THE "BIKE."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1060, 24 February 1911, Page 4

THE "BIKE."

■■-'■' KEVIVAL m THE'TRADE^K,;; ' The bicycle continues to hold its ground- lin spite of the aggression of the motor-;- -,■:} bike and automobile. According'to l a re-,' liable return just issued.% bicycles andf: parts were imported; into' tho Dominion' ■'•:■' to the value. 6f.-i2oß ) o6'o:'f.-durin(f':-;-tlie'-:'C' : twelve months ended December 31 : last, '■ which is X' 24,000 more .'.in"-'.value; than in) :: ■ any one of the three preceding years,' tHe-''-""; totals for which were - as f0110w.—1909, ■' £150,857; 190S, JE154.015; 1907, --<£184,263: . ; Christchurch should- be .known as :'• the "''-■■";" City of tho Wheel, for:nearly .twice as '■' many cycles are "entered into" Lyttel- 1 '"-. ton than any other port in-Xew Zea- '■', land. Machines to the value 0f'£10,409,■-"■'■'■ and parts to the value, of were .■ imported into ' Lyttelton,. as against' a • total (machines and oarts) of £61,367 for ' Wellington, .£15,610 "for. ■ " for- Auckland, .£7264 for the Bluff,iand' '"'■ £10,131 for ■'. other ports. By i these figures - <" one can almost judge the configuration "of".'-'-, the city. Auckland is right at; the-bot-tom as a "consumer" of cycles, one of the ;,'-■. principal reasons no doubt being that its; main street'is .flanked with, heart-break-' : ine hilly streets, which: art- not; Vbikable.". Southland is undulating l in'the v, vicinity* of Invercargill,. so thnt the .bicy-. ? clc: is popular; Dunedin comes next—ifa'.v-..■"' exits'are on the flat. Then comes Wei-.; •.'.-'.' lington, where the popple are always, in V :' a hurry, and the commercial part of the city is all oh the level;, and, finally, J we ■ ' have Christchurch' (or one might take in .'■:■''; the whole of Canterbury), which is'most', adaptable to'cycles. '>•...;• ;- - :- ;i "'-: