Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3231, 16 February 1916, Page 58

Cycling and Motor Notes

BY DEMON.

Some strong remarks were made at the meeting of the Canterbury Automobile Association on the 9th inst. in connection with the alleged unwarranted action of the petrol-selling companies in increasing the price of motor-spirit. It was stated (says the Christchurch Press) that though the stocks of petrol were large, the price had been advanced over 2s a case, far in excess of the proportion of the alleged rise in freights, which had not been paid on the stocks in hand. The association decided to set up a committee to go thoroughly into the matter, with a view to seeing if something could not be done to alter the position. The Green Island toll-gate was opened shortly after 8 o'clock on Monday morning, and a well-known Duncdin architect was the first to bo called on to pay a fee. Users of the toll paid their respective fees without any ill-feeling—in fact, the drivers of vehicles were inclined to be jocular over the innovation. At 3 p.m. the revenue amounted to £3 lis 3d. One thing which was troubling the authorities at Green Island was the absence of sheep and cattle. Under ordinary circumstances on the day before sale day at numbers of these animals are driven along the road. The Burnside sale was, on account of the races, held on Tuesday, but up till 3 p.m. on Monday no sheep or cattle had passed through the bar. Another route to the yards has evidently been discovered. At midday members of the Taieri County Council paid a visit to the toll bar, and examined the obstruction, and a photograph was taken of the group. It is understood that ratepayers in the district who require to use the toll are to have certain concessions made to them, notwithstanding the assertion made in some quarters that tho council cannot legally exempt anyone from full payment. —— A party of motorists from Dunedin had an interesting time on the ClydeCromwell road, in the vicinity of tho recent wash-outs. In avoiding the boulders at one point tho machine backed over an embankment, and was only brought up 15ft below the road surface by a clump of trees. How to regain tho road was a problem, but fortunately some tools left by surfacemen were discovered near > by, and tho motorists set to work to build a track. Just as their labours had been concluded the coach came along with a welcome reinforcement of four willing men, and tho car was soon back on tho road. Next morning, however, further trouble was encountered; this time near tho Bald Hill Flat, on tho Clyde-Roxburgh road. Hero a cloud-burst hud created a gap 20ft wide by about 12ft deep in the roadway.

While the motorists _ were reviewing tho situation they were joined by the occupants of two other cars, and the whole party set to work and made a track down the bank by the side of the road. Within two hours, they had got to the other side of the crater, and were sailing merrily for home. It was hot work, though. Amongst tho New Zealand cyclists to enlist is P. O'Shca, who established fastest tinio in the last Dunlop load race from Warrnambool to Melbourne. O'Shea is one of tho fastest long-distance riders that New Zealand has produced, his records including two Timaru-Christchurch events. motorists who are hard hit by tho increased cost of motoring (says an English motorist) to reflect that in Germany tlie lot of the motorist is far harder. From figures which have como to hand from Hanover, via America, it appears that the number of cars in use in Germany has dropped since the beginning of the war from 70,000 to less than 15,000, and this includes motor vehicles of all classes. In Austria the drop has been from 30,000 to 10,000. All pleasure motoring has been stopped, the vehicles being requisitioned for army purposes, and petrol is at a prohibitive price, so that the use of commercial vehicles is greatly restricted. —■ —ln connection with motorists' practice of leaving their cars at the kerb while engaged elsewhere and for which many here have been fined of late, the Indianapolis police are acting in an original way. When a car owner leaves his vehicle unattended in the street or square, he finds, on returning to the car, a white .paper pasted on the wind-shield, upon which is printed:— "Police Notice. This car was parked at ■ . The law prohibits parking in this square; second violation means arrest." The license number of the car is also shown. If a second offence is committed, or the traffic rules infringed, the wind-shield 'will be decorated with a red notice, reading:—"You are hereby notified to appear in the polico court for violating the traffic ordinance." Another American item, refers to a charge against farmers '•cultivating" mudholes for the profit there is in pulling cars out of the mire—a practice not altogether confined to America, for on several of our highways where reconstruction work was in progress motorists were continually complaining of being exploited in a similar manner. —. — Tho world's senior cyclist undoubtedly is the Rev. Dr Tennant, vicar of Darsham, Suffolk, England, who claims to have ridden since 1865—upwards of 50 years. So far as records go, it is usually understood that 1867 marked tho introduction of the bicycle to Britain. The vicar, however, is sure of the date; ho rode an iron-tyred, crank-driven machine 50 years ago, and by various ascertainable data —such as his age on leaving school, etc. —he was enabled to verify hia facts beyond dispute. In view of the foregoing, it would be interesting to learn who built the bicycle. The wonder is that nothing was heard of this oldest cyclist before. An English motor trader suggests that 1000 members of the motor trade sould each pool £IOOO each, £1,000,000, with a view to forming a company in England to manufacture a low-priced car to keep the cheap American cars out of England. He backs up his suggestion by offering to make one of the group, claiming that what has been achieved in America from a low-priced car point of view can be achieved in England. According to an American writer, four-speed gear-boxes for private cars have almost ceased to exist in the United States. Most of the American manufacturers consider that witl/ modern engines and the low rear axle rat/ons of to-day, there is little need for moro than three speeds, and to provide four calls for higher post, greater weight, and increased opportunity for noise. A novel device for teaching ladies motor driving is in use in America. To aid them in controlling their cars beforti essaying traffic driving, all four wheels ar« are jacked up and the pupil _ lakes tho driver's seat. A semaphore with several arms is placed in front of the car. By pulling a cord tho operator causes an arm to be° raised before tho car with phrases like "road closed," "steep hill," "bad curve," etc. Ladies aro said to gain great confidence, and to quickly learn how to manipu* late gear lovers, brakes, eto., in a short tuna by means of this device. trips made between Christchurch and Greymouth last week- are worthy of noto (say? the Star). On tho 6th Mr Schaef brought his car, with passengers, through in 10 hours. On the sth Messrs Newman Bros.' car covered the distarcs in eight and a-half

hours.' These times Includo towage across ike Waimakiriri Biver. OVER-HEATING. The- general application of the thermoBrohon principlo of water circulation docs ■fob appear to have eliminated troubles such as oTor-heating, judging from tho fairly frofluert Questions regarding it t*»at are submitted to ua (says tho Autocar, England), In the first, place, it b desirable to point gut that there is a good deal of misconcep-

tion as to what "over-heating" means. The novico lacking experience and judgment is rather prone to hold the opinion that his engine should run much cooler than it does. He has no actual standard for judging what tho best heat should be, and therefore it is more in the naturo of a guess that it is over-heating, although he may not notice any adverse effect on the running. If there is any real over-heating, there is certain to bo ample evidence of it by the fact of the water boiling, and it must furthermore be kept in mind that the radiator on tho majo-

rity of cars is not calculated to_ keep the water at many degrees below boiling point even in normal circumstances. Except when the running is very light and, consequently, there is much lees than the maximum of heat cnergv developed in the engine, a thermometer test will prove that the water at the top of the radiator is at or round about 2Codeg Fahrenheit, In one respect the fact that an engine does normally bring the circulation water up to a fairly high temperature is rather to be favourably regarded than otherwise, as the steaming of the water at any time serves as an indication that some 'adverse condition has arisen in the engine. Very often it will be found that the earburation has gone wrong, and except for the hint given by the steaming radiator this important fact might remain undiscovered for a long period. PRESENT-DAY MOTOR CYCLES. Figures recently compiled in England show that 88 well-known makes of motor cvclos are now marketed. Out of these M are fitted with single cylinder with twins, and one with a four-cyhnaer. Of the 53 single-cylinders listed 33 have two-stroke engines-figures that will surprise most motor cyclists in this country, for the two-stroka has so far made little progress out here! In transmission, out ot 85 machines 47 are driven through a combination of chain and belt. Chains were fitted to 26, and belt-drive on 12 makes only. The falling away of' the belt-drive is most marked. That the change speed gears have jumped into popularity is shown bv the fact that 38 of the 85 machines tabulated were fitted with three-speed gears, 34 with two-speed, throe with variable gears, two with four-speeds, and eight only with single gears. From the above figures it will bo seen that the trend of motor cycle design is towards a more expensive outfit, and from the look of things the up-to-date motor cycle is going to get dearer instead ot cheaper. At a time when economy is so necessary, one cannot but regret that the prices of machines are rising all round, and that the attention of the trade is being devoted to the more costly models at the expense of the cheaper ones. Motor cycies, in fact, arc- becoming too dear. The sidecar at over £IOO becomes the competitor of the cheap oar, and the motor bicycle at from £7O and £9O is outside the range of the man with £25 to spend. No one questions that these machines are excellent value for the money; but the concentration of the attention of the trade on those expensive productions is a tact tnat one cannot look on without regret, Moneywill be tighter with all of us_ in the future, and the cost of our motor bicycles will become a greater consideration than it was before the war. There will therefore be a wider market, than ever for the simplyequipped and mexpensiye motor bicycle and we hope the fact will not be lost sight of by the trade. Another important point manufacturers want to study is that the low-priced machine is necessary in their own interests, for it increases the number of motor cyclists, who in the future womd bo potential customers for the more powerful and better-equipped machines. PETROL FOR~GERMANY. According to authentic news from Pans, Germany is now getting the bulk. o her petrol supplies from Galicia, whilst small quantities" are obtained from Hanover and Alsace, and probably some heavy-grade oil from Rumania. It appears that when the Russian army had'to fall back from Galicia 229 petroleum wells were destroyed at Tustanowioe, in addition to some 320,000 tons of reserved oil stored there. At Bory. slaw, another big oil centre the wells were not destroyed, and it is from here that Germany and Austria are now drawing some 50,000 tons of crude oil a month. The wells of Hanover and Alsace produce some 140,000 tons a year. A 3 tar as Rumania is concerned, that country an_ nually produces about a million tons of crude petroleum more than she consumes. Although nearly a third of the foreign capital invested in Rumanian oil interests is held by Gercnanv, that country some time back prohibited the export of motor spirit and the lighter kinds of petroleum, an important decree from the Allies'-point of view. TYPES OF CARS This year, owing to the heavy call on the English motor trade by the War Office, practically no new models will be listed for 1916 In America, which is the only country where 'he motor trade is being carried on without interference from tho war, several new tendencies are noetd in design etc. Out of 94 different models of cars listed by the leading manufacturers for lyib, 36 are fitted with six-cylinder engines 37 with four, 15 with eight, and six with 12 cylinders. The progress made in America in "eights" is remarkable, for in 1913 this'type of engino amounted to only SX> per cent, of the total, whereas it has now risen to practically 16 per cent In most instances, as tho number . of cylinders increases, tho bore of same decreases. Une striking departure is the tendency to turn out engines with detachable engino heads, this type now being adopted to the extent of 68.8 per cent, of the American cars. As regards ignition, the use of magneto is rapidly waning. Out of the 94 oars under notice only a quarter of their number have magnetos fitted, the balance having ignition of the battery and distributor type the popularity"of which has been stimulated by the fact that electric engine-starting and lighting systems—which involve the use ot a dynamo and storage battery—are now in general use. In clutches the disc type is m tho ascendancy, being fitted to 52.7 per cent of the cars, as against 47.2 per cent, with clutches of the leather-cone variety. Finally with regard to transmission, tho worm-drive has made no progress, the tendencv of the moment being apparently in tho direction of using the spiral form of bevel gear. HOW TYRES SHOULD BE RIDDEN. Considering how careless most of us arc over tyres, "it is wonderful that we get so much wear out of them as we do. There is the man who rides with soft tyres, halfflattened, in the belief that he is getting a cushioning effect. What ho is doing is to bo constantly wearing the walls of tho tyres by perpetual bending, eo that a split soon develops . Tyres should always be ridden pumped hard. There aro many reasons for it. First, it greatly prolongs the life of the tyre.' Then it decreases tho liability of a sicleslip. The rolling motion of a soft tyre, that, sideways, slithery roll, is far more conducive to slins than a firm tyro, which cuts

its own path through tho slime. Next it is faster—that is to say, easier to ride. Has any scientist of the cycle ever calculated the difference which a well-pumped tyre makes to speed? The calculation would be interesting. But it does make a bicycle easier to propel, and that is a consideration on wintry roads. If ever you find yourself bumping on the rim, no matter how slightly or how severe the obstacle has been that caused it, get off and pump up. You are taking money out of your pocket every yard you ride a partially-deflated tyre. The test of inflation in a cycle tyre is that you should just bo able to make the tiniest dent in the tyre by a firm pressure of the end of the thumb. In the case of a motor bicycle, the tyres require to be as hard, relatively to weight and size, as those of a motor car. Another little item to be watched is that no oil or grease gets to the tyre. Oil is rubber's greatest enemy. If you get any oil or grease on the tyres, rub it off with petrol and then clean with a dry rag. Another frequent cause of tyro trouble is when wheels get out of track. It is a common happening on alleged " cheap" bicycles. The frames, being unable to withstand any strain, soon get out of lino, and the wheels are constantly pulling in different directions. Anyone, I think, can understand that with wheels playing tricks liko this of their own there will be a constant grinding motion going on, which very quickly wears out the tyres. Another common cause of trouble is gearchanging over loose metal. Just think for a moment what happens when you chanat gear on either cycle or motor cycle._ The back wheel spins round for a revolution or two at more thin its average pace. I do not moan that it indulges in fireworks in tho way you will see a motor car tyre do, but it does travel appreciably faster. Do th.at on loooe metal, and you can seo_ at once how you are grinding the tyre against the sharp-edged stones. It is- just asking for trouble.