’CYCLING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue IX, 27 August 1898, Page 269

’CYCLING.

The ranks of Royal lady bicyclists abroad have recently been added to, the Princess Gisela of Bavaria, elder daughter of the Emperor of Austria, having taken to the exercise by the advice of her physicians, and the Princess Frederick Augustus of Saxony is another recruit, the King and Queen having, after much coaxing, given her ■permission’ to cycle. But, contrary to general reports, the youthful Queen of Holland has not taken to the wheel, as, with her mother, she disapproves of cycling for women, and the young Queen invariably has the courage of her convictions.

Spanish women have very little outdoor amusement. The bicycle is just beginning to be admitted, but under protest. The favourite resort for the grande senoras is San Sebastian, and the lives the careless Spanish women of fashion lead there during the summer is said to be a scandal all over Europe. There is scarcely a pretence at propriety or even ordinary conventionality.

A valve for pneumatic tyres has recently been patented, says the ‘Scientific American,’ which is so constructed that all the parts may be readily replaced when necessary. The valve casing is designed to be inserted through the rubber nipple extending from the tyre and is provided with exterior ribs to retain it in place. An outwardly extending flange on the upper portion of the casing obviates the danger of forcing the casing too far into the nipple. On the outside of the nipple a supporting and strengthening thimble is fitted. The casing ia interiorily threaded, and at the base of the threaded interior a valve seat is formed. A valve carrier having an exterior screw thread is received within the casing and carries an inner flexible tube having an integral flap valve which, normally inclined, takes a firm seat against the valve carrier. The plug or cap for closing the valve casing is threaded and longitudinally slotted. Pivoted near its end in the slot is a tongue which may be caused to open the valve for deflating the tyres. When it is desired to permit the air to escape the tongue is allowed to fall from its normal position, sc. that the smaller end of the tongue will pass through the valve carrier by screwing the plug or cap inward to unseat the valve. The essential features of the invention are the improved flap valve, the upper flange on the casing, which prevents the inner end of the easing from coming into contact with the. opposite side of the ’’re and the noved deflating devices.

Paris is the home of this machine, but even there it has not been brought to that state of perfection which will permit of its steady use. Recently at a race meet some six or eight electric multicycles were brought out for pacing purposes, but only one was found equal to the task of going through its work. The others failed to work from one cause or another. This has been the result in New York, and more than one race has been lost because of the failure of the assisting driving mechanism.

It is necessary to build the frame of the multicycle equipped with a storage battery and motor extremely heavy, so that if the current fails in the least the riders must be at a dis-

tinct disadvantage in having to push along so much extra weight and operate additional friction producing apparatus. In addition to this, the back rider must, on account of the construction of the. machine, sit well forward and considerably away from the man following pace, thereby giving him little aid by acting as a wind shield. The modern pacing machines are so constructed as to be quite opposite from this in point of construction, the back rider being seated well back of the rear axle, so that in reality the wheel of the rider following is under the baek of the man on the pacing machine.

The attempt on the part of the American makers of bicycles to have the duty on bicycles lowered by Congress brings to mind the condition of the German makers through the introduction of cheap American goods. The Association of German Cycle Manufacturers is responsible for the agitation to have the German government raise the duty on wheels, for it points out that its trade is being utterly ruined. The Chambers of Commerce of Gorlitz and Zittau have recommended a. higher duty, but cannot advocate a duty of 50 marks, about £2, as desired by the association. Chambers where) there* are no cycle factories naturally refuse to assist the association.

At present bicycles are scheduled as ‘fine ironware,’ the rate of duty being 24 marks (23/) per 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds), so that the duty on a bicycle is from 3/ to 4/. The United States duty is 35 per cent, ad valorem. Thus it will be seen that the German maker has little chance to sell his goods in America, and quite as little to compete with the cheap English and American wheels. If the rate of duty is increased to 20 marks, as it is proposed by some of the German papers, the makers in the fatherland believe they will have a chance to live, and would keep out the ‘cheap foreign trash.’

Even if Congress should take the duty off entirely it would not afford the relief desired, for it is apparent from the tone of the German officials that foreign bicycles will not be allowed in the country except upon a different basis than now. Work is being carried on to have bicycles classed as vehicles, and if this is done it would mean practically a prohibition duty being imposed. Some of the English bicycle and tyre making concerns have already established branch factories in Germany in order to be prepared for the worst. They employ German mechanics, use labour-saving machinery of American make, import parts and fittings practically as raw material, and thus can make and undersell any German manufacturer.

After repeated trials it has been pretty well demonstrated that ‘electric pacing’ is not the decided success that its originators would have people believe, and to-day the managers of most of the middle distance racing men have tabooed this sort of machine.

One of the chief attractions at the November Carnival of the Auckland Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club will be the English champion athlete Mr Rosingrave, now in Sydney.

It has been asserted by an eminent physician that as long as a cyclist, can breathe, with his mouth shut whilst riding he is safe as far as a strain of the. heart is concerned.

Riders who are under the impression that the chief claim for the supremacy of the Dunlop tyre is its remarkable speed powers will be interested to know that the Dunlop possesses extraordinary strength and durability unapproached by any other make. The Dunlop Co. have lieen favoured with an order to supply a pair of tyres for Mr Manning (the editor of the ‘Dublin Weekly Independent') who weighs no less than 22 stone, mid stands 6ft Bin in height. Further comment is needless. Those cyclists who find that their tyres are becoming the worse for wear. or find them of lighter nature than will withstand the frequent use on- ordinary roads. cannot do lietter than purchase one of the durable compressed Dunlop strips. These strips are endless, and the price to the public is 5s each.

It is said that the number of men engaged in the cycle industries in Germany is ninety thousand, which is about twice the population of Christchurch.

Mr R. J. Mecredy, the well known proprietor of the ‘lrish Cyclist,' estimates that the average puncture comes to a man who looks after his tyres once in two thousand miles; hence, he argues, it is folly to use puncture-proof devices, all of which slow a tyre more or less. Dunlop tyres are so manufactured that punctures are rare, yet there is no tyre more resalient.

An easy method of detecting small punctures in the air tube is to place an ounce of red ochre inside the tube, pouring same through the valve body. By carrying this colour always in the tubes immediately there is the smallest escape of air the colour is carried through the punctures, thus marking the place on the outside of the tube. All the rider has then to do is to follow the instructions given in the Dunlop repair outfit, which can lie obtained from any cycle agent for one shilling (Is).

A new idea in saddle construction has l>ee.n introduced, which presents besides novelty only a feature of considerable value. It is that the tension of the top, or leather, shall be adjusted by three screws at the back of the framework on which it is stretched. instead of. as usual, by one single screw at the saddle peak. The value of this method lies in the fact that leather usually settles down at ths sides and not centrally, where little or no pressure occurs, and is therefore a tension arrangement that only pulls centrally is a poor attempt to give adequate adjustment.