CYCLING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 724, 21 January 1904, Page 13

CYCLING.

At the big Sydney Carnival the contest for the Five’ Miles International gave risd to a desporato battle between the Americans Ivor Lawson and Major Taylor. The former just won in lOmin 36sec, ■which is a world’s competition record. It has, however, been done in much faster time, notably by H. D. Elkes, who from a flying start reeled off the five miles in 7min 7 l-sseo.

It is practically fixed that next season will find Christchurch supplied with an up-to-date cycle and motor track (says the “ Canterbury Times ”). For a long time it has been recognised that the track nt Lancaster Park is obsolete, being too large in circumference and too narrow across for cycle racing, and altogether insufficiently banked for motors. Now that the Christchurch Cycling and Motor Club has sufficient money in hand to talk business, the motor dealers are red-hot for a track, the combination of interests is likely to result in immediate action. "Whether a new track will be laid down at Lancaster Park or another site be chosen is a matter that has yet to be decided «P° n - * «

The “ Pall Mall Gazette ” has some interesting remarks on the big Exhibitions at the Crystal Palace and Agricultural Hall, London. It says : “ These exhibitions still serve a useful purpose, no doubt. They must do, or we should not find two or three hundred firms going to the tremendous expense of displaying their treasures thereat. Firms like the Premier, Humber and Rover must have laid out enormous sums on polished oak, artistic upholstry and electric fittings, while many of the Budge-Whitworth machines areactually exhibited in settings of polished white marble. Silver trophies gleam and glisten on every hand, and the general taste in arrangement and decoration is far in advance of previous years. «« Yet if it were not for the motor-cycle there would be very little of a novel character to see this year. The representative of one of the big companies yesterday admitted to us that if his people he'd not some motor developments to show they would not have been stand-holdersi on the present occasion. The motor bicycle, is, indeed, carrying all before it just now. It must surely be the aim and ambition of every young man to become the proud possessor of one. For the expenditure of one shilling or eighteenpence on petrol and lubricating oil you can travel on one of these machines a distance of a hundred miles. If you attach a ‘ trailer ’ the ' damage ’ will be two shillings. Every firm of note is paying -special attention to motor cycles. Great ingenuity is being brought to bear on the mechanism, and every year, almost every month, sees some advance. There is great scope for the inventor, and we shall see many improvements made on the present contrivances before we are much older. “ Meanwhile the ordinary bicycle remains prettv much what it was twelve months ago. By ‘ ordinary ’ we, of course, mean our familiar friend the safety.’ To apply the term to the old 54-inch contraption of the early eighties, seems rather absurd, for it is scarcely possible to find one outside a museum of curiosities. How times have changed, to be sure! What ridicule was, heaped on the ‘ safety ’ when it first made its; appearance ! The tendency to decrease the weight of machines is still observable in certain directions, but it must have reached pretty nearly the limit. “ The introduction of the free-wheel—-what a matter-of-course improvement that seems to be now —and the necessity for increased brake power resulted in the building of more powerful frames and an addition of weight, and the manufactur-

ers have gradually got down to the old scale again without sacrificing the desired strength. So far as the ordinary footpedalled bicycle is concerned, the only new feature to be noted is the application of the variable gear. This is by -\no means universal yet. The manager of one of the leading firms informed us that they fitted the two-speed gear when it was required, but he doubted whether they had applied it to more than seven or eight machines during the past season. The object of the contrivance is to make hillclimbing easier. Mounting a rising gradient with a highly-geared machine is hard work, especially for ladies, so when you come to a hill you switch on the lower gear and get to the top with the 1 least possible expenditure of effort. The> variable gear is not exactly a novelty. It was exhibited last year, but since then it has been vastly improved. We shall probably hear a good deal more of it during the next few months.”

It is said that “ Pedaller ” Palmer, who raced in the South last year, has written to Christchurch challenging G. Sutherland to race him at Lancaster Park for £lOO a-side. Palmer accomplished some fine riding in Australia early in the season, but “ Suthy ” ought to be able to make that century all right.

Acting on the recommendation of the the Council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, the Pioneer Amateur Bicycle and Athletic Club has decided to rejoin the League of New Zealand Wheelmen. As matters have turned out, such a course was inevitable (writes “Velox”), unless the club desired its members to be in a position of “ splendid isolation,” as far as cycle racing was concerned. Standing aloof from the governing body, its members would have had their chances of competition restricted to their own numbers, and while the agreement between the League and the Athletic Association remains in existence, possibly that limited competition would have been prohibited. The Pioneer Club’s circular to rhe other athletic clubs in the colony, advocating the formation of a separate body to control amateur cycling, failed to bfring a response, and its| members have decided to rejoin tlhe League, and see whether the promises made by the governing body of cycling are carried out. The club’s temporary secession will have been of benefit to the sport, if it proves to be the means of inducing the League to deal more vigorously with racing malpractices.

It iis obvious that the motor-cycles used by the more prominent of the riders are too highly powered for the average tracksi in Victoria (says the “ Australasian ”). H. B. James, in the final of the Five Miles at Castlemaine, had the narrowest of escapes from serious injury. The pace had forced him close up to the outside fence, and he just reduced the pace by shutting off thef power when one of the tyres burst, and caused him to fall. He escaped with a few scratches and a shaking!, and 'decided, not to contest the,second race. As may be supposed, the poor-ly-banked tracks play \great havoc with the tyres. The lateral strain is enormous, and the wear, instead of coming on the tread or centre of the tyre, is between it and the rim. Thick wearing strips are cemented on to the covers to protect them, but after a five miles race these strips are so badly “ chewed up ” (as the racers express it) that they become. useless. Franklin, the winner of the motorcycle race at Ararat, had a nasty tumble during some preliminary work in the morning, but he persisted, and got to know the best and worst places on the track, and scored accordingly. The tvrestrip on the rear wheel of his machine was “ a thing of shreds and patches ” after the rac®.