Tandem bicycle

“ Weight also counts down hill. Luggage carrying capacity is said to be reduced to that of a single because there is only the space over the one rear and one front wheel in which to place carriers for two people. This may be an objection, but in my opinion a tandem is an ideal touring bicycle for husband and wife, because the weaker efforts of the lady rider can be compensated to some extent by the more energetic and powerful pedalling of the partner. ”

“ What is known as a tandem bicycle, however, is one carrying two persons only, one in front of the other, but if more than two persons are carried the vehicle is then classed as a multicycle. For instance, one carrying three people is called a triplet ”

“ Tandem Bicycles.—The weight of a roadster tandem is about the same as, or a trifle less than, that of two single roadster bicycles, but the frictional resistance of the mechanism, the rolling resistance of the tires, and the air resistance at a given speed are much less than twice the values for a single bicycle. Consequently, much higher speeds are attained on the level, and free-wheeling down hill is much faster. ”

“ The makers of the National, the Defender and the Dayton make single steering tandems. The Peerless is furnished with an automatic rear hub [Pg 136] brake. At the Philadelphia Cycle Show was shown a chainless tandem, having on it a Hildick Spur Gear, which has already been described by us in the article on chainless bicycles for 1898. The great points in tandem construction are weight, rigidness, ease of draft, length of wheel base, steering and the proper position of the riders. ”

“ There is also the difficulty of storage, as a tandem bicycle is not the most convenient form of machine to stable in a house, and tandem owners usually find it essential to provide accommodation for the steed in an outhouse. ”

“ Consequently all cyclists are indebted to the man whose happy thought it was to combine the two, and who had the skill to do it. An instrument can now be had which will at one and the same time register time and distance.
Something new which will surely find favor with bicycle riders is a simple coupling apparatus by means of which any two safety bicycles may be converted into a tandem. ”

“ Finally she gave in, and the burly gentleman began impelling the machine up hill by his own unaided strength. His face made a dot of brilliant colour among the greys and greens at the foot of the hill. The tandem bicycle was now, it seems, repaired, and this joined the tail of the procession, its riders walking behind the dogcart, from which the lady in green and the driver had now descended. ”

“ The dropped crank-hanger fad does not prevail to so large an extent in tandem construction as in the single construction. Sizes of tubing used show a slight increase in diameter over that used in making single bicycles. The majority of brakes fitted on tandems are of the lever and spoon pattern, working on the front tire. Hubs, rims and spokes are made heavier, and the three-plate crown seems to be a popular one among the makers who use the double-plate crown on their singles. ”

“ The Western Wheel Works, the Crawford and the Featherstone all produce miniature models of their regular product for juvenile use. Only one concern (the makers of the “Elfin”) confine themselves strictly to making juvenile bicycles. They build a cute little diamond frame for boys in four sizes of frames and wheels, and a double-loop drop frame for girls’ use in the same number of sizes; they also build a diamond tandem and a combination tandem. Their product is distinctively juvenile in every particular, even to the cork grips at the ends of the little handlebars. ”

“ The trade authorities predict that 1898 will be a banner year for tandem riding, and there are a number of very good reasons in support of this view, the leading one being the question of price, prices now ranging from $75 to $100 and $125 for the best makes, prices which certainly cannot be called prohibitory for a tandem, because it was only a few years ago that the makers asked $125 and $150 for the best makes of single bicycles. About sixty or more of the best known makers in the country are this season making tandems, both in diamond and combination styles. ”

“ When you are riding along level ground, and do not touch the "brake," the gear is at 80. Soon you come to a hill. Then by pulling the "brake" handle up half-way the gear of the wheel is changed from 80 to 60, and thus you can go up hill, slower, to be sure, but much easier. After reaching the top of the hill you pull this rod up close to the handle-bar of the wheel, and the gearing is thrown off entirely, so that the bicycle will coast down hill without turning the cranks. Of course the rider can keep his feet on the pedals all the time. ”

“ In the present type the driving axle is a third, independent of the wheels, and the wheel hubs are either turned from the solid steel bar or drop-forged from steel, or formed from steel tube, the “bike metal” casting being kept very quiet in this as in other portions, or else reserved for the people who suggest that the cheapest way to procure a bicycle is to buy ready made parts and “build” one’s own. ”

“ A favorable place for a bicycle is along a railroad track—going in the centre or at one side. When suddenly attacked, my men can get out of the road like a covey of quail, and a bicycle can be trundled across the worst possible country as fast as a man can travel, for you see all the weight of the man’s gun and pack are on the wheel, which runs without any appreciable resistance, and all bike men know how to throw a bicycle over a [237] fence with ease, and my average march is eighty miles a day. Ladigo, remember—eighty miles a day. ”

“ This, of course, necessitates a great many joints, and as joints of thin material, whether sheet metal or celluloid, cannot be perfectly made to exclude dust and driving rains, and as such joints are always more or less noisy when a bicycle is in use, they are not even yet satisfied with the gear case, but realize its great usefulness, even when only partially efficient, so that it has become a fixture on nearly every English wheel. ”

“ Perhaps an engineer enamoured of his engine can understand the love of a cyclist for his wheel.
[289]
The people around the Garfield Park Loop were beginning to get impatient. Most of them had stood for two hours holding their bicycles, and even a well behaved bicycle is an awkward possession in a crowd. Pedals scraped the shins of utterly strange riders, handle-bars got tangled in watch-guards, and front wheels got into mischief with unpleasant regularity. ”

“ Gear 1, being fast on the pedal shaft, runs with the pedals, and of course carries with it gear x-1-x. Now if the clutch just mentioned makes gear 2 fast to x-1-x, the motion of gear 2 is carried to gear 3x and to the shaft of this latter gear are attached the pair of outside cranks which drive the other pair on the rear wheel by means of the connecting rods, so the bicycle is driven at a certain speed. If the clutch makes gear 2x fast to x-1-x, then the motion of 2x is carried to gear 3, and the drive cranks and drive rods are run at another rate of speed, slower than before. ”

“ We have now arrived at the stage when a high bicycle was regarded as dangerous, and, if the front wheel were too small, it detracted from the rider’s speed owing to the shorter distance covered by each turn of the wheel. What was the next move? The engineer’s mind turned towards a method of gearing by cogs or chains, by which one turn of the crank axle would cause the driven wheel to turn more than once. That is where we get our method of describing the ratio of gearing between the crank and the wheel of a modern safety bicycle. ”

“ Boys on bicycles become extremely careless and fool-hardy. They cut in front of rapidly moving cars and weave from one side of the roadway to the other. They dart in from behind a parked car or from a side street. When moving not straight along the wheels are always likely to slip on wet spots in the pavement or catch in the flangeway of the street-car tracks.
The bicycle is in itself a very useful machine and, perhaps, the most economical vehicle built. ”

“ A third contrivance, which, however, was an idea of considerably older date, also began to find favour about the same period in the shape of two-speed and three-speed gears, enabling the rider at will to alter the ratio between the speed of revolution of his pedals and of his driving wheel, and thereby accommodate himself to the varying gradients of the road he is traversing (see also Bicycle, Tricycle and Tire) .
The safety bicycle, with pneumatic tires, rendered cycling universally popular, not merely as a pastime but as a convenient means of locomotion for everyday use. ”

“ But regarding your own particular bike, unless it is especially good, send it to be overhauled. Ask the man what it will cost, else—well, he won’t cheat himself, anyhow. But it is better to start your season with a neat turnout, and when you get it home do please take care of it. A new bicycle is as handsome and pretty as a new binnacle, but both need attention, which the binnacle always gets, the poor bike all too seldom.
Last summer two “G. O. P.” girls visited my caravan, and one asked if I could tell her fortune. ”

“ The introduction of the bevel-geared cycle, with its neat gear case, has done much and will do more toward enforcing the necessity for a gear case on all of our chain-driven cycles. In England no bicycle is considered complete without a gear case, but, notwithstanding the fact that all the authorities on the sport and mechanics of the trade of this country have approved of it, not until this season has it gained a foothold here. ”

“ There are few, if any, parts of the modern bicycle that have played a more important rôle in its development, than has the chain, and yet it is safe to say that there is no part of the vehicle to which the average rider pays less attention, save to occasionally clean it of its accumulated impediments, or which he understands so little.
BROWN
ROLLER SPROCKET.
Every rider, of course, understands how important is the office of the chain in the propulsion of his wheel—that without it his machine is an utterly useless structure of metal, wood and rubber. ”

“ To begin with, the girl should grasp both handle-bars firmly, facing forward, of course. By means of the hands the bicycle should be held absolutely perpendicular, neither leaning towards her person nor away from it. Then standing on the left of the machine, she should step over the gearing with her right foot and place it on the right pedal, which is moved just forward of its highest point in the arc; in other words, so that the first pressure which comes on that right pedal will force the machine ahead as fast as possible. ”

“ One coat of priming and one of paint finishes the box, and with the name of the merchant on the front and rear, the whole makes a neat advertising feature. Regarding the selection of a bicycle, since great speed is not essential, the lower the gearing is, the easier it will be to propel the load, and for ordinary work, where only small grades are covered, a gear of about 65 will be found efficient. ”

“ Whether the cyclist elects to provide the motive force by his own efforts or prefers to call in the aid of the internal combustion engine is a question of personal choice. The pedal bicycle, as it is termed, provides exercise with recreation, and the motor is therefore scorned by some athletic enthusiasts. The dependability and speed of the motor cycle are, however, now an established fact, and the advantages of the mechanical propulsion cannot be overlooked where time is a factor. ”

“ In the former case, the top guiding-wheels need not be in contact with the overhead rail at all, except at stations, and hence there is much less necessity for exact construction or great strength or durability, and the evident possibility of maintaining much higher speed with smooth motion, because, the faster the speed the stronger should be the forces tending to maintain vertically, if the Bicycle principle be, in fact, capable of such extension, and the action of these forces is perfectly smooth and uniform. ”

“ The problem of making the bicycle a relatively speedy vehicle had indeed been solved by the use of a large wheel—sometimes sixty inches in diameter—operated by a simple crank after the manner of the early machine of Lallament; but while bicycles of this type attained a considerable measure of popularity, the danger of156 taking a "header" on encountering any obstacle in the road was one that seemed to the average person to out-measure the pleasure or benefit to be derived from rapid transit thus attained. The safety bicycle, however, practically eliminated this danger. ”

“ Look! If some one hasn’t been up here on a bicycle I miss my guess!”
“A bicycle!” exclaimed Bob. “Do you mean to say that the robbers rode a bicycle up here?”
“There are the marks of the rubber tires plain enough,” replied Jerry, pointing to them.
“That’s no bicycle track!” declared Ned.
“Why not?” the tall lad wanted to know.
“Or, if it is, the fellow rode on one wheel, or else is more expert than anyone I ever saw. See, there’s only one straight mark, and the best rider in the world turns his front wheel every now and then, making a separate track from the rear one. That’s no bicycle mark.” ”

“ So rapid has been the march of improvement in cycle-making during the last seven years that the approach to fixity and uniformity of pattern—all bicycles now looking alike to the casual glance—has almost lost to us one of our most charming senses, the sense of delighted surprise. The most ingenious efforts of our master mechanics, accomplishing what would have been impossible only a short time ago, are now received as matters of course. The crude conditions and mechanical product of no more than ten years ago are rarely recalled; the vast majority of riders do not even know about them. ”