Читать книгу The Modern Bicycle and Its Accessories - Julius Wilcox - Страница 46

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As already remarked, England has thus far taken little interest in the present movement to revive chainless driving. One of the leading trade journals (the first one founded after the cycle era really began, some twenty years ago) hardly conceals its contempt of the movement, especially of bevel-gears; another, in a paragraph quoted further on, admits that such gears have not yet had a conclusive practical test, and that there may be a future for them in cycling, now that their construction is so much improved. The reason why so little interest has been taken in the subject is that England, in common with other cycling countries of Europe, has been, on the whole, satisfied with chain-driving. As an illustration, one maker now takes occasion to advertise “The English Sunbeam—eight years ahead of American cycles,” and then he proceeds to explain thus:

“A leading American firm have just issued their 1898 Catalogue, giving reasons why their new Chainless Cycle is an improvement on all existing American machines. They say the new mechanism is easier to keep clean—has no backlash—no teeth to catch—is thoroughly lubricated—is weather-proof—does not wear—does not lose pitch. Now the Sunbeam, thanks to its little oil-bath dust-proof gear case, has had all these advantages since 1890. Now you know why Sunbeams go!”

Yet, as one of these journals puts it, “the vogue which has been given to the chainless bicycle by the booming of the Columbia bevel-gear has brought out all sorts of expedients for suppressing the chain.” A few of these appeared at the recent exhibition in Paris, which, however, was almost exclusively American; at the English shows this winter the Columbia and the Quadrant were the sole specimens of any consequence.

“ENGLISH” CHAINLESS

DRIVING GEAR

When the rear-driving chain wheel began to press the “good old ordinary” out of the field the latter endeavored to compromise upon a modified pattern called the “Rational.” The changes were few and simple. The back wheel was enlarged to 22 inches diameter and finally to 24; the backward “rake” of the front fork was made 2 and next 4 inches; the saddle was placed further back, and thus, with a crank lengthened to 7 inches, the rider was able to use a wheel two sizes smaller than formerly. This construction was much nearer to safety from “headers,” but after three or four years the rationalized “ordinary” had to give up the struggle. It was succeeded by the geared ordinary, which favored safety by further reducing the size of wheel, obtained leg-room by placing the saddle further back and raising it above the backbone, and retained speed by gearing up. A number of spur gears for this purpose were in the market five years ago. The best pattern of this type of bicycle is shown in the cut. This had a 24-inch back wheel; a 4-inch rake, with the saddle from 12 to even 16 inches behind the head; 7-inch cranks; a 46-inch wheel, geared to 62, although 44 and 48 were made; weight about thirty-six pounds, which was moderate in those times. The gear was the Crypto, brought out in 1883; being hidden out of sight and closed against dirt in one of the hubs, it formed its own gear case.

In conformity to the growing use of small wheels, the geared ordinary went on shrinking in size to 42, 38, 36, 34, 32, 30, the gear being modified to retain a proper ratio. The name was changed to the Bantam, and with the 1898 model shown in the cut, with its peculiar “Alpha” frame, the long evolution process comes down to this present date.