THE WHEEL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1213, 31 May 1895, Page 26

THE WHEEL.

SPOKES. By " Cyclometer." A correspondent writes me correcting the list of performances of members of the Wellington Cycling Club during the past season, which appeared in "Spokes" recently. He states that L. T. Herbert's record should be: —First, 8 ; second, 3 ; third, 0; number of prizes, 11. The original list was supplied me by a correspondent, and I only revised it from memory. However, I am pleased to credit " Tuck "■ with an additional win, and I hope he will increase his record next season. Here is a good idea for our PostmasterGeneral, who has done much to expedite the delivery of mails in the country districts of this Colony. An American mail contractor has decided to adopt the bicycle for carrying mails in places where the roads are good, as experience has taught liim that the expense will be considerably lessened and the mails carried far more speedily than if he continued to use horses. If this system were instituted in New Zealand—and I hope it will be —it would lead to the formation of better roads in the bush districts. "Cyclometer" has received a couple of '95 catalogues from American cycle manu-

facturers. The chief feature appears to be the lightness of the bicycles, 221 b or 241 b being the usual weight of the every-day-used machine, while racers range from lSlb up, and the heaviest wheels do not go over 30ib. Light wheels, high gears, and small and light tyres are the characteristics. I shall be pleased to let those who are interested see the lists. Engineering, an English weekly, in a description of one of the large cycle works at Coventry, gives some interesting items. Amongst other facts, it states that in making the back hub no fewer than 36 distinct machining operations have to be performed, irrespective of the making of the balls and polishing and plating. The company referred to employs 1100 men, and manufactured and sold over 20,000 machines in 11 months, ending last August. The article also states that 300,000 cycles are manufactured in England annually, and in one month (August, 1894) machines to the value of .£73,725 were exported. The following is also clipped from the article above referred to: —" Since Eve stitched fig-leaves for the first human vesture the skirt has been the distinctive female garment, affording a curtained seclusion typical of the lesser activities of the (originally) shyer sex. Within the last twelve months women are seen on the highways of civilisation astride bicycles, skirtless and unashamed; not only skirtless, but without even the seemly trim cylinders by which man veils the less swelling outline of his lower limbs." Messrs Ringwood and Woolmer, of the Waimate Hotel, have presented a cup valued at ten guineas to the Egmont Cycling Club.

A cable dated Sydney, May 26th, states that O'Brien won the League of Wheelmen's Mile Championship Test Race, beating Mclnnes and Lewis. .He will therefore represent New South Wales in the Australian Mile Championship, to be run in Melbourne to-morrow. A printers' bicycle club, known to the world as " The Press Wheelmen," has been formed in New York, and is in a flourishing condition. The members of the club are to be allowed the press privilege of a liberal discount from ruling prices on their bicycles, &c. An effort will be made in this city to get a ladies' cycling club into working order by the opening of next season. The annual bicycle race from Parnell to Papakura under the auspices of the Amateur Athletic and Cycle Club was won by B. Dudley. A remarkable story is told by an American paper of a bicyclist who was riding along the Broadway (New York) cable tram road recently:—" He had turned on to the down-town track and was pushing 1 along up-town at a good pace when a down-town car forced him to turn off. An up-bound car was close behind him, too close to admit of his swinging across on the up-track, and a score of voices called, ' You'll be run down! Stop the car!' The rider turned into the narrow space between the tracks, and as the two cars rolled past each other, each griprnan tugging at his break with all his strength, the bicyclist, with a burst of speed, got his right handlebar in front of the up-bound car, and keeping abreast of the platform, rode out on the other side, having passed through the space that a man could hardly ride in, and continued on his way. There would not have been space for the full breadth of his handle-bar between the cars." The editor of Outing, for which magazine Frank Lenz, the American bicyclist, was making a tour of the world, does not believe the report that Lenz was shot on the road between Dahar and Kourtali, and expects to have full particulars of his whereabouts shortly. The World's Bicycle Championship races for 1895 will take place at Cologne, under the auspices of the Deutsches JBadfahrer Bund (German Cyclists' Union), on August 17th, 18th and 19th. The League of American Wheelmen will probably send a team to Germany to represent America in the championships. In the United States special paths are formed for cyclists. The paths are usually four feet wide, and when one is to be constructed cyclists and dealers are asked to contribute. A 25-mile path was recently laid down in New York, for which all cyclers were asked to give $1 and each dealer $25. It is not unusual in the United States for the roadway and the railway to run parallel, and advantage is taken of this fact for road races to be run on such pieces of road, special trains being chartered to keep with the race and afford spectators a view of the whole. E. C. Bald, a member of the Press Cycling Club of Buffalo, has ridden a mile in 2min 4sec on a roadster. The Press Club is composed of cyclists on the staffs of newspapers. There are several .press cycling clubs in the States. A writer says that parting the hair in the middle helps the cyclist to keep his balance. Sleator, an American rider, has ridden a straight-away quarter-mile in 26£sec. America has a one-legged bicycle rider— J. B. Cunningham —who frequently takes part in races. • • • It is not generally known that tissue paper answers very well in the place of chamois for polishing nickel^

In one thing a yacht is different to the pnevunatic tyre. It can stand on a tack for hours. ~ Biffers: "Do you think bicycle riding conducive to health ?" Whiffers: "Most assuredly. My health has improved wonderfully." " But you don't ride a bicycle." " Who said I did ?" " But you said bicycle riding improved your health." " Yes ; get so much exercise, you know." "Exercise? How?" " Dodging the bicycles, of course !" A cycling club has been formed in New York under the name of " The Quill Club," and is composed of newspaper reporters. Waverly (New York) cyclists are allowed to ride on the sidewalks if they give a bond of <£4o against possible damage. The three sons of the Emperor William are expert cyclists. Over a hundred women cyclists in New York wear nationals when awheel. Bicycles, like human beings, get giddy. A tiny lantern makes its head light.— The j Wheel. j The King of Servia is an enthusiastic wheelman. J. McLaughlin is reported to have "flew" a mile on a bicycle in th© unprecedented time of lmin 21sec at Columbia, Pa. A wag has named his bicycle "Hardboiledeggs." He says it can't be beaten. THE TEN-MILE CHAMPIONSHIP OF NEW SOUTH WALES. Sydney, May<24. The race for the Ten - Mile Bicycle Championship of. New South Wales took place to-day, and was won by O'Brien, Lewis finishing second. The other starters were McGuinness and Mattersori. Tandems were used for pacing, and at the end of the eighth mile only the placed men were left in the race. O'Brien came with a magnificent spurt in the last lap, and won by twenty yards. Time 25min sec. the champion, was absent in the country.