The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-09-14
NEWS OF THE WHEELMEN.
Chainless Wheels for Pleasure and
Racing--General Notes.

Those who study wheels find something
new to engage their attention pretty
much as often as they can spare the time
to give to the consideration of he wheel
All are sti1l contemplating the ehainiess
and every new feature that comes 70
light is investigated most thoroughly
Very often an interesting bit OF Informal
ton is gained In the most accidental man
ner. Under peculiar circumstances a
dealer who knows enough about wheels
to make the u~ninitiated dizzy, added TO
his knowledge of the breaks of the chain
less at the fifty mile race at GuttenDerg
track last Sunday. Among the contest
ants were two distance riders whom the
gentleman knew very well and who have
nice collections of medals that testify to
their speed in long distance events.
Naturally the dealer watched these men
carefully and was very much surprised
to see one of them quit at thirty-five
miles. Fearing that something Of a seri-
Gus nature had happened. the gentleman
FASTENED to the rider. He got within
hearing distance in time to hear the rider
make a remark in condemnation Of the
chainless and inquired what the matter
was.
10 you sec my PoA
asked. .sWell. he is going to finish in the
money! because he has a chain wheel and
I have a chainless and must quit. 1t IS
the first time | ever rode a chainless in
a race and it will be the last. Why, I
beat my partner in the twenty-five mile
race on the Boulevard, Labor Day, and
now / must quit while he can continue.
TIE reason is this: A chainless wheel is
all light for a steady pace, hut n can
neither start fast nor put on more speed
in a sprint. When they kept at a steady
rate Of speed vas all right. At the
twenty-five mile mark l was second Then
they hit it up and l could not make my
wheel go faster, SO that at thirfy7hve
miles | was almost distanced. You simply
cannot sprint on a ehainless, and quit
because at the finish they would sprint
and make a monkey of me. | thought II
hest to save riding fifteen miles. Chain
less wheels are all right for pleasure, but
they are no good for racing"
In looking over a chainless and figuring
the mater out the dealer came to the con-
clusion that the difficulty lies in the fact
that the cranks have an offset from the
thread. The thread itself is not too large
hut the offset causes a waste of energy
that makes Success in speed an impossi-
bility.
Joe Downey made a new record at a
fair at Putnam, Conn, Tuesday. He rode
five miles behind pace In 10 minutes 81
seconds.
Harry Elkes. the Glen Falls flyer, broke
the one hour record last night at Wood
| side Park track. He covered SO miles
TAG 2-S yards in the hour. This over
shadows the performance of Edouard
| Taylor of France who covered s. miles
Cos ITO yards.
The Hamilton Wheelmen have decided
| ~ hold a ball in New Turn Hall, Union
Hill. on December 2.
The clambake was a big success ana
will be repeated shortly. The committee
in charge assures the members that its
| new club house will be ready for occu-
| nancy by October l.. New bowling alleys
are being put in.
a ffty-mile amateur race Will be de-
| ciaed at the Vailsburg board track next
sunday. over $50 worth Of prizes will be
| oixfan In addition to the I'VE prizes. Tor
sbe leaders at the finish, there VIII pc
ssnsards ia the ones leading at ten, TWEEN
@tys5ve and forty miles during the race.
Il gold stop watch will also be given 10
fha winner of the most laps in the race.