’CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue XIX, 7 May 1898, Page 577

’CYCLING.

The injuries sustained by oicycles when conveyed on railways are very annoying 1 , even if the railway can be held responsible, for it is not the cost of repairs, but the delay and inconvenience involved that disturbs the equanimity of the traveller. An American inventor has devised a protection for his own use, and it has proved so successful that it will probably supersede all other similar appliances. It is made of light strips or battens of wood, sq enlarged in the centre that the pedals are free to revolve. This enables the bicycle to be wheeled along—an important consideration—instead of being dragged and tossed about in the efforts to carry it. There is a block of wood fixed under ihe frame on either side, so that the machine can be left anywhere, resting in a nearly vertical position. The frame is hinged at one end, and is thus readily removed, and is supported on the bicycle by a couple of straps. For protection from the weather a waterproof cover can also be used. All we men folks like to see a good lady figure on a well-built cycle, says Dr. Gordon Stables. To ladies then the following par. may be of interest. But let me first say that the waspwaist not only looks bad but is positively dangerous to the health and life of the rider. Nature resents displacement of the liver, pancreas, and lungs, and if the heart space be intruded on, the very worst results may follow, and even the brain itself may suffer. ‘Most women ride a cycle gracefully, but few women can dismount in any but an awkward manner. They generally tumble rather than step from their wheels. A woman’s wheel is an awkward machine for the most graceful to dismount from. There is a right and a wrong way to dismount, so far as grace is concerned. The awkward way, though the one usually taught, is to slow down, and as the left pedal reaches the lowest point to slip to the ground with the right foot. The graceful way, sometimes called the “French dismount,” is to stand on the left pedal, after the wheel has slowed up, and then step to the ground on the left side of the wheel with the right foot. All women should adopt this method.’ The first feeling of the Bombay cyclist on hearing of the proposal to tax his wheel is naturally one of resentment, says the ‘Times of India,’ and he proceeds to count up the reasons why he should not be taxed. The damage of a rubber tyre to the road (he says) is practically nil; his locomotion through the streets costs nothing to the city. It is true that a reducion of the use of wheeled carriages has resulted from the use of the bike, but a proportionate reduction of wear of roads has accompanied it; there is. therefore, he says, nothing to complain of. The cycle has added considerably to the trade of Bombay, and has provided a number of training schools for artificers of the better kind that are much needed in this country. If the question were inquired into, it would be found that on macadamised roads the two most destructive agencies are the shoes of horses, whose every step is a blow with an iron instrument, and the iron tyres of wheels. Motives of economy have prompted Bombay people to have the narrowest possible tyres to all their vehicles,

from the bullock-cart to the landau. Many of the lighter vehicles have tyres which are rounded on the outer side to save metal, so that the contact of the tyre with the road is only a point which acts as a wedge in wet weather. Rubber-tyred carriages have all a large surface contact with the road, and the blow being practically eliminated, the protesting cyclists would say that these should all enjoy a reduced rate of carriage-tax. Speaking of cycle racing in England a writer says: ‘Wheel racing is to be done on a more limited scale this year than ever before. The reasons for this have been frequently pointed out in this column, so it is not necessary to refer to them again. The most impoqfant event of the year—the World’s Championships—are to be held in Vienna; the English championships will be at Leeds and Norwich. England is not to be visited by any notable foreign champions. Zimmerman, Banker and Bald, the American flyers who intended to come over have cried off.’

Apropos of the Queen’s visit to the Riviera, a number of bicycles were taken to Cimiez for the use of the Court, and Princess Beatrice, who learnt to ride last year, was accompanied by her machine. The Riviera just now is swarming with Royal and aristocratic cyclists, and perhaps the most enthusiastic of them all is the Grand Duchess of Mecklenberg - Schwerin. The south of France is a perfect paradise for cyclists. A deal of interest has lately centred in the paragraphs that have lately appeared in the English cycling press anent the Humber people’s latest patent — the brazeless joint. A machine so fitted up arrived in Melbourne last week, and after a close inspection of it the writer has no hesitation in saying that this style of detachable frame will be utilised in a few years to the same extent as the pneumatic tyre is at the present day.