CYCLING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 51

CYCLING NOTES.

After many days' rain, and consequent lack of cycling, we have been favoured with three consecutive fine days. The roads about town have bren, as a consequence, ewarming with riders anxious to take the greatest good out of the sunshine. The roads north and south are in sple«did condition and tho«e who went out of town for the week end report an enjoyable outing. The other morning when out for a spin I noticed a cyclist carrying a child on his bicycle. I had thought that this unwise practice had died out, and that fathers had become conscious of the danger that children lan in being so carried. The danger has become recognised in a forcible manner in some parts of America, where childcarrying on bicycles is regarded as an offence carrying- with it punishment up to six month"' imprisonment The^condition of the Andeiaon's Bay road cycle track ib such that it behoves cyclists to be stirring and collecting funds to put the track in proper order. The Track Committee, whose good work I have had frequent cause to speak of, cannot do anything without fuuda, and I hope that some energetic cycli=ts will put their heads together and devise means of collecting from track frequenters a few pounds to he devoted to improvements. The Track Committee will, I am sure, on receipt of the money see that it is properly expended. The Dunedin and Gtago clubrooms are nightly visited by cyclists, either aa participants in any tournament that may be iii progress., or as onlookers of what is going on. There «eems to be a livelier interest taken in club matters, and I trust that this will be po till our good weather comes round again, when outdoor life will hold sway. The Dunlop rubber mills in Victoria are manufacturing about 408 Dunlop covers and tubes per day, besides large quantities of solid rubber vehicle tyres, etc. The establishment of these works has apparently been a great succe.«f=. j The condition of the cycle trade , locally (says " Fortiß " in the Australasian) ir satisfactory, especially for the present time of the year. From what may b© gathered it would appear that machines assembled to tlie buyer's order are in excess of those imported. The growth of the number of those that use the free-wheel has been prodigious during th& past <?ea^on. Almost eveiy machine now constructed ia fitted with the automatic coaster, while the volume of work of the local builden has been materially | increased by the con\ei>ioti of fixed gears to free, wheels. Consequently tlieie are more brake- used by the ride.i than ovei, with the- uatuidl mfernite. that oidinary cycling i» undoubtedly <-afer than in the past. — O-mont, a French motor tricyeliot. recently covered 100 kilometres (62 l-Bth miles) i-li -I llir Ibmin 55aec. This wonderful lide was accomplibhad on wet roads, the last half of the c ourf>e, 31 mile->, being covered in the lemarkable time of 36mm, or tlo=e upon a mile? a minute 0-»mout lode a De Dion motoi tricycle 'Ihe New South Wale;. League of Wheelmen ha\c takrti tip the matter cif carele«< driving of persons in charge of homes and vehicles, to the discomfort of cyclists. Piosecutiona have been instituted and damages recovered. Thi-> year theie will be no Kng!i = h le-pre-entati\ c competing at Rome foi the I i\orld\ cla^-u- cvclmg events, whit h are to , be decided ne\t .June Kejttchamp. a well known Victorian iji-list. ha-> cneu'd v milo rci Imin 26* ec, on a loi.ill} nude niotoi cycle. Beanehamp if now fiiiiblung j motor cycle with which he expect* to to\er h mile m Imin 20"cc. <-onie I 4^ec faMei than thf Aiutuiia-^iaii mile , let oid. I Tho question <>f amuteui-. being al j lowed to i ide m the big Dunlop Road Kace from Warrnainhocil to Melbourne next Sep- , tembci without 10--mg their amateur ie an intc-iesting om;. It remains for tlie Victorian Amateur Athletic A-^ociation and Victorian Am it«-ur Wheeler* to sue their decisicjn on the matter. The Victorian League of Wheelmen will offer no opposition to the two boduvs competing, a^ they reeog <iine tliat the lace it-elf \h practically an amateur one, and furthei. that the annual meeting of the ciack load ruler* of both bodie- will do much to stimulate genuine long distance road riding m all the .State*. Amateurs and professional* annually com pete toget'ier at the Woild\ Champioiwlnp meeting, that the \'i(tc>na.i Amateur go- \ eining bodies ha\e a good precedent to work csi. " American^ concede that road making in Germany i^ fine art. Few, howe\er, lealise thit road repairing has been reduc.*d to a compaiatively cheap art as well. I wish devouth. ' wntct- Count Alida yon Kronckou, m th& Chicago Tiibune, "that local societies could be formed in order to study it, and apply tlie re»u't« of the study to count iy ioad« in America I spoke once o£ tin >"^bJ££L tst aa audieuce of leading

citizens in Ulster County, in New York, an i ideal county to experiment in, having all the three chief things for success. I meau stones, paupers, and fruit trees. Germans find that it pays to encourage peasants to free their fields of stones. The property rises mi value— taxing value. The stones thrown into iieans by the roadside are purchased by Ihe district road-repairing commission. Poor men, who otherwise would have to be supported in almshouees, are hired to break stones, and then, are trained to the work of repairing the road-beds. The money to pay I the men is made by auctioneering off to the j highest bidder the crops of the fruit treo3 ! that were planted on both sides of the high- ! A\ay when it was built, and which are nourished «©]] by the manure that falk along the load and ia pushed at intervals ! by a rond tender upon their roots. The purchaser of the crop sees to it that his fruit is not stolen. The road commissioners have no bother about that. And although tho sale be by auction, it brings in consider- , ahle. Every burgher knows how much, bej cause the sales of highway fruit crops ore 1 published in the local newspapers. " It is said that some Sydney cyclists on tour at Easter time encountered a wind so strong that three of the party were blown ! over, machines and all. In mentioning this i ii'cidpnt a cycling f-evibe gays that a lively i imagination w as uuf>tul to a cyclist aa to a fisherman. It's a toss up whioh of the two has the more active imagination. I One and a-half horse power motor I bicycles are be:«\g placed on the English ! market at £35. I At :-he Melbourne Bicycle Olub's race meeting at St. Kilda, at Easter. Percy Ire- j dale was disqualified for a moii£h for dis- i courtesy to the stewards. The matter was altogether a misunderstanding, and on appeal the disqualification was removed, i —A. J. Hooper, the bookmaker connected ' with the recent case brought up at Mcl- ' bourno in connection with the Sports Bet- i ting Suppression Act, was fined £2 and ' costs. It will be recollected that A. G. I Whitty, who made the bet with the> Book- 1 •maker, and gave him in charge owing 1 ta a i i disagreement, was himself taken in-chaxg&l and fined £5. *- \ j The Victorian Sports Betting- Suppression Act, from winch so much was ex- | pected, is by no means perfect; Under its i provisions a good class of bookmakers, who j j may be depended upon to pay" when they j lose, will be stopped from operating, but ( the defaulting bookmaker, who hns no re- ' spect for the law or for himself, will bet with i impunity. The reason is plain. As both ! the bookmaker and the backer are held re- J eponoiblr to the law, the bookmaker may i pay or not, as he chooses, because he knows that the backer dare not appeal to the police ' or to anyone else for satisfaction of his wagers in cases of dispute or default, lest he- should ha\e to face the bench himself. In this, 'ince the ocople will bet, the di - ' honest or recklessly plunging layer of odds ' has his chance. A remedy ia not easy to find. The new law will btop the old-time noise of the "books" and minimise betting. . In f>o far a* it may go, it is therefore of some use to the community ' Mi William (rleobon, the senior referee of the Victorian League of Wheelmen, ' who ret-id^M at Coburg. recently had an en- > counter with a romict named PiPrie Desire, a Frenchman. The comict, who hud , lust been disc harged from Pentridgo. attempted a Imrglniy at Mr (.leei-on's house at 4 o'clock one morning, and wae caught ransacking a chest of drawers in the bedroom. Mr (ileeson, who is a warder at Pent ridge, has plenty of nerve and also a baton. The two together, helped by a powerful urm and a straight eye, led to a scalp wound 6111 in length on the top of the convict's head. Desire temporarily inado hi* escape, but was soon recaptured. The tempering of steel, which is of mk h importance in tile running parts of bievcloo, is a difficult thing to achieve with uniform result-., even by tho most expert aiti«:in, but a (format) professor lias dovit-ed a process for atcurate'y obtaining ntiv <'• ' gree of haiclnc=<-, the vjiiation* Wing I effected I>\ change* in the liquid u ; ed; and I depending on the. fact that graded results , may be produced by the use of milk m | \arvmg form anr? dilutions — that i." by- fre^h | and skimmed milk, fresh and old butter- ' nnlk, and different nvvtitrcs with water. The various stages of at idifiration of milk :ire al-o p;tul to give all tho effect 5 of hardI eninp m oil and other fat mixtures Uni- ' f ormity of the temper, n respective of the Iriidnc--. l- the great dV-iclerati'rn. A piomiuent cjtje. <! ib in New Yoik. the M'trnpol.'. piirpo-e^ celebrating the ' "-ilvei aiiiuver-aiy" i»f the Arneucan bicycle ! ■ on :im elaborate '■(ale tho t cannot fail t<> ;ittrn<* and anm-i public inteiest in tlio i evcur The f aiti t tl,,<t it is just £5 yai s ' ; tiinre tlie fii-t cycle waa manufar tmed in that country supplier the opportunity, and i : the re-olution before the c lub that I tho ce)el)ration be '•tyled the "Qua'lri-een- | • tennial of the Introduction of American j Bicycles," recommending May 15 as the \ date. The =cheme embraces an illuminated <■ cyelo parade, and a carnival on somewhat i showy ]me->. and on<\ not merely local in ' < scope. It ii pxpeeted that not merely will j ] indivulualfc and cluba l>e intereatcd, but that i i the trade will take an active interest, and bo ] represented in a suitable way commemora- j tive of the occasion. ] Never ride with loo=e erank=, whether i of the cotter-fa&tened variety or of the two- t piece crankshaft. To tighten up the first- w mentioned, hammer the totter in, holding a commensurate weight on the other side of ] the crank bo==i to take the shock of the f blow. The nut at the other end of the cot- <

tcT-pin should then be screwed home to keetf the pin in its place; but the rider mustr not attempt to tighten the pin by merely screwing up the nut, or the thread will ba stripped off. Sometimes the cotter is ul shadte too small, and if a new one is non procurable, insert a thin strip of metal, preferably steel, against the flat side of the pin. In the two-piece variety the causa of the looseness is that the sleeve inside the bracket is not thoroughly screwed up, and to remove this slackness the special tool supplied will hold the sleeve while the cranks are revolved, until all looseness and play are taken up. There is a production in which the cranks and axle are in one piece, but which device requires a special bottom bracket being built into the frame.