Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 59

Cycling and Motor Notes

BY DEMON.

FIXTUEB. October 21 and 23.—Motor cycle reliabilitytrial to Timaaru and back.

A .-well-known city motorist was driving into business a few mornings ago with his little nephew beside him in the car. Oir passing the sta/tue of Robert Burns in the Octagon the little fellow inquired from his uncle as to whom the statue represented. "Burns," was the reply, as a thrill of Scotch patriotism overcame the proud uncle. The youngster's next query was a good one* "Why didn't they put up Johnson's?"

At the Sydney eight-hour day cycle meeting the ex-Invercargill rider. J.. T. Summers (120 yards) secured a. second in the M'Gowen Mile, and, ran into thirdplace, in the Two-mile Wheel Race off the 210 yards mark. Messrs E. P. tee (Oamaru), A. G. Oreag.h (Oamaru), and W. G. HMJIe (Kartigi),. Clement-Talbots, and Anderson froen Christchurob, F.N., have been in Dunedin during the past few days. Messrs Stedman and Wilson report having sold Clement-Bayard care to Dr Fitohett (Dunedin), Messrs Todd Bros. (Heriot), National Mortgage (Gore), and Mr David Doake (Kelso). The car supplied to Mr Doake is one of the now seven-horse power twin cylinders. Mr Wilson informs me that this model has exceeded their expectations, and is proving itself a great hill climiber. —— The Triumph motor cycle has recently created two new records, Harry Long having travelled_ 20,QC0 miles in six months, while Hassall, riding a Triumph on Brcok-la-nds track, made a_ new hour record for single cylinders, covering 63 miles 194 yards. Messrs Stedman- and Wilson have been appointed Otago agents for the Douglas 'motor cycle. The horizonW.lv -opposed cylinders on this machine equally divide the tfcne between the explosions, which produces a, nice, even drive.

C. R. Collier, the crack motor cyclis-t of England, did not leave J. De Rosier's new -world's record for the Flying Mil© and Flying Kilometre (1093 yards) stand on the sheets very long, for by the English mail news comes that Collier has established two wonderful records on Brcoklands track (Enigland), in one instance travelling at a speed of over 90 miles an hour. The new figure® are—a mile in 39 2-ssec and the kilometre in The time for the ■mile is equal to a speed of 91.37 miles per hour.

sumption trial held at Glasgow a remarkable achievement was accomplished by the winner, whose performance was equal to covering 277 miles to a gallon, and that on a 3| h.p. engine which weighed well under 3121 b. This is surely a record!

A sax days' motor cycle reliability trialhas just been successfully concluded in England over a distance of 1012 miles, and as a result of the return the average touring motor cycle appears to be deficient in two respects —viz., the necessity of proper arrangement for control or ignition and the fitting of stronger and larger-sized rims to wheels. As regards the former, it was found that on marry of # the steep and rough hills that had to be ridden under observation during the trial, riders in many instances dared not let go the handlebar to retard- ignition when the engine was knocking for fear of falling, the consequence being that several riders lost gold medals simolv because they did not have

the control mounted on the handlebar, from which point the spark can be easily manipulated without trouble. On the second < point, many of the competitors badly dented their rims, and consequently bad tyre ' trouble. Both these points are of particular interest to motor cyclists in this country; in fact, these two deficiencies are very apparent on most of the motor cycles seen on our roads.

— —The ex-cyclist, young enthusiast, and ful of energy, welcomes the motor bicycle. It enables him to traverse ground quickly and surely. ' He feels_ independent, and suffers no fatigue even in the hottest weather. Moreover, the price is not pirohibitive. In fact, it is quite within the means of the average poor man. It is just possible that in the next few years prices of motor cycles will be lowered considerably, but at present the refinements and improvements introduced have been such that anything in the shape of reduction is impossible.

While the question of the unnecessary blowing of motor horns has been discussed with no practical results in England, it has been solved out of hand by the Prussian Minister of the Interior. The Minister has issued a decree against excessive noises created by motor cars, and chauffeurs aria warned that extreme or .unnecessary* blowing of horns or screeching of other instrumentshenceforth will be considered a misdemeanour and punished as such. Violations of the decree by night will be treated as "disturbances of the peace." The Minister save that the principal duty of chauffeurs is. to drive carefully, and that they must no longer seek -to escape this obligation by making tho highways hideous with hornblowihg. . •< —— Mr C. B. KeMow, the one-time wellknown Victorian racing cyclist, "has just returned to'Melbourne after a trip round the world, during which he saw much of the automobile'—its manufacture, marketing, and use. He .was amazed a't the extent of theindustry as.a, whole,and at many of the. individual factories. It was in America, however,, that he was most astonished, not merelv by the hugeness of tho factories, but by the rapidity with which the ears were produced. Wherever machinery could be introduced it was done by the Yankees, and it was surprising to see even the most difficult component parts ci a car—the ov&nk-ehairt, for instance —turned .out at the rate of 16 per hour! That gives an index as to the output of cars —in the case of one factory, 900 per day. Be went to the States rather sceptical of the American! products; but has come away oowvinoad of their good value. Their roads, he eays, are ho better than ours in the colonies; hence they ought to know what is required for use in a country such as this. The "fierce" clutch is due to aw accumulation of grit and dirt on the leather face, or to the spring, being too strong. Again, tho leather is generally riveted on to the' cone with copper rivets; these are screwed in until the heads ate about &in below the surface of the leather, the holes in the latter being previously countersunk. In time the leather wears down to the rivets, and when this occurs, the clutch is apt to become very fierce, owing to tho rivet heads seizing the metal of the clutch In this case the rivets should be driven in until they are again well below the surface. To keep a none clutch in good working order, it is necessary to occasionally, clean the leatherwith petrol, and give it a dressing with a small quantity of suitable oil. Castor and neatsfcot oils are generally used, and are about the best for t.K» purpose, although special leather dressings are now marketed which are admirably adapted for clutch use A compound of pure nea.tsfoot. with a suitable mineral oil, which is really _ what th« best leather dressings are, will give the most satisfactory results; but whatever is used, "little and often" is good advice. -

——"Vegetarian cyclists in England raced against meat and other food consumers recently. The winner w.as the vegetarian. F. H. Grubb.

According to the London News, there are very few motorists who have- not at some time or other been troubled, if not annoyed, at the cyclist's practice of hanging on to their oars by airy

projection which comes handy. That this practice is a dangerous oca there is no question, and the irritation is caused by a feeling on the part of the car-owner that, no matter what acoident may occur to the cyclist while indulging in his free tow, he (the motorist) will be blamed, and probably sued for and cast in damages In June last representations were made to the Commissioner of Police, who replied that this hanging-on was an offence muter "The Metropolitan Police Act, ■ ib-59. At a recent meeting of the banterbury Automobile Association Dr Lomsson stated that the deputation from the association which had waited on Sir Joseph Ward had suggested that the minimum age for boys' licenses should be 17, or possibly less, but the Prime Minister had considered that 17 or 18 was young enough. Mr F W. Johnston said that at that rate a motorist's 15 years' old son would be debarred from driving his fathers oar, a fact which ho designated as "all rot. tie said that a boy of 15 was much more competent to drive than 999 out of every thousand lady motorists. Dr Louisson: Do you mean to say that he has more sense than a lady of 25 or 30? Mr Johnton: Absolutely. The women rank among the fastest and most dangerous drivers in Christchurch. We have not yet had an accident when a boy was at the wheel, but -we have had several where the driver was ■a lady. A sub-committee was set up to go into the whole question and report. & For several years past the largest aggregation of motor-cars in Victoria has been at Flemington on Gup Day. Last year if-I ("Fortis," in the Australasian) remember aright, there were close upon 600 motor vehicles on the ground. It is certain that that total will be greatly- exceeded this year. The increase will be due not only to the greater number ot privately-owned cars in use, but also to the large fleets of taxi-cabs now available, and which will be pressed into service. It is estimated-that there are 90 to 100 of these vehicles in commission, or at least, will be about Cup time. The V.K.C. authorities are quite alive to. the situation, and reoogmise that additional accommodation will be required. Arrangements are now in progress to provide space that will permit of about 1000 motor-cars being parked. .Some idea of the growth of the motor car trade may be gained finom the following facts. A motor agent who lias returned to Inveroargill after a fortnight's business trip north reports the followingsales:—Miss L. Manchester, of Waimato, ordered a 12-h.p. De Dion; Mir Thomas Oudwallader. oi Waimate, an 8-h.p. De Dion; Messrs Wigley and Thornley, of tho Mount Cook motor car service, purchased a 30-h.p. Darracq chassis; the Waimate Motor Garage ordered for clients three 12-h.p,- De Dions; Mr Harold Roljinson, of Timaru, in connection with T. Stono, Bold a 10-h.p. De Dion; Mr Donald Bur nett and Mr W. Grant, both of 'Fair-lie, dealt with De Dion cars. The following is a list of cars at present on the New Zealand coast or in the body-builders' hands to be delivered during the following oionths:—One 15-h.p. Napier for Mr P. Wright, " of Dunedin; one 12-18-h.p. Clement Bayard for Mr Scott, of Dunedin; one 10-15-h.p. Clement Bayard for the National Mortgage Co., of Gore;'one 12-h.p De Dion for Mr W. M'Culloch, of Waimate; ens 8-h.p. De Dion car for Mr J. Median, of Waimate; one 9-h.p. Do Dion for Mr Dewar. of Oamaru; one 10-15-h.p. Clement Bayard for Mr Harold Studholm, of Inveroargill. These sales have been effected through Mr Thomas Stone, of Inveroargill. An interesting article on the American touring cars appears in the latest issue of the Automobile Engineer, a technical motor journal, which is not so widelyknown in this country as it deserves to be on its merits. A member of the staff recently visited the principal automobile factories in the States, and writes his opinions on the oars he saw. After a preliminary remark that the use of the American car in the colonies is not altogether due to greater commercial activity on the part of the American manufacturers, he notes first of alj the silence of the American chassis. "The American designer," he says, "has,much to learn in engine work, but he •is master of the world in the elimination of small noises." He puts this down to the fact that the cars had to be designed for extremely rough roads — ".roads," he says, "no smoother and no harder than an ordinary ploughed field. Over such surfaces cars are forced at high speeds with heavy loads, and yet even some of the lighter and cheaper models . contrive to hold together for several years." He observes that the suspension permits of greater elasticity in the frame and the greater clearance takes this up. A badlysprung car is seldom encountered. He does not care for the com ba nod gear-box and differential noticeable on many American oars, and the brake' arrangements especially as regards appearance. "The American automobile makers," he adds, "have had more important things than appearance to consider. Working under more arduous conditions they have given far more attention to manufacture than to finish." The moi striking thing in connection with gear is the ability of the American maker to turn out an enormous number of cars in which no one is conspicuously noisy or more noisy than the rest of the series.

DATES ON TYRES. The average man is either to tell the age, or be sure of the age of nearly ail commodities in use. when- they are of a prishable nature, and calculated to deteriorate with the effluxion of time. He can, on demand, learn the year on which the oar he intends purchasing was constructed; in fact, as a matter of habit, the urbane salesman usually ventures this information unsolicited. Yet when he comes to buy a lyre, that most .expensive, most perishable, and extremely depreciable component of a car, he finds himself, in most cases, at a loss. Many cannot say when a tyre was made, nor how long it has been in stock. Each and every tyre, should carry with it, not alone the name and address of the makers, and particulars of its dimensions, and a series number, as is done at present; but also the date'on which it was turned out of the factory. Just at tho present tyre manufacturers are urging motorists to beware of "price-cutting" and piratical firms, who obtain tyres, by dark and d©r vioua methods, obliterate the number, and sell at a discount. The warning is given that makers cannot harken into complaints •bout such mutilated tyres.

Dunedin to Timaru and back, to.be held on the 21st and 23rd of this month, are as foMows : Private Owners' Class.—A. Fogo, 3 2 horse-power King Dick; J. M. Rodger, 34 Triumph; A. Bedford, 34 Norton ; J. Olive, 4- Norton; W. Mann, 34 King Dick; H. Fanoourt, 34 Triumph; D. Sinclair, 34 Norton: P. J. M'Shane, 6-7-Bat; W. Young, 5 Norton; F. M'Donald, 34 Norton; E. J. Scelye, 34. Humber; W. A. Mays, 44 Minerva; G. H. Trott, 34 Triumph; H. L Patcrson, 34 King Dick; T. Smclho,34 Triumph; W. A. Gibb, 7 Indian; W. Wilson, Triumph; M. Watson Munro, 3j> Humber (two-speed); W! S. Meek, 3 2 Triumph ; J. H. Meek, 34. Triumph; A. A. Reid, 34- King Dick; A. M'Dougall, 34 Triumph; W. Lambert, 34 Humber; A. Patcrson, 34 Humber; S. D. Lawson, 34. Humber; G. T. Thorn, 34 Triumph. The 27 entries in the Private Owners' Class constitutes a record. Trade Class.—Messrs Winmenny Bros., 24 horse-power New Hudson (T. C. Wimpenny rider) ; 34 Rudge-Whitworth (H. Curline rider) ; Cooke, Howlison, and Co., 34 King Dick (E. Howlison), 34 King Dick (J. Gray); F. Barnett, Dominion Garage, 34 Excelsior (F. Barnett); Steadman and Wilson, 34 Triumph (G. N. Maddox), 34 Triumph (F. Curline), 34 B.S.A. (F. E. Bell).

MOTOR CYCLING. ' SYDNEY, October 14. Fair a motor cyclist, rode from Melbourne to Sydney in 49 "hours, but failed to lower the record established by Pearson, a New South Wales cyclist. • CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS. ! BRISBANE, October 15. (Received Oct. 16, at 0.40 a.m.) i At tho amateur cycling championships of Australia the Half Mile Race was won by T'rousdell (Queensland) in lmin 7 2-ssec, and tho Ten Milo Race was won by Cutcliffe (New South Wales) in 26min 35sec.