The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1903-04-02
Drifting SitpawS Show
the Currents Trend.
Increasing Sales Of the
"Racycle" Evidence
That Cycling is
Again a Pop
ular Sport.

That cycling is again becoming a
popular sport is evinced by the constant
ly increasing sales and the continuous
demands for immediate shipments out
at the Miami Cycle works.
The bicycling World predicts a
considerable shortage of bikes this sea-
son, for the demand seems to be greater
than the few remaining factories can
supply, while at least one of the larger
concerns has already issued a warning
circular that on account of the shortage
of steel the scarcity of coal, the continu-
Gus freight blockades and the advance
in prices, that there will be a scarcity
of bicycles during the coming season
and urges the dealers to increase their
sample orders before they are all gone.
The dealers are awake to the knowledge
that bicycles have again become profit
able investment All this is interesting
when we remember that at one time
there We're no less than $50 large BIZ
cycle factories in the United States
alone, and that today there are less than
25 mills devoted exclusively to the man
ufacture of wheels.
The high water mark Of bicy cling
was reached in 1895 and '96 and with
| the recedinS wave of the fad, the wealth
Ter class of riders either turned their
wheels over to their children or sold
them at greatly reduced prices to those
who had never been able to own bicy-
Giles on account of the high prices then
in vogue. Thus in America, the bicycle
soon became the childrens plaything,
the poor mans horse or the laborer s
rapid transit although in Europe and
foreign countries the fad is still on and
growing larger every day.
A fad worked as q fad is usually over
done and deteriOrates from over indul-
gence. The healthy, exhiliratlng effects
from an easy ride of eight or ten miles
per day was counteracted by the quick,
exhaustive road tours of from 20 to 5C
miles or more. Often weak women
who could have been made strong and
robust by the right sort of bicycling
were worn ont or overcome by trying
to keep up with the bunch of stronger
friends in their follow my leader rush
over the country. All this occurred be
reached anywhere near perfection; il
was in the days of the old fashioned
rigid frames, constantly Earring and
iolting, when the saddles were little
better than blocks of wood, when
clumsy chains ran on small sprockets
when the frames We're heavy and the
tires nearly as bulky as fire engine hose
when it required almost as much exer
ton to propel an ordinary bicycle as /
did to push wheelbarrow.
Since that time, each year has brough
forth such marked changes and improve
ments that the lady riders of five o
six years ago would recognize vas
difference if they could be induced t
try ride on light cushion frame, sci
oiling machine, with Il one-eighth chai1
on large prockets, protected by ligh
wire chain guard, mounted on a sol
coaster saddle over free running rea
wheel equipped with a coaster brake
On such wheel there is no fatiguln
pedal exertion, no jolting or strainin@
for the cushion mechanism absorbs tn
lar and vibration and the rider expel
fences a gentle yielding action that
both restful and enjoyable.
The steady increase of sales is doubt
less due to the realization of worth {
the styles in bicycles from hygen
standpoint This has been made man
fest by the vigor of the young men al
women, who took up the discardt
wheels of their parents in 1896 and lo9
and began riding to school or for plt
and have continued the use OF bicycl