GEAR CASES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAINS.
English makers think Americans slow and dull in not using a gear case, which is a regular part of the cycle with them; but the difference in climate accounts for that—it has not been thought needful here. The strongest point for the chainless (those with spur gear excepted) is the ease and neatness of inclosing its driving parts; yet the case to inclose the chain is coming, and when the chain is covered the objections to it above noted and admitted are substantially removed. There is little experience of the case here as yet, but we can testify to an instance in which the case was taken off for examination, after some months’ use, and the oil and graphite were found apparently as fresh and unimpaired as when applied.
As further defence against the ejectment action it should be noted that comparatively little attention has been given to improvement in sprockets and chains, but that now these parts are no longer neglected. The quality, accuracy and finish of chains have been greatly improved of late years, and this is especially noticeable on the 1898 product. New patterns of chain are coming into market, and new shapes of sprocket tooth as well. These will be considered later in their place; we can only say now that these changes are not mere alterations for “talking-points,” but are veritable improvements. Of course, the chainless movement stimulates and requires these improvements, and will be met and opposed by them.
THE OUTLOOK FOR THE CHAINLESS.
When we come to consider the trade outlook for the chainless, and the trade outlook as affected by the chainless (for these are different things and in some degree opposed to each other) the first point observable is that every maker of a chainless, with the exception of the Bayvelgere people, proposes to market chain wheels as formerly; even the powerful concern which has started the chainless movement and has carried enthusiastic praise of its new product so far as to dispraise chain drivers, by natural implication and almost by direct statement, is preparing to market the chain wheel just as before. It is also a peculiar feature of the situation that only one or two of the other makers who are bringing out the chainless have much to say for it; on the contrary, most of them seem to regard it as a doubtful experiment, and two have openly pronounced against it, one of them announcing that “notwithstanding these stubborn facts, however, we have decided to meet the demand on the part of some riders for chainless bicycles, although we do not recommend them.”
The first price announced, $125, seemed to be prohibitory of any large sale for the chainless in 1898 as against the chain drivers at current market values. But the later announcement of models at $100, at $75, and even at $60, puts a different face upon that, and the chainless will make its way as it can, in the market, and will find its place according to its comparative merits or demerits.
EFFECT OF THE CHAINLESS UPON THE CYCLE TRADE.
The probable effect of the newcomer upon the trade in general is a puzzling factor in the outlook. “The chainless is an inspiration; it is a piece of folly; it will induce people to buy; it will hold people back from buying; it is and has been a trade disturber; it is just the tonic the trade needs”—one can take his choice of these opinions, for it is a matter of the point of view. Perhaps the real truth and the best course, as usual, lie somewhere between the extremes. This seems the more likely to be so, because the bicycle has been suffering from extremes in the form of a large overdose of “boom;” it might be more euphemistically put by saying that the industry has been fostered and stimulated too fast. The “pace” of competition has been too hot, and the result is a part of the evolution through which this marvellous product of skill must pass.
EVOLUTION IN THE TRADE.
Evolution works not only in the cycle itself, but in the methods of production and sale, in the ranks of the producers themselves, and in all included in the term “the trade.” The swift rise of the bicycle as an article of merchandising importance, together with sensational attempts by uninformed press writers to expose the alleged exorbitant profits, has produced a natural effect within the last three years. To make a bicycle for $20 and sell it for $100 was so sure and easy a method of amassing a fortune within, say, five years’ time, that the imagination of our ever-quick Americans was fired.