On the [Defender Midget] the seat post is inserted into the handlebar clamp, this doing away with the necessity of an extra fastening. The makers of the National, the Defender and the Dayton make single steering tandems. The Peerless is furnished with an automatic rear hub 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. Nearly all of these points have been conquered by the makers, so that the art of tandem cycle building has well-nigh reached perfection.
MULTICYCLES.
Triplets are made by the makers of the Dayton, World, Andrae, Tribune, Stearns and [Wolff-American]. The last named is shown in a cut, and when exhibited at the 1897 Cycle Show it attracted a great deal of attention, and was pronounced by the mechanical sharps to be one of the handsomest triplets ever shown. In its present construction it embodies all the features that have been heretofore described in their single and tandem construction. The Tribune triplet has a double top tube, and the immediate sprockets have 18 teeth in order to relieve the chain from unnecessary strain. The crank-hangers are dropped 1½ inches below the line of the wheel axles. The track racing model weighs only about 58 pounds, the wheel base being 86 inches. Cost, $200.
The World triplet has an extra lower main tube running form the head to the first diagonal, and has three lower main chords, the tubes one above the other, and between the first two of which the crank-hanger bearings are carried. These chords, after leaving the last diagonal stay, taper off to meet the rear braces and rear axle, thus giving this triplet three rear forks.
THE “ORITEN.”
The makers of the Orient (who, by the way, make a greater variety of multicycles than any other American maker) make a triplet which has all the details of construction that are embodied in their tandems already described; hence any further description is unnecessary here, save to say that it is a single steerer. The Andrae triplet has eccentric adjustments throughout, and the chains are respectively 3⁄16, ¼ and 5⁄16 in. of a special pattern. It is fitted with 2 in. Morgan & Wright tires, and has a 2 in. drop in the crank-hanger, and its price is $200. The Dayton triplet costs $250, and is built on the same lines as their single steering tandem already described. The Dayton “quad” is also of the same construction, and costs $400. The World “quad” is listed at $350, and is of the same construction as their triplet already described. The wheel base, however, is 9 ft. 3 in. The makers of the Orient, in addition to the tandems and triplets already described, make a “quad,” a “quint,” a “sex” and a “septuplet.” None of these, however, differ very largely, excepting in their seating capacity, from their triplet already described.
