Читать книгу The Modern Bicycle and Its Accessories - Julius Wilcox - Страница 22

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The use of wood or bamboo in frames seems to have almost dropped out of sight, only two or three makers producing bicycles thus made.

The dress-guards on the back wheel on ladies’ bicycles are made of wood and are so furnished by all the makers, the metal styles having gone out of use altogether. The same cannot be said, however, of chain guards. Wooden chain guards are not so largely used as last year, the tendency being to use aluminum guards, either plain, nickeled or enameled, to match the frame in color; guards of stamped metal are also used. This return to metal may be ascribed in part to the notion that wood is heavy because it looks so, and to the temptation aluminum presents because of its extraordinary lightness. This, however, looks like a step backward. Aluminum, considered as material, has very poor claims, and it will be very difficult, by any practical lining and buffing, to break the persistent habit of metal chain guards to rattle when going over rough places; wood guards, on the contrary, if properly made, are strong, noiseless, and not heavy.

The wood rim is the only one used, and is now made thicker through its section and broader across its face, and while it is true that these rims do not now possess the life and resiliency they had when they were made of the thinner section, and narrower, they are now stiffer, truer, and not so liable as formerly to warp and twist or to break in a collision. Originally, wood rims were largely used, in good part, on account of their extreme lightness. Making them heavier now and painting them in dark colors might suggest a tendency to return to the use of steel rims, it being impossible now, owing to the large use of colored rims, to tell by their appearance of what material they are made. Rims of three-piece or laminated construction are fitted to nearly all of the high-grade wheels, but great improvements have also been made in the one-piece variety.

As in coach and carriage building, black still seems to be the standard color, but where colors are used many of the makers are enamelling rims to match. Striping seems to have fallen into disfavor, but scroll transfers, with illuminated corners with flowers and colors, appear to have gained a strong foothold.