Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-05

An American touring in Belgium writes
The roads and tracks might have been bet
| Ter, good deal better, but what rankles
III my mind is the official who dictates
W you IN out-of-the-way Belgium. l never
came across a more thoroughly unpleasant
JACK IN ONCE At one little town where
called for letters, the clerk refused to ac-
cept my visiting card as proof of nv
identity and insisted on the production of
an envelope addressed to me- But neither
my lriend nor / had any envelopes This
man was at last convinced by the production
CT my bicycle passport and my friends badge
Of membership in the League of American
Wheeimen served him in the same way.
IN another town-Tournai-we went to the
postofnce TO send off some boxes of sweets
TO our children. Instantly the fingers or
the Belgian official began clutching at the
string and the precious package was forth
with torn open before the crowd OF gaming
beiglans in front OF the counter We're we
suspected of dynamite treason? No, not at
all. me official suspected an inscription on
the pox, which we FASTENED to admit before
narm was done-but off the wrappings must
come all the same AS to the railway Of
hcials, they could hardly have worried us
more II our bicycles had been Gatlings."
"A veteran rider observes: "The PRINCIPAL
preventive OF the side slip is common sense
Ihere Is no bicycle which can be relied
On 10 STAND up under certain circumstances;
therefore the rider must conduct his cvcIinp
Win Que regard to the conditions. In win.
ter, when the roads are expected to he
slippery, the wheelman Is naturally moro
on his guard. One does not want to ride
last on slippery roads and thus the danger
Is ropDed or half its terrorsl At slow
pace side-slipping is neither probable nor
or much Importance to any fairly skiIIfuJ
and active rider, unless there is traffic about
IT you have to face combination of traffic
ana grease, dismount; riding Is madness
IL may not look we'll to be walking with
bicycle. but the contempt of the ignorant
and foolish is much more easily endured than
the verdict of coroner's Jury Never at
tempt to cross wet tracks at an angle"
Almost ever since cycles have been used |
IL mas been generally thought that the steel |
tubes OF which they are built crystalline by !
vibration, so that after machine has been !
running for year or two the tendency ia !
for breakages to occur, particularly in the /
steering head. From what a writer in
me scottish Cyclist' says 1t appears that |
the Capitalization theory is only true in
a slight degree and If generally advanced
to cover deficiency in the quality of the
tubing and faults in the manufacture or
design. If the steel of cycles crystallized
to the extent that many people suppose, how
much moro must a metal railway engine be
thus affected? Compare for instance. the
vibration In an express engine weighing
hfty tons or more. its steel tires running on
steel rails, with bicycle. Weighing with
Its lead never more than 200 pounds and
insulated by its pneumatic tires.
rha
cycle and the automobile Is shown by Moth
ing more emphatically than by the designs
for bearings and various parts which, hay-
ing failed to take with cycle makers ara
now being brought forward and urged for
adoption in connection with the motor We
hicles In some cases these ideas are good
ones which were not practicable for use on
bicycles because of weight or bulk or ex-
pense, but are available on the machines
where these matters are not such important
factors.
A man who boasts of being a great oh
server says that one thing which the short
bicycle skirt has done is that of MAKING
women more careful about the neatness of
their footgear. He comments that while
ialnty shoes are ruling passion with some
women there are many others who all
though fashionable and fastdious in most
hings, are slovenly about their foot
wear The bicycle skirt has taught so many
IF these the habit of being particular in this
respect not only on wheel but al all
lines.
The alleged lucky horseshoe found In the
'oad has lost its standing as a fetch with :
|ne rider who was formerly in the habit
If picking up such objects, taking them I
lome and preserving them. This is be- !
'ause the last horseshoe he discovered he ! !
picked up with his tire and he blames the /
'uperstitious habit for teaching the tire the I
rick. He had not had a pucture in four !