’CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue XIV, 2 April 1898, Page 412

’CYCLING.

In Chicago riders in bicycle road races over a certain division of the suburbs will have to wear more clothing than formerly. Commissioner Wilson succeeded in getting the approval of his fellow-commissioners to such a regulation respecting racing permits. The commissioner, in his demand that bicycle riders do not shock a sense of decency, offered to donate a prize of the value of £2O to be given to the rider wearing a full suit of clothes who finishes among the first in the big annual faces.’ C. F. Barden, accompanied by his wife, left Melbourne for London by the China on Tuesday last. Whilst Barden has not proved the success in Australia anticipated by his friends and supporters, he has at times given us glimpses of his prowess as a sprinter. It is a thousand pities that he has not struck form, for his reputation and performances on the English and Continental tracks stamp him as one of the finest sprinters England has produced. After Barden’s riding in Australia it will be interesting to watch his performances upon his return to the Old Country. Of one thing we are certain : Barden’s eyes have been opened surprisingly wide in as much as that Australia can produce cyclists second to none in the world. Amongst Barden’s greatest performances are two seconds in the One Mile World’s Championship and his victory over Hurst in a match for £4OO a-side. A novelty in the pacing line will adorn the tracks of London next season, in the shape of a team of multiplet pacemakers of negro extraction. These swarthy braves are training now to get used to curves and bankings, and some of the larger specimens are ransacking London in a futile endeavour to find shoes and pedals of sufficient size to accommodate their 20-horse power feet. All the machines to be ridden by the blacks will be enamelled white, and there will be no risk of the racers and pacers not being distinguished from each other. During the last year or two there has been a marked increase in the military cycling movement. Every one of our crack volunteer battalions now possesses its cycling section, consisting of an officer, a sergeant and twelve rank and file, which may be increased by special permission to twenty-four. These sections are now banded together under what is known as the brigade system, that is, the sections belonging to the regiments of every brigade are combined for special manoeuvres under a brigade cycling officer. These volunteer brigades consist of from four to eight regiments, so a brigade of cyclists may number as many as 150 to 170 men. There is nothing more confusing to the uninitiated (says a cycling authority) than the system of ‘list’ prices adopted by most cycle makers. The result of the list price system is that the little ‘garret’ maker lists his inferior bicycle at just as high a price as the first-class maker,, and- then tempts the would-be purchaser with the bait of abnormally large discounts. I am constantly being asked by prospective purchasers of new machines how it is they can buj-'n- machine like the ‘Royal Humbug* at £7 or £8 when the list price is as high as that of a Humber, Swift, Rover, or any’ot.Tfer top grade machine. The reason is obvious. The ‘Royal Humbug’ is not

worth more than £7 or £8; the other machines are; but, strangely enough, the list prices are about the same in each case. I should like to see a fixed net price system adopted by every maker. If it is strictly adhered to the buyer gets greater confidence in the maker than at the present moment, with discounts of a most elastic range in vogue. In fact, I know a good many people who on taking up cycling'have gone to buy a bicycle without knowing that it was the custom to allow discounts at all. They have generally parted with the full list price, only to discover later on that their friends have been obtaining special rebates of this. Clarke’s B 11 Pills are warranted to cure Gravel, Pains in the back, and all kindred complaints. Free from Mercury. Established upwards of 30 years. In boxes 4s 6d eacb, of all Chemists and Patent Medicine Vendors throughoutthe World. Proprietors, The Lincoln and Midland Counties Drug Company, Lincoln. England.