a hill too slow
ly 1t is better to commence at mod
crate pace, as the strain of balancing is
thus reduced and steady, even pedaling
will be much more effective than Spas-
modic plugging5
Bicycle toe-clips for road work
should be long enough to allow the foot
to be placed we'll forward on the pedal.
''All bicycles" says a dealer ''shouI3
be examined by practical mechanic
at least once a year, for, even if ethe
machine. is kept in order and occasion
ally repaired by the owner there may
be some damage which he has over
looked. In this way a good machine
will last couple of years.
= "
One of Vie troubles of the novice on
la bicycle is turning corners, and some
of the older riders have more or less
difficulty in making a neat turn, espe-
Icially in narrow country road Presi-
| dent Gibb of the Century Wheelmen,
New York City has this to say on the
subject: 1T is not an exaggeration to
say that nearly 90 per cent. of the
cyclists dismount if they want to turn
while one-half of the rest make a bun
gle of it if they make the attempt, and
not one in q hundred performs the feat
we'll Riders are SO accustomed to turn
through only one right angle that they
are apt to stop turning their wheels
when only half way round This little
point is the whole secret. Keep the
front wheel turned twice as long as
you are accustomed to in turning a
corner. OF course it is necessary to re-
duce the pace and the rider must no
tice the width of the road, and turn
with that degree of sharpness which
will bring him at least half way round
by the time he is half way across the
road. He must remember to keep on
turning and pushing on the pedals.
Often the rider fails to turn because
he has been deVoting all this thought
to steering the machine, and has for
gotten to propel it. AS a complete
turn on an average road must begin
at the side of the road, a certain de-
gree of driving force is necessary to get
the machine out of the gutter and the
bicycle will not continue kindly in the
same course unless it is driven uni
formly."
1t has been found that two machines,
one geared to so inches and one geared
to ga inches, occupy the same time in
coasting down a hill, both riders hav-
ing their feet on the foot rests. The
result seems to show that when the
pedals are not used the wheels simply
perform their ordinary revolutions
without influence from gearing. When
human power is applied, however, the
high-geared machine would Of course
other things being equal-travel faster.
Naturally, the strain would be greater
on the rider of the high gear. -
Higher gears are becoming almost as
much of fad with women as with
men. In their favor it must be said
that the slower leg action adds to the
gracefulness of the riders appearance
except when in getting the higher gear
the woman has adopted also longer
cranks, 61a or inches, for instance.
In such cases the knee action is too
high and the woman attracts as much
attention as blue-ribbon hackney,
which for modest women is hardly de-
sirable High gears are deceptive when
a person is estimating speed
A pocket combination tool, which has
been designed especially for the BEN
eft of the rider of the wheel, has just
appeared. The single tool will serve as
a screwdriver, grip, nipple-wrench.
wire cutter. wrench, wrench for spokes,
cone-spanner and screw for adjust
ment. It is not much heavier or more
bulky than the ordinary wrench.
An Indiana firm is making a trolley
sprinkling car which will appeal to
dust abhorring cyclists who travel over
roads paralleled by electric lines.
Bicycling World: The bicycle has
come among us with such volcanic sud-
denness as new social force
that it is not to be expected we should
fully adapt ourselves to the novel con-
ditons it imposes in day or a decade.
It is much too soon to define precisely
the exact resources or limitations of the
new sport But this much is already
plain: the bicycle is inducing multi
tudes of people to take regular exercise
who have long been in need of such
exercise but who could never be in
duced to take it by any means hitherto
devised. A certain number of these
carry the sport to a harmful extreme;
but that bicycling makes for health
with the great majority seems so clear
that even to state the fact appears
work of supererogation.