Читать книгу The Modern Bicycle and Its Accessories - Julius Wilcox - Страница 12

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The mechanical tendencies of the American cycle makers and their product for 1898 are sharp and clearly defined. Indeed, the past year marks the close of a decade of construction of the rear-driving bicycle. Before proceeding to analyze in detail the constructional features for 1898, a bird’s eye view of the tendencies over the whole field will not be amiss.

REAR-DRIVER—1893.

The most striking characteristic tendency is the effort to introduce chainless rear driving, not altogether, however, by the bevel-gear. A careful census of the makers shows that some thirty prominent makers had perfected plans to place a chainless cycle of some sort on the market in 1898. Thus the season offers debatable ground between the advocates of the chainless and the chain-driven cycle. During 1898 is being fought the battle for supremacy between them, the chain-driven cycle being ably reinforced by its great and coming ally the gear-case, and the bevel-gear and other forms of chainless construction coming away from the realm of theory and the special pleas of the makers’ catalogues, and in the hands of the riding public will be put through that great crucible of public test, use on the road, under load, and under all sorts of conditions. The introduction of the chainless method of propulsion has, however, not radically changed the prevailing popular type of frame construction, and therefore the general tendency of construction, except the methods of propulsion, may be here surveyed as a whole.