Large sprockets have evidently come to stay, front sprockets having from 18 to 32 teeth and rear sprockets having from 7 to 12; a combination made up of these will produce almost any gear ratio desired.
Chains seem to have settled down to a standard width of 3⁄16 of an inch, and there are many varieties, all having, however, one inch pitch and solid blocks; there are also roller chains, having longer or shorter pitch, but rollers instead of blocks do not yet seem to have taken hold here, as in England.
Chain adjustments—i.e., means for [moving the back wheel] slightly to or from the crank axle—have been much simplified and improved. A number of variations of the well-known eccentric adjustment are on the market; a few makers are even using the eccentric adjustment at the crank bracket, on singles as well as on tandems. Here is an instance of reversion, the early “safeties” with chain-driving having been constructed in exactly this manner.
WOOD GUARDS AND RIMS.
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.
TIRES.
The field is still contested between the double or inner-tube and the single-tube or hosepipe tire, and at times, leading makers of each have claimed that their class were used on two-thirds, or thereabouts, of all the cycles made in America. The regulation size for full roadsters is 1⅝ inch, in either class; the most popular at present are tires having a serrated or corrugated tread. There are, of course, a great many variations in surface in tires with rough treads, and also of smooth-tread tires. Very few marked novelties in tires are now seen in the market; this is quite in contrast with one and two years ago. Average weights are about 4 lbs. to the pair.