The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-11
BICYCLE BOOM IN CUBA.
IA TAXING TO THE Mfo"i
yOW WI7H ENTH USIdSN.
Comparatively Few wheels seen Inere
TIL This Winter-Women ni"'.s ~
We'll IA Men-A Few 'ood """s
special Reasons why CUBAN. :"
Men and Women should Wneei'

NDtnDNtNttNfly y"
TN This Winter-women Riding ne
We'll IA Men-A Few GOOD No"us
special Reasons why Cub"hs. DIV"
Men and Women should ~"s''
HAVANA, Jan. 3l.-The bicycle Graz n"s
been n little slow In getting 10 CUBA WIN '~'."
strength, bu, tits here now, and wheel ennAS
are developing with amazing rapidiS' ~"
beior. The war bicycles were be seen here a."
orally OF German OF English make but the n'es
were compa ratively few. Last summer the nun
her began To increase p~rceptibly and TINS WIZ
ter there IL no counting them. with the com
ing Of the cooler weather, about comparable 70
our late May and early June, bicycle stores
popped up oil over The city.
You can scarcely go ON any street mat you
do not find n bicycle store urging the merits oil
some wheel, and now they are practically all Ameri'
can wheels that are finding a market There
ARE ~ many Of these stores tina, some OF 'hem are
sure to come out a, The wrong end OF the imam.
cial horn before the season is over havana
may he wheel mad hut certainly enough wheels
will not b. purchased to make profitable sl the
agencies that have been established. Most oil
the agents are Cubans They have found 1t
possible with little capital Ia embark in BUSH
ness. and the number of white Cubans without
employment is So great that there has been an
over rush To make a living in this way. The
pride Of these people is such that they would
rather star We than do manual or mental
labor. That IL for the Spaniard and the negro.
So they have all opened bicycle stores ana DO
come merchants in n minute, II it could only
last it would b. n blessing, but the chances are
hea Willy against IT.
Havana is NO, a good wheel city because OF
lis bad m In the heart Of the town
there is no place except the Prado, from Central
Park tn the Punta. about ten New York city blocks,
where the riding is decent. Here there is n maca.
dam or. alleged maCadam pavement The S'1ne
used for n surface covering is, however, the pre-
yailing soft limestone found hereabOut which
has dcgenerated into mud or dus, according 10
the weather, but still it is better han The block
pa yed streets, which are rough and 80 narrow
and crowded as To make wheeling unpleasant
and even dangerous. The Prado on he other
hand, is very wide, there being n sixty foot road
on either side II the raised paseo or promenade.
The wh"elmpn and whrelwomen do not confne
themselves To he roadway, Even in he after
noon when the paSeO Is crowded bicycles tear
up and down the smooth cour So 10 he great an
noyancc Of all the promenaders. If there are
any police regulations on the subject Of bicy-
cles they apparently do not touch this point, for
the police make no effort 10 prevent he invasion
Of he PEDESTRIANS domain. This should really
be prevented for there j. really no other place in
Havana where Two persons can walk together
in comfort II two people start out shopping
or sight seeing on foot in his city and attemIt
To converse one Of them must constantly be in
the street lodging ca BIS while The other may walk
along he footrAth which is alleged 10 I've a side
walk. In the entire old part Of the city people
go single file becaus Of the narrowness Of the
sidewalks, which condition results. Of
course, from the narrowneSs OF the
streets So exaggerated is this defeat that
the Nunicipol ordinances Of the city ,soui,s ali
p" Niun''p"' "n'nan'eS OF 'he ',s requiIe an
vehicles To godo"n oblsp" street and up OReiily
street, these being the two principal shopping
.,,,o,s and r,,in hn,ouoht.raa dn., i,,a -.
streets ana man 'h"foughiares down INTO the
business district
Outside Of lIayana there are several good roads,
I'm " '','s '"" o' 'p'n'aIuS ana ouefs
lhe result "l american energy The shore road
from Havana To- FL Nciado was rebuilt by the
Americans, but the same mistake was made here
that was mad. on the Prado Soft limestone
was used as a topcoyer, sGd it is now being ground
20 dust In pleasant wca ,iaT il is srIf kne Tor
wheeling. hui il il is to compare feyorabiy viii
the rpad making Of the SpaniHrds il will have 10
be- redone II there was anything a Spanish
engineer could do il was a. build a road. When
he got through the State NAV have had an enor-
nous bill 10 pay, but il had a mighty fine high
way The road, from Havana to Guines, after
Of work and simply ideal for wheeling. II in
what the Spaniards call u Calzado, and, although
built wears ago. IL "a smooth and ba1I He nsnbaIt
II stretches away across the island. forty miles TO
the city limits ofG uines. and there sd ps as abrupt
ly as though it plunged into an abyss. Upon
reaching the end one plungps into hollows and
humps. fearful for wagon and wheel alike The
treasury # the island stopped m the gates al
Guinps, even If insnlar authority did not
There IS rnothcr road similar to This running
to Guanajay. The road out I hrough the Caro-
T. MarAnau is also fine for wheeling, except that
wherr Il has been patched by The NmSricpn n n"'
thorities the same suft limestone has bean used.
with consequent mud md dust '
Asip The Sta hes wear ago IN. maj, . , ioodirr
in the bicycle craze. but The MI eex ie h.rInufmS