Cycling.

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 75, 25 September 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

Cycling.

[By Daoonbt.] The German Emperor has been on a trip to Norwegian waters. One of Jhis officers, the first lieutenant of the Hohenzollern, Yon Hahnke, the son of General Hahnke, the Chief of the Military Cabinet and Adjutant-General of the Kaiser, met his death in a very sad way. He had left the royal yacht, which was anchored off Odde, for the purpose of going for a ride on his bicycle. Riding down a road which on one side descends sheer into the sea the young officer lost control of the machine and was precipitated into the water. .„ Mr. W. A. Thomson, late of Wellington, is endeavouring to arrange with the League of New Zealand Wheelmen to bo allowed to ride for the 24 hours' record on the Napier Recreation Ground at an early date. If suitable arrangements can be made he will have pacers provided from Wellington and elsewhere, and tandems and triplets brought up to help him, so that the record of 364 miles 1005 yards „ made by A..J. Body three years ago, should easily be beaten. ' I believe that to inflate tyres very hard,' says an English authority, ' simply means to spoil them ; in other words, it is overtesting the fabric, or canvas, with which they are built up, and this to a great extent is responsible for the many covers which have given way during the pasfc two seasons. ( The only reason I can see for ordinary road riders to inflate their tyres bard is .to open out an indifferent rim, which is partially closed under the wheelbuilding operation. As this does not apply to jointless rims, inflate your tyre so aB to make it comfortable riding, and nothing more.' Stilson K. Stevens, of Buffalo, makes a specialty of ice-riding, and has had an Arctic trip in mind for some time. He has practised on Lake Erie for three winters, and declares that he can now cover 100 miles a day over the roughest part of the earth's surface. American papers contain sensational accounts of Stevens' proposed performance. Turpentine and benzine are much more effective in cleaning cork handles than soap and water. The latter, in combination with a nail-brush, renders felt handles like new. Probably the most-talked-of speedy-man in the world of wheels just now is J. W. Stocks, of Hull. Prior to entering the professional ranks of cycling he was a lettersorter in the local post office. Now he haß pedalled himself into a fortune, his yearly income being considerably over £3000. In this connection T. A. Edge remarks that ' the ex- letter- sorter's turnover must be something phenomenal.' , The German military authorities have decided to make their own military cycles in future, and have put down plant for the purpose, ordering £25,000 of machinery from America for making steel balls for bearings. The question of lubrication is a vexed one. Some American makers, is is said, have actually ceased to provide oil holes on their machine?. And the instructions from different makers vary considerably. One soya 'Don't bs afraid or oiling liberally.' Another, • Bearings should not be flooded with lubricant.' There should be a happy medium in this as in other things. It is reported in the English papers that Simpson, of lever- chain repute, is interesting himself in a new speed accelerator in the way of a gear. Some experts are of opinion that the improvement upon the chain as a powertransmitting agent for the propulsion of cycles will be hydraulic in principle, though, "so far, the efforts io bring out something workable and practical in this direction have failed. The Bath Cycling Club has received from one of its Vice-Presidonts for perpetual competition locally, in honour of the Queen's Jubilee, two pieces of gold plate valued at £260. A valuable gold medal also goejs to the year's winner. One of the London daily papers has telegraphed to it and publishes each day the state of the roads for cycling in all directions, so that a cyclist out for the day may by consulting his morning paper learn in what direction he may look to have a pleasurable ride. . A cycle lamp to burn aoetylene gas has been brought out in America. The lamp is said to burn for eight hours without recharging. A big tyre combination was formed in England last month, when the Beeston, Turner, Woodley, and Scott's Standard companies amalgamated under the title of •Pneumatic Tyres, Limited.' The output of these companies has been nearly 10,000 pairs of tyres per week, and as the profit on tyres is somewhat in the region of 100 Per cent , this new combination should produce a good deal of wealth, and it will stand second only <jo the far-famed Dunlop concern. The New South Wales Government has decided to allow Civil servants to compete for cash prizes