II.—The Motor Cycle

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 2, 1 December 1908, Page 58

II. — The Motor Cycle

What more natural than the development from the ordinary to the motor cycle? Having established the machine on firm lines, the next thing was to give it the speed to which its form entitled it. "With the advent of the motor car and its multitude of engines of new and strange device, the attainment of speeds commensurate with modern ideas and modern requirements very soon came about. The veteran firm as a matter of course kept level in this advance with its own traditions. Looking round we are not astonished to see a four-cylinder motor cycle among the stock This is known as the F N. Motor Cycle. and is the only four cylinder in existence, and the only one of any sort that employs shaft driving. The latest model, built specially

for the export trade, has a larger engine somewhat, and has a standard frame of 20 in., on which the rider can sit easily in the saddle and rest both feet on the ground. It has also heavier rims, which will take mostly any of the well-known makes of motor cycle tyres, and a larger magneto fitted with the highest grade ball bearings. Altogether the 1908 F.N. is thoroughly up-to-date. The light F.N. has gone back to the original lighter power, and to make it take any hill, the engine has been provided with a geared pulley (multiplicateur), of great simplicity, consisting of a spur pinion wheel of 15th., mounted on the engine shaft and engaging with and driving by means of the 52 internal teeth of the Vshaped engine gallery. The engine makes three revolutions before the pulley has made a single turn. The result is increase of the diameter of pulley and decrease of diameter of the belt pulley on the back wheel, thus providing mechanical and rational conditions for the working of the belt. Hence the possibility of gearing with single gear to 8 to 1, enabling the machine to climb any hill and at moderate pace. The machine can be ridden very slowly with great comfort, and will work up to a speed of 28 miles. With the geared pulley, moreover, there is this marked advantage, a big one, that the tension of the belt drive can be regulated while driving. Thus there are no stoppages from slack belts. Not the least advantage is that all the working parts of the geared pulley are lubricated from the engine, and are enclosed in a dust proof covering. The machine weighs no more than 120 lbs., and it has spring forks which absorb all road vibrations and shocks by means of compressed double springs. Safety, comfort, easy but adequate speed, and power for every sort of hill makes this light F.N. an ideal machine for all business riders, with belts often lasting for 7000 miles. The development of the power of these motor cycles is very interesting, inasmuch as it is but eight years since they were first introduced, showing, as it does, the remarkable advance of four h.p., the first engine having been of 1 h.p., against the present largest size of 5 h.p. This, of course, was due to the need for hill climbing, not to any desire for racing successes. It must be understood, at the same time, that high power is not an unmixed good. High-powered air-cooled motors, having proportionately smaller cooling surfaces, are apt to overheat just when the high power is most wanted. To obviate these many drawbacks, the F.N. have produced, after long and careful study and experiments, a new type of motor cycle that should meet with the rational requirements of motor cyclists. The sale of the E-udge Whitworth, known as "Britain's Best Bicycle," of the F.N. motor 5-6 four cylinder, and the lightweight %. single cylinder motor cycles, is controlled by E. Reynolds and Co., Ltd.. Victoria street, Wellington, and they can be obtained from representatives in all main centres and towns throughout the Dominion.