CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue XXI, 21 November 1896, Page 76

CYCLING.

newest bicycle lamp on the market is so designed *- as to permit of its being folded so that it can be carried in the tool bag or vest pocket, and be ready for use whenever necessary. The oil for the lamp is carried in a small tank, which is attached by means of rubbercovered clamps to the left fork of any bicycle. The lamp is hinged at three corners. It is secured at the fourth corner by means of a pin passing through loops formed on the remaining edges. The top and bottom are hinged separately to two of the sections. A burner, through which the wick passes, is hinged on the fourth section. When the lamp is not required the light is extinguished, the lamp detached from the oil tank, folded and stored, and the tank pushed behind the fork and secured with its cap. The makers of this new lamp claim for it many advantages over ordinary fixed lamps, the most prominent being that owing to the position and shape of the oilcarrier, the light will not jar out.

A firm is building for a Brooklyn bicycle club the biggest thing on wheels of its kind. This is a quadricycle, intended to carry the entire club —twenty members. The machine differs from all the many seated wheels of recent manufacture in some important respects. In the first place, it will carry more persons by eight than its nearest rival. Again it has four wheels instead of three. Finally, in the principles of its construction it is unique. To the unskilled eye this viginticycle, if it maybe so called, looks like two tandems, built each for ten. ranged side by side. Several important mechanical features destroy this comparison. Theriders will, it is true, sit in two parallel rows of ten, but the separate frames are joined together in a peculiar fashion, with ball and socket joints, closed top and bottom, but open at the sides so as to admit of free lateral action. This is necessary to secure uniformity of steering and also to enable the machine to turn within a reasonably small circle. The gear is 72 front sprocket ; 100 rear. The machine is about eighteen feet long and four feet wide, and is to weigh about 600 pounds.

The folding bicycle is at present the topic of earnest study and experiment, especially in military circles. It is praised enthusiastically throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. It is the order of the day in the Russian army, and General Pliontzensky has just written an interesting treatise demonstrating its multiplicity of applications to military service. He goes so far as to assert that the inestimable value cf the wheel in the army bids fair to impose a revision of the tactics. The French Minister of War, unwilling to allow other nations to outstrip France, has ordered special bicycle drills at the next annual manoeuvres. General Billat has commissioned Captain Gerard, the inventor of the folding bicycle, to form a com - pany of fighting wheelmen. The results obtained from the first experiments, made at the Joinville le Pont Military School, seem to point to a successful issue of the new war implement. A company of cyclists, headed by Captain Gerard, were going through their manoeuvres a few days ago, and one great advantage of the wheel was plainly perceptible in the absolute silence in which the company advanced, an advantage which is much more apparent to a tactician familiar with the heavy rumbling tread of an approaching company of cavalry. One of the principal manoeuvres practised was bringing a company of cyclists to a halt, and standing ready to receive a furious onrush of cavalry. The men fold the wheels and stand with them between the knees, while they prepare to give the oncoming enemy a warm welcome. If the fusillade is not successful in repelling the enemy, the horses stand a very iair show of breaking their legs in the intricate iron wheels opposed to their progress. It is also claimed that the folded bicycle is not so cumbersome or heavy as the old fashioned haversack, and much more convenient to carry. It does not interfere with the musket in any way, and after a fair trial the infantry and cavalry have pronounced in favour of it. The cavalry, which is looked upon as the eye and shield of the army, has suffered considerably from the recent perfecting of modern war weapons. One

of their functions was to place the enemy’s position. Smokeless powder has rendered this a very difficult feat. Before accomplishing their mission they ran the risk of being seen and receiving a fusillade without being able to determine from whence it came. Captain Gerard’s machine, rapid, silent, not cumbersome, allows the cyclist to explore ditches, woods, climb walls and rocks without exposing him to unnecessary danger. It is noiseless, and therefore does not betray its presence, as would the rapid sound of a galloping horse. The original idea of its inventor was that the machine should be carried by the man when it could no longer carry him. The folding bicycle assures security to the cyclist and a much greater rate of speed. There is less danger of falling, because it can be stopped at once at the rider’s will. The position of the wheelman, seated on the back wheel, is according to all hygienic laws, and prevents the almost deformed positions assumed by some riders. The sudden, noiseless apparition of a company of wheelmen springing up like men imbued with some mysterious power from dozens of different points is likely to bewilder the surprised enemy, and these manceuvres are much less exhaustive to the assailant than to the assailed.

The Walnut Tree Club has been formed in London to afford ladies and gentlemen who cycle a clnb house where they can keep their cycles and find facilities for cleaning, repairs, and stabling of the same, and which can also be a starting point for rides in the neighbourhood, or for more extensive touring, the encouragement of which will receive special attention. Ordnance survey maps and touring books of reference will be available for the use of members, and a register of competent cycle touring couriers will be kept. A bicycle race with a panther was the exciting experience of an English lady in Singapore one evening lately. When riding slowly homewards along a road outside the town, the cyclist found that she was being quietly stalked by a huge black panther. She had the presence of mind to start off at full speed, and soon dis tanced her pursuer.