CYCLING NOTES. BY DEMON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 59

CYCLING NOTES. BY DEMON.

- — The Taipri Cycling Club got off their open Mile and a-Half Handicap (post- j poned from the previous Slaturday) on ! Sl?turday night at the Caledonian Ground. There were only fi\o starters j —A. P. Fleming and H. T. Christie scratch, *T. B. Christie &0 yards, A. Warren &0, and C. Slnilh 100. Warren and Smith paced each other splendidly, the two back men also doing the same. At tho fifth lap the field had closed up, and a good finish resulted in Fleming winning b/ about 6in from Harry Christie, with T. B- Christie a foot away third. Time, 4-min 4-7 see. It may be news to tho>e who ?ttended the Dunedin Cye-iing Club's sports ■ 0.1 February 18 at the Caledonian Grounds j to learn that, according to the Melbourne i Weekly Times, the "Otago" Wheel Rac?. which was decided at the above club's sports, was run in "Wellington (N.Z.)." R. Arnsfc has entered for the Sydney Thousand, and if the handicap is "satisfactory to him he* will vivt Australia, with Hi.? object of endeavouring to annex the ] big prize.

— —A. W. Humphrey, who folloAved the league circuits pretty consistently a few ' years ago. was racing in Napier the other week, and, with the assistance of a handi- ' cap, won a second prize. There was a good attendance at the Melbourne Exhibition" track on February 18 to witness the "man-to-man" contests promoted 1 by the Melboxirne Bicycl-e Club. ' Ellegaard (Denmark) and Lawson (U.S.A.) were matched over a mile, best two out of three tries, and Rutt (Germany) met Geoi-ge Parley (Australia) under similar conditions. ; Lawson won the first two tries in his ' match, beating EJlegaard rather easily. Be- < tween Farley and Rutt the contest was closer, tho score standing even when the final event came on. This was the fastest : }f the championship events— 2min 42?ec— • md in one case the time taken by the ' :iackß_ over the mile was nearly 4min. The following trenchant remarks by * :he Australian cycling writer -"Tangent'"' 1 ;peak for themselves: "It was openly stated J )n Saturday evening that the reason F. * Vlacfarland was a non-startev was because a he Melbourne Bicycle Club declined to \wy ! nm appearance money. In this, I think, hpy were quite right, and Maefarland and s ithers who are prone to place much too s ligh a price Upon their abilitie? -hould be c nade to understand that they are r.ot inch— l )en«able, and a refusal of their entries I rauld speedily bring such gentry to a pro- ! i icr senso of their non-importance. It 19 2 tot so long ago that this arrogant cj'elisfc vas whining and cringing to have a well- •£ ueritcd disqualification removed, and. hay- '1-

in:; bsen successful, lie should«comport him--elf decfntly."' The erstwhi,le holder of the world's hour record, "Tommy" Hall, has, in a great degree, recovered his old form, and been the victor in three paced races in Paris in succession. Last season he was most unfortunate, sustaining either falls or punctures, and sometimes both in one race. It is anticipated that he will stand cui^as the best pace follower thi-. y-ear, barring any bad tumbles, and as scon as the weather is at all favourable he will endeavour to regain the houi record, standing at nearly 55 miles. -ipr- In a recent six days' cycle race on an indoor track in New York one large firm had 4-L machines Tinning. Of these, through falls, the frames of 15 were badly damaged, 28 rims were, oroken, and tyres destroyed galore. One -ider broke five rims within two hours. The competitors used gears of about IOOm, but one, a Frenchman, named Gougol, drove 126 in» According to English files, the Continental lacers prefer the lin blo'ek chain to the roller pattern, because th-e latter has a certain amount of give in it. which is fatal to the sharpest sprinting. Practically all, if not quite all. the path racers use the block pattern, which has been so universally discarded on tho road. The opinions of several trainers and riders are given, and they are all unanimous that with the block chain the- jump or sprint is quicker under all conditions. Although the Crystal Palace track, England (upon which last year's world's ci amplonships were decided), is three laps to the mile, it i\ banked to a height of Bft in a width of 30ft. The stiaights *ire of 390 ft and the curves 310 ft. Tt is made of concrete slabs, with a special top c urface. and there is also in the centre of the enclosure a. running track, which is four laps to the lr.ile. and has 120 yds sprinc on the finishing side. It is =aid to be fast, and. for accommodation, is one of the best in England. — — Frank Kramer, ths Yankee, sprinter. Las co\ered a quarter of a mile (unpaced) i-i 24- l-ssec. When the last mail loft the winnings of prominent cyclists in Australia for the present season stood thus: — A. J. Clarke £4-81 7s 6d. E. A. Pye £299 3s, Ivor Lawson £267, G. J. Farley £239, G. R. Morgan £201 10s, B. Campion £200, F. Maefarland £157 10s, W. Rutt £141 15s 6d, J. M'Mahon £128, T. Ellegaard £118 15s. — — I understand that the glamour of the racing path is proving too- much for R. C,nnnell to withstand, and that the. popular Temuka rider will once more don the racing suit when the> term of his 12 months' diZ qualificano7i expires, which it does at the end of this month. During the inters al Connell has occupied himself farming a*Temuka. i-Iv D. SI ran is now the. possessor of a 3 horse-power twin-cylinder Clemen lGarrakl. having 'exchanged machines with W. Teesdale, the latter motor rider having become possessed of Strong's 2 horse-power single-cylinder Clement-Garrard. Strang i? enthusiastic ovei the hill-climbing abilities of hisi new machine, and the labour entailed in pedalling which was nece«sarv to help "Davie" negotiate Look-out Point and ] Saddle Hill on his old machine is now I numbered among- the unpleasant things of the pr-t. Two weary, wet. and miserable misfiring motor c,\eli-ts contrived somehow to lose one another in the darkness on Sunday night when returning tonnwuids. Sluroly ihrt mcriy medico forgot to laugh, or he ivoukl ha\e been found by his mate, Demon knows. Mr TV. B. Bell reports a very pleat ant run from Durjodin to Gore on Saturday lfternoon, "(hcj distance (100 miles) being lune leisurely in about five and a-half hours' ."iding time. — Mi J. V. 11. Friscr also had o splendid up from Clinton to TVaihola on the same ifiernoo.i. Those engines fitted with cast-iron ii.haust and inlet valv.'s require very much ess attention for rcai-inclinor than do thosß

n ade of steel.

The ca-t iron k-ine <-oitas

than s*eci. <Ik> v.ihe keeps grinding it«f*lf u, to its scat before pit marks can got a start. Usuilhy steel stems £ie fitted to calves with iron heads. Good motor engines will ls-t for a great number of years if the bearings are rebushed when required. Ma^n-cto ignition on motor cycles usually ah-orbs close on horse-power, so can only be recommended when that amount of power can be spared.

Mica "sparking plugs often shoitcircuit through the la? en of mica. This

Ocin be st-oppoj by scicwii>g the mica layers tighter togeir'.ior.

The pinion wheel- in the 2 to 1 gear of sonic motor engines are made- of fibre, and so em to stand the wear fairly well.

Mr Paterson. of Gore, has purchased from Mr Bockhaert his new 12-h.p iwooylindcred Dc Dion Bouton car. This will be tho bc>i car running about Southland now.

Mr Bertio Grey has got his :i"w tyres for his Darracq car, and is using ifc round about Goro. This X also a very nice car. but has not sufficient spare power to stand loading with leather tyre protectors. Th&se leather cover? absorb a great deal moie power than the ordinary person would imagine, and intending purchasers should remember this fact. Leather covers ar e indeed very desirable, and do saie the tyres, but two oi three extra horse-power should be allowed for when purchasiusf if these covers are to be used.

A car that is jhurning away most of the time on if. low or secoucl speed is decidedly unpleasant, especially if "one ha.-* ever ridden in a car that an do most of its work on it* high speed, which i=, usually the- direct-drive one. s.

Mr Gray's 10-h.p. Wolseley car seemed to be running very well on ' Saturday afternoon, when on "the Main South, road. The ear had fire persons on board, and took the hills splendidly. I should reckon that they very seldom dropped back so far as to u-e their lowest speed. 1 hecar seems to be better handled tbon it used to be.

Thc--e motor ;yclcs that are fitted with hea\y engines placed well fe forward should ha\e their saddles placed well back, so a* to reduce the strain on trie front part of the machine, which i= . much weaker and moie dangerous to the lider should that part fail.

A' great many motor cycles are fitted with combined luggage carrier and stand, which, when turned down for stand purposes, carries the rear pcrTion- oi the back mudguard rith it, tlm^ exposing the tyre for repair purposes. A good plan, if your motor is not so fitted, is to make for the most convenient fence post, and hang the machine up on it by the driving belt, if nothing else is handier.

Scrpo'.letfc steam cars are entering for the French eliminating trials for the Gordon Bennett Cup.

Banjo"' Patevson. the well-known Australian writer, took move than a passing: interest in the recent Sydney-to-Melboiu'!i& motor contisc. He was aboard 3!r J. N. Arnott's 20-h.p. Innes car during tho courso of the race

A distinguished motoring- visitor to Victoria is the Count di Gropello, one of the founders of tho famous "Fiat" work-3 at Turin, Italy, who arrived by the last n.ail steamer from India. The Count eom-5 peled in the recent reliability test between Delhi and Bombay, driving: his 16-h.p. Fiafe, with the resuk that he was awarded the cup given by tho Rajah of Eampur for the most economical jar in the content. "Fiat," by the way, is an acrostic formed by the initial letters of the great Italian firm — Fabrica Itahano A Turinc. The Count v. described bj «,he Italian papers as an exceedingly good sportsman.

■ Tjie estimated value of tbe competing cars and mota cycles in the recent Syduey-to-Melbourne Motor Reliability Tes.. is about £12.000 for car* and ovei £800 for motor cycles. All told, the contest will probably cost the promoters about £4-0G to run, whilst the ag-gre.gat^femount that .vill be spent by competitors will be little short of £1000. Some 17C0gal of motor spirit (weigrhing- in ca~o about eight tons) A - as required for the competitors, besides a large quantity of lubricating oil. A set of sectional maps was prepared for the use of competitors, so that there would be little difficulty in following the course. All dangerou 1--hill? and turns on roads were marked ivith red danoor boards.

— — Mr C J. Glidden, the gentleman who, with his wife, is making a tour jf the principal countries of the world in his motor car, and who but recently completed the run through New Zealand, on Sunday week arrived in Melbourne from Tasmania, wher he had been touring. Mr Gliclden's intentions are to add to hi.- accumulated mileage of 22.000 miles by driving through the eastern States of the Commonwealth. Java will then be the next place visited, after which he v ill return to England, prior to making another extended trip to the northern countiies of Africa, Turkey, Greece, Syria, Ceylon, and through the East generally. The party will visit the Western District, and proceed acrow-. the border to Mcaixl Gambler, and. going north to Narracoorte, will then drive easterly and regi'n Melbourne ia Ballarat Other places in Victoria are to he vis-ited. w lien an overland ride will be taken to Sydney.

Writing on the subject of rhe Gordon Bennett race, and the recont movement in France to inorease M~ <*cope in favour of local vider*. Mr S. V. Edge, one of the ivo/.d* leading moton=t«, and a winner of one of tbe big -e\eiif>. wiites as follows under date Jnimary 3. — "I think myself the time ha= really coire when it should be seriously <^on^idered whether these. longdistance, high— l^oed races viith the prescut heavy lacins; cais are u^ofu! or nece<-ary at all. Tiny have boon very uspful in the pasr. but I think that under thoir present rules thoir utility has nitiroly va^sod away. and that ■either tho race* -.hould cease or t'.<> rulos be amende 1 hi such a manner thai-, they tend to tho greater- imp' moment of motor-ear construction than tho invent rules do."

T wenr 1"!'1 "!' how much tb n^xt cont^f; for tho (-Jordjn Bonnott Cup will cost the trade? (wi.fo-, Mr C. H. Lavrttte' in A-hlet.rt News'). In France alone no fe\v<-T than 80 car* have been entpjvcl for tho r'lminatitip: trials, but only oV-out ten will be oni/M-pcb that are of Bi\nVn rnako. The arrangements it is estimated, will east some £16.000. Tlio lead sot by Ihp Napier Com r any to build their bio: entwine* with six cylinders X being widely copied. When it i 3i 3 taken into ronsideratioif that thos.> eo.->t fully four figures, the expense of constructing theso sneed monsters can be readily ima.ginp'T. And it is the private purchaser who really pays for everything, just as the cyclist did

tor the big racing expenses of the cycle companies' lacing teams j'-ears ago. What is regarded as one of the drawbacks to the more general use of the motor bicycle is the very great weight of these machines, which usually exceed 1201b. Efforts are being made to produce a bicycle which shall have the motor or the man as the auxiliary power, and hopes are entertained that not only will a light-weight rehicle be produced, but also a much cheaper one. A well-known Australian motor-cyclist states that he has a machine that "fills the bill." Its weight is but 7011 complete; its engine i 3 I 5 h.p., and he states he can easily pedal it when the driving belt has been removed. Its cost was about two-thirds the ordinary figure. • With tho run to Stonehenge and back, the first week of the Automobile Club's 5000 miles' trial was completed by the 12 h.p. Siddeley car. driven alternately by Mr Sidney Girling (who was in the Gordon-Bennett race last year) and Mr A. E. Sutcliffe. !Th© distance covered during the week was 1000 miles, and so far the sum of mishaps has been three punctures and one stoppage through a short supply of petrol. The breather during the week was all against motoring. A snowstorm was encountered, which was followed by sleet and cold rain. The roads were terribly heavy throughout, md only- on. one day were the conditions at nil agreeable, though the surfaces were still treacherous.

Som> novel reliability trials were carried out when latest files to hand left England. The Automobile Club had undertaken an official re'iabiiity trial of a 24 horsepower "Sfcraker and Squire" omnibus, which is propelled by a four-cylinder petrol motor of -the vertical type. The trials were to last for three weejfs. the total distance to be covered being two thousand miles. The routes will be^so miles out and then back on six of tho main roads leading from London, a large portion of each journey being* through metropolitan suburbs and over such roads as ommirt&ss generally have to travel. For the pitfposes of the trial the 'bus :s fitted with a temporary body weighted fco the approximate working conditions of a double-decked vehicle of this description, with a carrying capacity of 34 passengers. Experts in motoring assert that suffi-' cient attention is not paid to the tyres, which, eve-n under the most careful treatment, is the most expensive item, in the upke°n of an autnmobile. Auart from giving heed to the sundry curs and abrasions which the covers are certain to receive, it is held that the pumn used for inflating the tyree should always have a pressure gauge upon it. so pc to ensure efficient inflation. This not,onlv renders the covers more durable, but lessens the risk of puncture. The pressure usually put in t-o- th,e tyres of tho ordinary evele varies according to the size, the- Fm? lie- tho greater p-essure required 'to nrevent the tube from being nipped. For or&inprv roadster tvrea about 251b to the square inch is applied. For motor cycle tyres a pressure of 301b is desirable, and for tri-ears or voitureti-es 501b; light ears reortire 751b, and hea.vy cars up tc 1001b to Jfche scruare The tyres in the racing motor require a still greater pressure ; as high as 1201b has been found advisable.

CYCLTNGr TEAMS RACE

MELBOURNE, March 5.

At .the Bicycle Club meeting in the Teams' Pest Ellegaard and Farley beat Lawson and MacFarland by 19 points to 18.