CYCLING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 45

CYCLING NOTES.

Even with the added attraction of the profits of the meeting being devoted to the *Otago and Southland Scouts' Fund the attendance at the Dunedin Cycling Club's Iwentyfivst annual race meeting' was not good. The day was fine, and all that goes to make a meeting attractive and to bring out a crowd was en e\idence, but it peem that cycle racing at this time of the present season is dead, and the public want something novel to bring them out in numbers. Tt is a pity that the efforts of the club should not have been more fruitful, but the committee and officials have the consolation of knowing that they did their best for the fund. Up to the seventh event the racing \ia? indifferent, but after then things livened up considerably, and the racing became very brisk and exciting. The heats of the Dunedin Wheel Race, were well contested, and the final for the event was a splendid struggle. Cushnie ha\ing hard luck almost at the finishing post in losing his pedal while an almost certain winner ; the heats and the final of the One-mile Cash Handicap were all worth walking a distance to see. while the Three-mile Scratch event brought forth some good out-and-in racing. The Half-mile (amateur) and the Two-mile Championship (amateur) were good races, the finishes being especially -well fought out. Walne and Sutherland, who were entered for various . events., were not present. A word must be. paid regarding the work put in by the back-mark men, who,* in one or two of | the events, were hopelessly out of the chances of getting a place. Notwithstanding this, I they all rode hard to get up. and their efforts } Mere -worthy of better reward.^Race meetings now seem to be much alike, and the form and attainments of -those riders who Lave worked themselves up to back-mark position by sterling racing are so veil known that comment on their work at different meetings is somewhat unnecessary. We know them \io be £oocl riders, we look for their i doing- good work, and last Saturday we were not disappointed. The handicap men seemed to realise that iheir duty lay in making things warm from the start, and they failed not. A new rider to Dunediu. G. Cushnie, of the Wyndham Cycling Club, was noticeable for the work lie put in during the meeting, and from vhat I °aw of his riding lie will be, in capable hands. Hip makings of a firsl-r?te rider. Possessed of plenty of pluck and good staving powers, with a cheerfulness even under disappointing defeat, he must come forward if he sticks to racing, and I hope that his efforts of Saturday will spur him on to better results. This is his first season. He won fie One and Five-mile R->ce3 at Tnvercargill recently, and came second in the T >\ heel Race. A clubmate of his, Dempster, is tho makings of a good ridar. From what I can 'earn there is likely to be a small loss over the meeting. , The idea of forming a Trvole corps to act in conjunction with the military forces at present operating in South Africa has already been mooted in Melbourne, but Queensland ha-s gone one be'ter. in deciding to organise a body of wheelmen for home defence. The Melbourne Bicycle Club have donated £100 to tho fund now being raised j by tie cyclists of Melbourne in aid of the i Empire Patriotic Fund. The Dunlop Tyre ; Company give J325 to the same fund. i • -A Brisbane cyclist named M. liely and , the expert hoiseman, "Texas Jack," engaged ,in a contest recently. It Mas a feries of three t iace«, Texas Jack i^ing foui ro'ays of horses and Tlely his bicycle. The fir .1 iv.co w:vs over n distance of one mile. The horseman ' changed his mount at the second round, and

I eventually won by a quarter of a lap. Texas Jack also won the second, event, two miles, his time being 4min 45sec, Hely completing the distance four seconds later. The Threemile promised to be a real good contest, but, unfortunately, one of the horses ran into a bench and tore his leg badly, and Hely rode in an easy winner. On points Texas Jack won the series. A Paris paper says: — "When Charron, Girardot, and Voigt wen,t into the automobile business they invested 300,000 francs as • capital, and they contracted for 800,000 francs' worth of automobiles. They are, according to report, making money at about 500.000 francs a year. Their business in July aggregated 550,000 francs. The firm does not manufacture, but sells and renls machines. ' The number of infringers of -the Du---lop-Welsh, patents in England is set down as 1000, while Scotland and "Ireland each are credited with 100. These figures appear almost incredible, but have been made public by the chairman of the big company at its last annual meeting. If these figures are accepted, we must aUo admit that the legal department of the Dunlop Company is a very important and expensive one. Almost every week the British cycling papers contain a list of infringers whom the company are taking proceedings against. For the year 1897, the Germans exported £500,000 worth of cycle stuff; for 1898. £760,000 ; whi.e for the first half of the current year their foreign trade reached a' value of £4-25,000, as against £402,000 for the first six months of 189c — an increase of £23,000. Owing to the increasing number of motor vehicles being imported into Victoria the customs authorities have been exercising their minds as to what should be the amount of duty payable by the importers. When the motors were first introduced the customs department decided that they were subject to the highest fixed rate for high-class vehicles, which ib £40 for each, plus the additional duty of 30 per cent, on the value of the motor. This plan has not worked smoothly, a? it was found -difficult to discriminate between the two, hence the decision of the commissioner is that they shall be classed as " vehicles not otherwise enumerated," and liable to a duty' of 25 per cent. — Australasian. -Every cafe or roadside eating-and-drinking inn of importance in Trance nowadays has its custodian of the pump for pneumatics. And the garcon is a repairer. If you meet with an accident to yemr tyre the young man of the cap and gilt letters is ready to attend to it at a moment'? notice. The t*arcon's fee is never of the fixed or arbitrary kind. It is " what you choose to give him." If the ta?k is a difficult one, 3'ou give him 10 cents ; or, if it should happen to require the application of considerable rubber, as coming from the reserve stock of the establishment, you might possibly give him a franc. As an instance of how the free-wheel device io booming in America as well as in England may be cited the case of the Eclipse Bicycle Company, manufacturers of the famous Moirow coaster brake. The company finds it necessary to devote the whole of its factory facilities in the manufacture of the patent hub, which contains a free-wheel clutch and a hub brake, and is operated by attempted back-pedalling. Although the factory harf been enlarged on two occasions, and doubled its capacity in each instance, it is founcT to be utterly unable to keep pace with the orders. Hence, it wnl build no more wheels. The moot developed muscles in a C3 - cli=t are thote of the thigh, v.hich are developed to a morvellou-j extent in man3 r riders. The muscles of the calf and leg are also benefited, and the tendons of the arkle are strengthened and improved. The pulling on the handles when hill-cliinbing tends to increase the muscle at the back of the shoulders, whilst the chest and arm muscled me also kept in good condition. London i^ a city of five million or more inhabitant.?. The annual report of the Metropolitan Pohca Commissioner for the }'ear 1898 has juot been issued, and is replete with interesting fact J and figure", many of them having an instructive heaving on ilic proportion 1 ; in which the bicycle enters police affairs. Out of 145 fatal accidents which occurred in London, only three are charged to the bicycle, from which showins. and in the most

populous city in the world, we may fairly judge of the comparative safety of cycling. The list of accidents comprise almost 10,000 mishaps, and here the proportion debited to bicycles is very large. Out of 9:65, no less than 2051 are attributed to cycles, while motor vehicles may claim 25. For violation, of the city laws and by-laM's 1672 cyclists were arrested, of which number -44 escaped conviction. This may seem to the ordinary reader to be a large number, but against 10,348 offences charged to drivers of other vehicles, it is small. As will be seen by the accompanying tables, 1893 was the moot prolific of accidents, due, probably, to the more extended use of the -wheel. The comparative tables from the last eight years are as below : — Fatal Accidents Through Cycles. 1891 2 J8 5 1 JB9-? 1 3896 1 18 3 - 1897 1 ]534 — IS9B 3 Injuries by CicliS. JB9l 537 18 5 913 .892 4A )S% 1298 1895 609 IS<7 1615 1894 C 9.5 ]8!)8 205 L The arrests made during the year 1F93, and the causes and disposition of the cases, are as follows: — C nv-V.'eJ. Dismiss d Furious riding f-SS 2t Without light' :S0 S ' R ding on fnott aths ... •... 321 i) RidirginprihibitetJparkioads 42 — Not aiviDg am ible v a niup... 11 — Tamers - , 1 1 Obstructing the ruiighfi. re ... 5 — Totals 1628 44 To replace balls in a bearing with little trouble, a useful tip is to make a paper funnel, by which means tlvey may be easily placed in the bearing. Racing is practically over, both in England and America, and world's records established on the different tracks will stand until next season. The official list recognised by the English, French, and American cycling axithorities, reads as follows: — Quarter-mile (flying start), 20sec, Major Taylor, Chicago, U.S".A., 10th November, 1809. Quarter-mile (standing start), 27 2-ssec, J. Green, London, 2nd August, 1899. Half-mile (flying start), 41 4-ssec, M'Duffee, Chicago, 3rd August, 1899. Half-mile (standing start), 51 l-ssec, J« Gieen, London, 2nd August, 1899. " Mile (flying start), lmhi 2Ssec, M'Duffee, New Bedfoid, U.S.A., 29th July, 1899. Mile (standing start), lmin 40 l-ssec, J. Gieen, London, 2nd August, 1899. Five Miles (standing start), 7min 38 l-ssec, H. Eikes, Berkeley Oval, 19th October, 18D9. leii Miles (standing start), 15min 26 l-ssec, H. Elkes, Berkeley Oval, 19th October, 1899. Twenty-five Miles (standing start), 40min 33 sec, H. Elkes, Berkeley Oval, 19th October, 1899. Fifty Miles (standing start), lhr 24min, 31 3-ssec, H. Elkes, Philadelphia, 23rd Septembei, 1899. One Hundred Miles (standing start), 3hr 7min 47 l-5.3ec, M. Baxige, Paria, 6th August, 1899. Thirty-six miles 1144 yards, Ed. Taylor, Paris, 11th September. 1899 — one hour. One hundred and seventy-seven miles 761 yards, A. E. Walters, Paris, Bth and 9th September, .1899 — six hours. Three hundred and forty-one miles 629 yards, A. E. Walters, Paris, Bth and 9th -September, 1899—12 hours. Six hundred and thirty-four miles 774 yards, A. E. Walters, Paris, Bth and 9th September, 1839—24 hours. On September 17 and 18. 1?99, Mathieu Cordang covered 640 miles 196 yds in 24 hours, at the Hague, Holland ; but the rider being under suspension by the U.Y.F. at the time, I lie record has not yet been recognised as oflicia l . The time for the mile (flying start) has since been considerably reduced by Major Taylor, and also by M'Duffee, but the American authorities would not accept the records, owing to certain conditions not having been properly carried out. Should you chain be slack, although the adjusting screw i* as far out as it will come, the only pi vi is to 1 aye one or two i taken out of the chain. The spring? of a cycle lamp should be oiled occasionally in damp weather. They are very apt to become stiff, which, of course, induces jolting of the lamp.