The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-15
Pay Your Money,
Take Your Choice.
THEY ARE ALL GOOD
Novelties and Innovations
In New Wheels.

How shall o person go to work to Sc
lect a bicycle? What make shall he
purchase? BY what shall he be guild
ed in making his choice? Those are
questions that many prospective pur-
chasers of bicycles are now attempting
to answer as another cycling season
approaches. 1t is always difficult toI
make choice when a great variety Of
things to choose from exists. And the
makes of bicycles are now legion.
There is not the great dissimilarity
between makes now that there was a
few years back when each make diff
fered widely from the others. But
progress in the art of bicycle manufac-
ture has prescribed certain rules and
fashions to which all makers of wheels
try to adhere. The lines of one make
of wheel are almost identical with
those of another. 1t would be as out
rageous for an up-to-date manufactur-
er TO change the lines of his wheel as
1t would be for g ship builder to dis
regard experience and model his craft
after the style of a century ago.
But although almost identical in gen
eral appearance, every make has GER
manufacturer focuses the inventive ge-
MUS of his designers on one partic-
ular point, and in that one thing tries
to excel anything else on the market.
1t may be he has a new kind of chain,
which reduces friction to a minimum,
and thus lessons the riders fatigue.
Perhaps his bearings, gear tubing,
forks or other parts offer novelties. At
all events, it would be hard to find a
make Of wheel for which it's designers
do not claim some especial virtue which
no other make possesses.
1t is these small features that largely
determine the sale of wheel. The in
dividual selects the make he deems best
fitted for his individual needs. The fat
man wants a wheel that will carry
weight and stand the strain. The
'scorcher'' wants a wheel that is light,
easy running and speedy. The timid
man has heard of rider who was
killed owing to the breaking of fork,
and he selects a wheel which he thinks
is strong in that particular. Another
cycliEt wants the very latest wrinkles
and buys what appears newest. The
lady cyclist buys a wheel on account of
it's pretty color.
Realizing that little things determine
the sale of a wheel, The Spy has made
a careful study of the new features on
the principal makes of '99 wheels and
offers the results of it's Investigations tc
its readers with the hope it will aid
them in making a choice.
The Columbia
When the Pope Manufacturing Com.
pany introduced the bevel gear chain
less wheel two years ago, there were
many predictions of failure. But two
years test shows it's value as does also
the fact that other manufacturers are
adopting it. With the reduction of price
to S15 this year large sales are expected
This year the bevel gear is greatly i'm
proved. The forward mechanism, for
merly assembled directly into the cranl
bracket - now in an Independent
brushing or sleeve which is inserted IL
the bracket and clamped into position
The gear adjustments are Independent
of bearing adjustments both in from
and in the rear. The tubing has beer
increased in size till the main tube il
IN size. The new flush joints are an
other marked improvement.
The Cleveland.
The Cleveland comes out this yea
with a startling innovation in the way
of bearings Instead of the plain bal
bearing a combination ball and role
bearing has been designed. In the or
binary ball bearing the rear of one bal
revolves in a direction opposite to tn
front surface of the next ball. causlnl
friction. This difficulty the CLEVELAND
obviates by inserting rollers between