THE MODERN HANDLEBAR.
As above remarked, the plain straight bar of the high wheel could not be used on the modern type. The first bend was the simple one of pulling the grips back in the same plane with the bar, until they pointed straight back or nearly so; then the intermediate curving set in. Now, the commonest form is a simple bend, which brings the grips below the top tube, and whether the wheel will turn around on the steering or strikes on the bar seems to be the test that divides the true up-to-date pacer as a class from the unclassed “citizens and strangers.” But between the head and the grip the bar may wander variously in length consumed and in vagary of curve, the very latest being a downward-slanted reversed V form, which joins with the short head in showing that the rider “has a new ’98.”
BARRET’S
DETACHABLE BRAKE.
In connection with the distinctive triple front fork already described, the Lyndhurst has a bar arranged to slide on the upper tubes of the fork, instead of inside the head; it is also reversible, thus giving several positions. Many forms of bar adjustable at the head are also in the market. That of the [Kelly Company] of Cleveland is hinged at the centre, and the grips may be moved up or down directly, with an extreme travel, each position being capable of being firmly locked, the stem being reversible for further variety in shape. In most cases the entire bar rotates at the centre. The Burt bar has a small toothed ring at the centre, engaged by a lever shaped like the hammer of a gun. This can be drawn back and the bar shifted, while riding, without need of tools. The Claus bar has a taper-toothed ring, held in a corresponding toothed band and fastened on the opposite side of the stem by a nut working on a tapered thread; no wrench is required. The Standard non-vibrating bar, made by the Rumbarger Company of Dayton, O., adjusts at the head in a similar manner and claims forty-two different positions. The Chicago Handle Bar Company, which makes a specialty of the “Schinneer” bar and uses that term as its trade mark, has also a bar borne on a “U” spring on top of the head as an “anti-vibration.” The Brennan Company of Syracuse has a bar adjustable by sliding a toothed ring into or out of engagement with a ring internally toothed, held in place by an internal expander.