WHEEL NOTES BY DEMON.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 27

WHEEL NOTES BY DEMON.

now built so much lighter than they used _to be. Staunch and serviceable roadsters with ball pedals complete can now be turned out to scale under 401b. Now that weight has been bo sensibly reduced, it is to be hoped the leading makers will see their way clear m the near future to make a sensible reduction m price, for cycles are no cheaper now than they were 10 ye «An g exchange says that George Gould, the son of the great Jay, is very fond of cychng, and owns a safety bicycle the like of which does not exist The frame, forks, and spokes consist oi aluminium, the balls of the bearings are diamonds On the head of the machine as set a diamond of fabulous value, and the handles are of mother of pearl. The only steel about the machine is the saddle Bpring. The machine weighs less than 131b. It was made by a Coventry firm, and took eight months to con"^•Writiug from Delhi on the 4th February, Messrs Burston and Stokes say the roads of India are magnificent, in fact the beau ideal ot a cyclist's road. For the greater part they are lined with avenues of noble trees, witi branches meeting overhead. They rode 1017 miles in, 11 days, and say they could have done much more only for the N.W. monsoon. On the 29th January they put up a road record for India oi 131 miles in 11§ hours, the particulars being as follows : — Left Allahabnd at 6 a.m. To 9.15 rode... ... ••• * Omilei To 12,15 rode ... •<• 30 .. To 2.45 rode... ... ••• 30 „ Beached Oawnpore'at 5.30 p.m., rode 31 Total 131 miles., The stoppages en route amounted to 45 minutes. Both cyclists are in excellent health, lhe weather was cool." THE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS. Dear Demon,— At the High School sports on Saturday the winner. of the two Old Boys Bicycle Races turned up in a dark horse. • It was said that this man rode a much lighter machine than his usual roadster, and only changed his mount three days before the race. Putting aside the question whether the chango of machine affected the result, I should like, to point out the unfairness of making any change of machine after handicaps are out. Where all men ride the best machines available and racers, this does not matter, but where we have only pur roadsters to choose from, the point is important. Another time Mr Handicapper might stick to the old rule of dark horses and give them halflimit.—Yours, &c, Dabk Horsb. Dunedin, April 2.

Since writing last week's notes I have heard that the men who were away on trip enjoyed themselves very much in spite of ,tbe bad weather ; and that the roads are fast getting into good condition. Twe men reached Kaitangata, taking for a change the road round (the lake, They, however, prefer the usual road via Balclutha or Stirling, as the lake road is rough sad hilly. Saturday's races at the High School sports were hardly a success, as Boot, the limit- man, won as he liked in both events. He certainly requires watching, for he was not at ,all fancied the week before the race. J. Howlison came second in both events. He rode in something like his old form and deserved a better place. A letter below brings under notice ithe fact that Boot was riding a lighter maohine on the day of the race than he had been doing ,his training on. If this was the case, and the doing bo improved his pace to so great an extent, it was hardly fair of him to take the handicap allotted really to the heavier machine. After all, the old rule is safe— that a new rider gets half limit start, and even with half limit I fancy Boot would have won. # m Two of our riders were the victims of an accident the other day. They had accepted a lift on a friend's buggy when returning from a walk down the Peninsula, and had not long been in the concern before the kingbolt (?) broke (I don't know much about buggies, but it seems always to be the kingbolt, so perhaps it was this time), and the men were dropped on the road. Fortunately only cuts and bruises resulted. Now if these riders had fallen off their machines which they were just going to remount farther down the road where they had left them, what a cry would have been raised about the danger of bicycle riding. Bicycle riders, leave baggies alone. Buggy riding is dangerous. There is general dissatisfaction in Victoria at the action of the Cyclists' Union in limiting the value of prizes to £50, the dissatisfaction going so far as to make a probability or the formation of a company to run race meetings, and, of course give big prizes. I In the column "Among the Books',' m this issue appears a review of Karl Kron's work, «KM Miles on a Bi "—the work which has been talked of for some four years and was at last published last year. If the book be too long to read the review at any rate will not J. i take the following from the Australasian s — . . , , 41 Mr G M. Nunn, who has been appointed captain of the Sydney Bicycle Club, is pretty well known to Melbourne riders, as he recently spent some three months here. He has been riding a wheel upwards of five years. He rides a 52in ordinary, and is a perfect master of his bicycle. He never mounts by the step— in toot, has not one on the machine— but simply vaults into the saddle. He rushes down hills, be they smooth or rough, at a speed bordering on recklessness, and yet he comes home from his tours scatheless. Coming home from a country tour not long ago he fixed a large sail, about 3ft by 2ft, down the backbone of his bicycle, using a «Jtt fieri board to keep it stretched. To see the machine one would wonder how the rider could mount, but Mr Nunn vaulted clean over the nail landing in the saddle, and was blown along for some miles, till suddenly the board slipped out of ithe sail and jambed the front wheel while the wheelman was .shot out of the saddle and the pedal pin scraped along the road till it was twisted like a corkscrew. There was no more sailing that day." Btyles of combination saddles and springs for cyoles whioh have lately been placed on the English market, the old-fashioned steel-blade springs must soon be looked upon as relics of the past. The advent of safety bicycles caused manufacturers to think out new methods for reducing vibration, and seeing that nearly all their efforts in this direction were devoted to saddle-springs, the importance of this part or the maohine cannot be underrated. It really amounts to this. Half the comfort of oyclrag depends on a Baddle and spring, and the other half on a rigid yet pliable machine. A good Baddle-spring on the Arab or cradle principle not only eaves a road-rider from a great anioun,,, 6f fatigue, but it also takes the strain off toe machine and saves wear and tear, and henoe no doubt one of the chief reasons why macbiaw ate