The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-26
NEWS OF THE WHEELMEN.
DIssA TISF4 CTION WITH THE METH DDS
OF TRICh MEJSURING.

"
Arguments MS to whether the Margin
should Not lie as Liberal as on Trottins
Tracks-Fair sprinkling of Riders Abroad
Observation-Disclosures View of tho Trade
40 you find that II pays To keep open on
Christmas or do you do 1t from force OF habit r
The question was nut by a reporter yesterday
TO a cycle dealer, who. with two men. was busy
working over a couple Of boys' velocpedes.
well. am not hero because home has no
charms and like work" he said: Il have ia.
ken In enough to-day to pay for months
rent. my Christmas dinner and all the press
ents have bought. had eight rental wheels
out to-day. which Is something marvellous TO
my mind and 1t forebodes. hope. lot OF new
buyers in the spring. 1t had at least dozen
repair Jobs before noon. and have sold two
wheels to say nothing OF sundries. Does thas
sound as II l was here for funf"
The comfortable report Of this man was nos
borne out by all others along the popular
wheeling routes. but there was q fair sprnk.
ling OF riders abroad yesterday that justified
belief in the statements. The wind was stin
and biting. but quite few women as we'll AZ
men breasted it and found that the heavy rain
had washed away the grease and slime on the
asphaltod streets and left them as we'll as the
macadam roads. dry and gritty. so that the
tires took good bite on the surface and
cracked as they rolled along. There were
fewer new wheels to be seen than one would
expect and an unduly large number OF mis-.
haps duo to the fact OF wheels not having res
cciyed the proper looking over for cold weather
riding
There Is a call for changing the method Of
measuring cycle tracks, that has more than .
little apparent warrant In the argument that IL
is not as Just to measure a circuit eighteen .
inches from the pole as It formerly was, be.
No., "A hu,a oh al
The higher rate Of speed at which all classes
OF cycles now go on the track and the common
use OF muticyclcs makes II impossible to hug
the pole" as closely as in other days, and
II causes a decided difference In the
distance travelled whether man keeps
eighteen inches or thirty-six inches
from tho pole on three lap track. On q
smaller track. say one Of ten laps. such as 10
used In Madison Square Garden there Is not q
race In which the men do not ride more than
one mile. This Is more unfair to multicycles
than to singles and with the increasing popu-
larity OF motor cycles there Is apt to be positive
rebellion against the rule. because these ma
chimes cannot but run wide on the turns.
The question has been asked. why are
all cycle tracks measured eighteen inches
from the pole to determine the length OF
their circuits and the number OF laps
necessary 70 make a mile: The fass
the first cycle track built was measured that
way and the custom has been handed down,
the sror, when the crystal Palace course Of
London was rractlcaly the only cycle track In
wS Wei natural j. copied and e1ery.hihc in con.
nrction with 1t became a criterion. The
q % snd s Ii fas sRR 4S IN" Of Ins Ss
.n. tot a5 mi ssod Ssf from villa in MI:
slnndar and II never has been changed. There
seems TO he little dispute to the proposition
HIRE " 6as cen failure "S on the part Of thSSs
whH rrSrate these WS Matt to get t1getthe5T
F@ud pfS S matter Of "S Ss "Ss
has o. been o, ,S .n, that that # should be
are ares several hundred ,rct 9TH tracks in the
country, on which bicycle races are run
Ubvioasly the time made on " such Ssa tracks
cannot he COMPARED on even terms with those
maIe on reEu,ar eysIs course pGcaaIe on
rG@ ~ ES all .s WY he as does be o ss
when lime is being counted by ffths Of sec
end 2q the Shr h9R ss %aShps on
three feet from tn" pole travels about twenty
sew n feet further than q single wheel that
half from the role and thus the same track 10
not iaIr for one class a. for the other As there
ar now many muitcycles In use. while
ns thrs, machines on the average keep more
"
iarer all around TO make the measurements
three feet, although sprinters on singles can
keep side Of such line. In full Justice there
should also be a different standard OF measures
ment Tor he small tracks from that used on
the two and three lap affairs. The difficulty ut
first sight would be that II a new rule
were adopted, increasing the distance from the
pole, tho standard tracks. Ike that at
Manhattan Bench. which could hardly be
rebuilt, would he less than three laps to tho
milo. Bur this could be overcome by doing. as
often has been done on tracks found short
that H. start the riders the requisite number
~ feet ahead OF the tape and let them finish at
the same tape as OF old.
A member Of one ~ the largest chain making
concerns in the country, and one which Is in
the trust. saws that the orders for chains from
manufacturers show that the tendency toward
using small light chains Is increasing. the pro-
portion Of thr, o. sytccnth- inch chains to those
81 onr-puarter inch being larger for 400 than
Il was for this year. Curiousy enough II Ia n
fact that. although lighter chains are being
used broken CHAINS are not as common on the
road as they were.
A motor Quadricycle IA heing used for ambu-
lance work nj Alcncon. France. The motor
cycle Is coupled 10 an ambulance carriage that
trails The doctor an the motorman sit on
the saddles OF the motor machine. The con-
trlvnnce has been found peculiarly valuable for
answering calls from the suburbs.
Bowling Notes,