A BIG COASTING CONTEST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8120, 20 September 1904, Page 1

A BIG COASTING CONTEST.

In Juno last in New Yprlp ft J^>S ing' coasting contest waa conducted, in .w« . ninety cyclists (including -;four 1 ? dl ?_, 1/ f^ v _, pated. This ia an annual affair . f *«^ ,£■ fa club in Ihe city, una hill 234afMnyeng^ IMf tihe distance is on » » §« r vhen for a hundred yards the drop » , g-^ than 1 per <*nt. Tt* l*ft pw^jl faU« at the rate of Ac _ll& thing above or beyond this w^.^-^St! coasted was on an .up-grade oi . *_*- , but tihe pace acquired carried the cyf &£*

All kinds and classes of machine*-, with and without free-wheels, were used, and the mo3t ■astonishing part of the contest (says a contemporary) is lil.at ihe three wheels lha/t ccasted. fa-rthest each had fixed gears. Tihe fifth seventh and ninth, to the fourteenth cempetitors, also used fixed gears. The first twenty-eight machines, excepting the thirteenth, were shod with Palmer tyre., while only nine of these* machines 'had coa-ster hubs. The weight of tho rider who came fourth om a coaster hub machine was 198! b, as .against 1501 b, 150lb and 1481 bof tihe first three contestants respectively, who used fixed gears. 'In 1902 the coaster hub secured first and third, tho fixed gear being second. In 1903 the positions were reversed, the fixed gear talcing first and third places, while in 1904 this gear secured first, second and third places. The longest distance coasted in any year wis in 1903, when* the fixed gear travelled 3309 ft, this vear'a record of 3285 ft heing the second farthest. Skill and practice count for much in coasting. In ihe three testa one man took first and two third prizes, and the two men with whom he practised and coached each won a first and two seconds. No doubt these men practised with both classes of machines, ajid found the fixed gear to be the freer. *'