The safety of free wheeling is obvious in many ways, but there is one point which particularly strikes the attention, and that is the almost complete safeguard against a Joose chain jumping off the cogs, a risk one very often runs when coasting on a fixed wheel machine. On the Jatter machine, when going dowa hill, the chain is with: out tension either top or bottom, and if the rider strikes a particularly rough piece of road, a stone, or any prominent obstruction, the chain is likely to jump the cogs and. becomes immediately detached, with the probable result of a bent bottom bracket and a bad spill. On the other hand, in free wheeling, the chain is quite still, and the chance ofts jumping off, even though it may be loose, is so slight as to be practically negligible.
An excellent idea of the manner in which some railway companies are behind the imes in the matter of dealing with cycles, is found in a recent proclamation by the railway companies running into Birmingham, These companies have just issued some revised prices for the storage of merchandise, in which bicycles, tricycles, and velocipedes remaining on the premises of the companies will be charged at the rate of 2s. Gd. per ton per week. The bare idea of charging cycles at a rate per tom is lndicxtive of the small amount of exparience these companies can have had with cycles, or perhaps truer still, the small amount of trouble they have taken in order to property deal with them, very ancient ' puncture" chestnut has been revived in the form of the story of the man who when out cycling lost a gold scarf pin. Search was made without satisfactory result, and the jewel was given up as lost. Some time afterwards when the ¢gclist was riding over the same ground he found that his tyre was punctured, and on dismounting found that the cause of his trouble was the very gold scarf pin he had lost some time before. The tale is, of course, given for what it is worth, but it should be remembered that people have already begun to bracket cyclists together with fishermen as retailers of alleged true stories.
Nowadays the man who is in the position to judge, and who affirms that the cycle trade will soon settle down into a steady and lucrative industry, is a man who is to be welcomed with open arms. Itis only afew, however, who hold such opinions as this, and who allege that the period ut feverish speculation in cycle shares and inflated profits by the manufacturers, is passed; that the demand for machines being continuous and price cutting said to have been practically stopped, the industry is now about to enter upon a new lease of life. It is indeed to be hoped that such is the case, but while there are only a few who hold such opinions as those expressed above, there are many who still reasonably view the outlook as dull and unfavourable, and the period of recovery along way off, Time alone will show which is correct, but at any rate it is satisfactory to note that whereas a short time ago everyone croaked, there are now some who see sunshine behind the clouds.
The many accidents which occur to lady cyclists have been the means of raising correspondence in one of the leading London Papers, and the result is that a Series of letters which are, to say the least, decidedly amusing, though they may not he at times very instructive, have appeared. One item of advice is, ''do not ride on a greasy road with a vehicle behind you, let it press and you will fall more safely!" This advice is Aelightful. Another is, ''do not pass an omnibus about to start." The rider obsess ing both these items of advice would not far on a Saturday afternoon run out of town. A pedestrian suggests that cyclists {should take out licenses which should be withdrawn from all careless riders and those infringing regulations which would have to be laid down, Another lady rider says, that the more she has cycled the more she has become bruised, and has come to the conclusion that a woman on a cycle is like a sailor on horseback, useless. Remarks of this kind are apt to make the discussion more laughable than valuable.
Undoubtedly one of the most prolific causes of accidents to cyclists in traffic is skidding upon greasy tram lines, and it is not at all unlikely that something will be done in order to endeavour to prevent the tramway companies from constantly watering the lines in order to assist traction. Recently a lady lost her life at Herne Hill, one of the suburbs of London, owing to her machine slipping on the tram lines. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, which of course in itself was trae enough; but surely where so many serious and fatal accidents can all be traced to this slipping upon tram Jines, one would have thought that a jury here and there would, as has been suggested should be the case, adjourn and seo whether there was not something radically wrong with the lines themselves, As a matter of fact, if examination were made it would be found that in very many cases the tram lines stand up sometimes half an inch above the level of the roadway, and it is quite obvious that with the metal wet and greasy it would be almost an impossibility for anyone mounted upon. a cycle to cross the lines with safety except at a very wid angle. The scandal is one which the National Cyclists' Union or the Cyclists' Touriug Club could take up with.
vantage; a1 is certainly time that Some vigorous policy was pursed, and the tramway companies made to understand that the proper and safe preservation and repair of their linos is not a matter to be ightly disregarded. Indeed, the N.C.U. is already obtaining Counsel's opinion in respect to the legality of excessive water
erdly a day passes but what one notices tramway lines. some now direction or other in which either the cycle or motor has been pressed into usefulness. One of the largo asphalt paving companies, whose men are constantly at work upon the streets of London, has just commenced using some motor lorries for cartage etc. and the ease and speed with which these lorries are moved about goes to show what an important saving must be apparent in a short time hence. The hum and tent-tent of the motor is heard in the streets of London more and more every day. Horses are now practically accustomed to the hitherto strange noises, while pedestrians no longer bestow more than a passing glance upon the vehicles of the new locomotion.
Quite a fillip has been given to motoring, by the participation in' the pastime by HLR.H. the Prince of Wales, who has been further enjoying the pastime at Homburg. The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour is apparently quite an ardent convert. He has just received a very handsome voiturette, and is evidently so enamoured with it that ha has placed an order for another vehicle.
The cycling season, for those to whom active participation in the sport is limited between the beginning of spring and the end of summer, is rapidly drawing to a close. There has certainly been much left to be desired in the weather during the past summer, but autumn, if September may rightly be called autumn, has certainly done its best to retrieve the bad behaviour of spring and early summer, and it looks as though, by the settled state of the weather, the cyclists referred to above will be able to pursue the pastime rather longer than usual. Soon, however, summer will be past for good, and we shall have the winter months upon us, when the organised club run twenty or thirty
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.